Prayer and the Scriptures: Essential but not Enough

In this amazingly rich passage, Jesus walks with two disciples from Jerusalem to Emmaus. The disciples are discouraged and forlorn about what has happened to Jesus, and the accounts that he has been raised have only further confused them. Jesus (whom they do not at first recognize) engages them in dialogue, and then he interprets the Old Testament Scriptures to them in such a way that their hearts are burning within them. But even after this dialogue (prayer) and meditation upon the Scriptures with Jesus, they still do not recognize him. It is only when Jesus takes, blesses, breaks, and gives them bread (exactly the same thing he did at the Last Supper) that He is revealed to the disciples, and this encounter with the Risen Lord immediately changes them. Prayer and Scriptures are essential in leading us to the fullness of the encounter with Jesus, which culminates in the Eucharist, the Mass -- where He reveals Himself to us truly and transforms us interiorly.

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