Resurrection Appearances – Road to Emmaus

Luke 24: 13-35

St Luke deals with the post-Resurrection appearances of Christ in chapter 24 of his Gospel. The longest section  in this chapter is given over to a journey made by two of Jesus’ disciples along the Road to Emmaus. On the way, although they do not immediately realize it, the two disciples encounter the Risen Christ. Interestingly, what follows from this meeting as Luke describes it reads very much like a commentary on the Mass. 

Jesus begins with a kind of liturgy of the word. We read that beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself (Luke 24:27). Using the scriptures of ancient Israel, Jesus explains the significance of his life, death, and resurrection: he teaches these two disciples that the promises God made

to Israel through the prophets have been fulfilled in him. Later in the story the two disciples will remember how their hearts burned within them as the scriptures were opened to them: faith and love are ignited by preachers of truth.

Yet strangely, despite being offered an interpretation of scripture by the author of scripture himself, the disciples still did not recognize Jesus. They have not yet grasped what resurrection means, that the risen Christ will go on dwelling in the midst of his Church. Indeed, their eyes are only opened at the breaking of bread. As evening draws near, Jesus makes as if to carry on walking, but the two disciples invite him to stay. At table Jesus blesses the bread, breaks it, and gives it to them. Only then do they recognize who this mysterious stranger is: and at this moment Jesus vanishes. 

This meal on the road to Emmaus serves as a bridge between the meals that the earthly Jesus shared with his friends during his life on earth, and the Eucharist of the early Church described in Acts. Luke is pointing us to that moment when the Church understood that when we offer bread and wine in Christ’s memory, as Jesus himself commanded, then by the power of the Spirit Christ will become really present to us under the sacramental sign. 

It is important to note how the two disciples responded to this encounter with Christ at the breaking of bread. We read: ‘and they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem’. We often refer to the Eucharist as ‘the Mass’, which derives from the dismissal in Latin: ‘ite Missa est’ or ‘Go forth, the Mass is ended’. We gather around the altar with Christ to be nourished, to be fed. Then we are sent out to draw others to this banquet.

Resurrection Appearances - St Mark's Gospel

As we continue our series of reflections of the resurrection appearances of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the disciples, this post is probably going to be a bit of an odd one out: the original conclusion to the Gospel according to St Mark contained no references to appearances of the risen Christ, dramatically concluding with the incomplete and unresolved tension of the empty tomb (16:8). Within a few years of its first completion, for reasons about which we can only speculate, somebody added verses 9-20, depicting in laconic prose the numerous appearances of Christ and His ascension to the right hand of the Father.

It would be wrong, however, to say that this earliest ending of the earliest canonical gospel contains no reference to the resurrection. Not only does the short ending contain a reference to the empty tomb, but the entire gospel presupposes the resurrection: it is the person of the risen Christ around which this earliest Christian community, to whom the Gospel is addressed, are gathered. By finishing on the tantalising note of the empty tomb, seeming to leave off a story as abruptly as the Gospel first picked it up, the original audience (for it seems possible that this was a gospel written for performance, rather than for written distribution) are left with the question ‘...and then what?!’

To answer that question takes much more than words: the answer is found within the life of the community, and particularly with the apostles around whom it was formed (in which St Peter, of whom St Mark was a disciple, occupies pride of place). It was they to whom Christ appeared, they who could recount the stories of their first-hand knowledge of Jesus, and their lives that were eloquent testimony to his rising power; this was a Church in which the Acts of the Apostles was still being written!

As time elapsed and the first hand witnesses to Christ’s resurrection became fewer, the community distilled the bare bones of their anecdotes into the longer conclusion that is now customarily attached to the original. But this is little more than an outline, and certainly no replacement for the living tradition of the Church in which we, who witness Christ - and witness to Him - in today’s world, are heirs. Although we have a completed text of the Acts of the Apostles, there is a sense in which the full history of the acts of Jesus’ apostolic community is still being written in the history of His Church, and will not be completed until we too return with Christ to be with the Father, and join the angelic hosts in the singing of Holy! Holy! Holy!

Resurrection Appearances – Mary Magdalene

Readings: Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:9-11; John 20:11-18

The Christian faith is not predicated on an empty tomb. That alone would be insufficient to rule out the various conspiracy theories which began to circulate immediately (e.g. Mt. 28:11-15). The natural response to the empty tomb was puzzlement, perturbation, and even tears. There seems to be only one exception: 'the disciple whom Jesus loved', upon entering the empty tomb, 'saw and believed' (Jn. 20:8). Indeed, blessed are those who have not seen Jesus and yet have believed! (cf. Jn. 20:29) But if this disciple believed so readily, it is not because he was quicker at reading the signs or understanding the Scriptures; it can only be that his intimate love for Jesus enabled him to see the truth at a deeper and more personal level.

So the empty tomb – an external shell – is no guarantee of the Resurrection. No, it is only a personal encounter with the Risen Christ, recognised in love, that convinces us of the news that seems too good to be true: that Christ has conquered death.  Thus it is appropriate, as we begin our series on the Resurrection appearances, to look first at Mary Magdalene, the first person to behold the Risen Lord, to touch him, and to tell the other disciples the good news (hence her traditional appellation as the Apostle of the Apostles).

As usual, the Gospels select and highlight different details of the historical events, whether it is the names of other women accompanying her to the tomb (Mary, the mother of James; Joanna; Salome), or various supernatural occurrences. But it is John's account that is particularly rich regarding Mary Magdalene. Three times she bewails the absence of Jesus' body: 'they have taken my Lord away'. After alerting the disciples to the empty tomb, she stands outside, weeping.

Into her distress, loneliness and fearfulness, the Risen Jesus gently comes to bring light. It is dawn on Sunday, the first day of the New Creation. She confuses him for the 'gardener', which recalls God walking in Eden; and he is probably naked, like a second Adam (cf. 1 Cor.15:22, 45). This non-recognition of the Risen Jesus by his disciples is a recurring theme: there is something about his risen body that is different. It is foolish to speculate on what exactly he looks like (cf. 1 Cor. 15:35-6); but we know he has a transfigured, glorious, imperishable body (1 Cor. 15:42-4).

Simply by calling her name, 'Mary', Jesus now communicates his loving presence. No wonder Mary embraces him (or just his feet: Mt 28:9), no doubt still weeping as she struggles to contain her joy. But this is not a moment to savour: it is just the beginning. 'Don't be clinging onto me', Jesus (literally) tells her. Although diverse interpretations have been given of this, the most convincing is that John the Evangelist is keen to emphasise that every Christian has equal access to the Risen Christ. Jesus and the Father make their home in every Christian (Jn 14:22-3). If Mary (and the other disciples) were physically close to Jesus, this was no special privilege, no more direct access, than what we today enjoy. We can all see Jesus, touch Jesus, taste Jesus – above all in the Eucharist (cf. 1 Jn. 1:1; Jn. 6:56-7). John seems to present the death, resurrection and glorification of Jesus as a single great event, completing his elevation to the Father (cf. Jn. 12:32-3). So Jesus points Mary ahead to the Ascension (Jn. 20:17), because only when he is glorified will he send the Holy Spirit (Jn. 7:39; 16:7).

The final element of this encounter is the most resonant for Dominican spirituality. Instead of clinging alone to the Risen Jesus, we (like Mary) are told: Go and tell my brothers! (Jn. 20:17) The news of the Resurrection is so good, so necessary for others to hear, that we cannot possibly keep it to ourselves. The Dominican image of the water pipe – which freely dispenses goodness, rather than storing it like a bowl – is highly relevant here. As St Dominic himself told the brethren, 'hoarded grain goes bad'. How wonderful and appropriate, then, that Mary Magdalene – the first to encounter the Risen Lord – is a patroness of the Order of Preachers.

Resurrection Appearances - Introduction

Godzdogz has been rather quiet over the last couple of weeks: the time after Easter and before the new university term is an occasion for the friars to visit their families, and also gives an opportunity to visit and get to know the other Dominican communities around the Province. Several of the students have been staying at the London priory, getting to know the parish in anticipation of a parish mission which will be taking place in September, and which they will help prepare over the summer.

Now, though, with lectures less than a week away, the community in Oxford is back up to strength, and we turn our attention here on Godzdogz to the season we are celebrating at the moment. For the rest of Eastertide, we will be exploring the Scriptural accounts of the various appearances of Jesus after the Resurrection, seeing how they relate and what we can learn from them about Jesus himself, about the meaning of his Resurrection. In particular, we find in these passages of the Bible words of Jesus preparing his followers for the situation they would find themselves in after his Ascension, the situation in which the Church – recognising her continuity with the Apostles – understands herself to be in to this day.

A new prayer for Dominican vocations

A new prayer card for Dominican vocations has been created at Blackfriars, Oxford and is right now being distributed to our communities around the country. 

The front image shows the statue of St Dominic, by Eric Gill, located in our priory church. It reflects the fact that St Dominic is called the ‘Light of the Church’ (Lumen Ecclesiae), though of course he points to and proclaims Christ who is the Light of the World (Jn 8:12, 9:5) and its saving truth.

The new prayer was composed to express some key features of the Dominican charism and calling, and to be appropriate for all the different types of vocation found within the Dominican family. 

We invite you to join us in using the prayer, or to pray in other ways, to ask God to bless us with vocations, and deepen existing vocations, that the Order may in turn bless the Church and the world through our Dominican lives.

You are welcome to download and print copies of the prayer and the image of St Dominic.

The New York Times notices Dominican growth

A few days ago, the front page of the International Herald Tribune (owned by the New York Times) carried an article about the recent growth in Dominican vocations.

The spectacular increase in young vocations in Ireland and the northeastern USA (Province of St Joseph), seen as an 'improbable revival', is largely explained in the article by the return to the 'fundamentals' of the Dominican tradition.

The journalist naturally focuses on the most visual aspect – our Dominican habit – since that has an immediate purchase on the imagination of wider society. But this should not eclipse the concrete aspects of our traditional religious life, of which the habit is but the outward sign and symbol. That's why the article rightly refers to 'the spiritual benefits of shared prayer and a communal lifestyle'; as well as the Dominican presence on the blogosphere! 

Though we Dominicans are all very different as individuals, we obviously have a lot in common, too. We might express it in different ways, but we all share an attraction to the Dominican Order and its mission to give authentic witness to Jesus Christ. Our religious life is built upon four traditional pillars – namely, prayer, study, community and mission – as expressed in our vocations video of 2011.

Our English Province has also seen considerable numbers of men entering in recent years, representing steady growth and a lowering of the average age. Roughly one eighth of the brethren are in initial formation, including four novices.

We pray that God will continue to call men and women to share in the Dominican way of life, to join our mission to bring the Gospel to those who need to hear it, and those who need to hear it again...

'White Smoke'

In the spirit of Easter joy, we hope this video might lift your hearts. The Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, were fortunate to have cameras running while they recorded their upcoming album with De Montfort Music, as this coincided with the election of Pope Francis. The video below can bring us to relive the excitement of that moment.

On 13 March 2013, right after Vespers, most of the Oxford brethren were huddled round a little laptop in the JCR (student common room of Blackfriars Hall), straining to hear the quiet commentary. Rather uncharacteristically, we were even willing to delay our dinner! By the time Pope Francis appeared on the balcony of St Peter's, we had transferred to the Aula (lecture room) with its big screen, to watch, listen and pray with him and millions around the world.

Where were you...?