Text: Luke 24:13-35

In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

• I have not had the opportunity, quite regrettably really, to travel the world extensively, to visit exotic places and encounter strange cultures.
• In a strange reversal of how things really ought to be, rather than it being me who took off to foreign parts, it has been my Mother who has been to the Caribbean, to the Far East and to India – blowing what remains of my inheritance no doubt
• And yet, whether we have a passport filled to the brim with customs stamps or whether we have remained in Elson all our lives,

• we are still engaged on a journey
• a journey travelling in hope and prayer to a destination beyond compare.

• It has much to teach us about our own spiritual journeys and the ways in which the risen Christ is revealed to us.

• not an apostle, but perhaps one the 72, one of the many who stood on the periphery of the early Christian Church.
• One of us, perhaps?

• Was it because it was just so unexpected?
• Were they so wrapped up in their grief?
• But Christ is always alongside us would we but know it?
• How often do we think we are travelling a lonely road, abandoned by all; and yet Christ has been there all along, beside us, guiding us, comforting us and leading us to green pastures.

• We need him to reveal himself to us: just as Jesus explains the Scriptures to his comrades.

• We are not told, but Luke suggests that it does not matter.

• Which text does he use?
• What Eucharistic Prayer does he employ, and does he use inclusive language?
• It does not matter. These are trivial, human-scale issues compared to the glorious self-revelation completed in the inn at Emmaus.

• without these two there can be no Mass this morning – Common Worship comprises of the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Sacrament, each balanced and linked by the sharing of the peace.

• As Jesus Christ reveals himself in the Holy Scriptures, he reveals himself in the Holy Sacrament. As he walks and explains the foretelling of Christ’s passion in the scriptures and then reveals the glory of the resurrection in broken bread and wine outpoured.

• Do not simply sit there and not participate in one of the most important sacraments of our salvation: get confirmed, receive the Holy Spirit, receive the Bread of Life.

• and pray also for yourselves.
• For her Confirmation takes each and every one of us back to our own Confirmation – our own personal declaration of faith, and entry into this sacramental union with Christ.

Amen.