I’ve always found it challenging to preach about the resurrection. While I firmly believe in it, trying to articulate it in words often diminishes the beauty of its inconceivable reality and the glorious hope that arises from it. Therefore, I won’t attempt to define it; instead, I will focus on how we can experience the Risen Lord, convinced that this earthly encounter can open the doors to the eternal.
 
Today, the liturgy of the Word of God provides us with the opportunity to choose between two Gospel texts: one from Saint John, which recounts Mary Magdalene's experience, and the other, which I have chosen, from the Gospel of Saint Luke, telling the story of two anonymous disciples on the road to Emmaus.
 
It’s important to note that Saint Luke, like us, did not know Jesus personally. He never saw or heard Him in person. His faith came through the witness and proclamation of the Church, much like our own. This might explain why, among the many events of that morning after Shabbat when the Risen One appeared, Saint Luke chose to tell the story of the two disciples on their way to Emmaus and how they came to believe in the Risen Lord.
 
I want to focus on that experience because it has much to teach us. The Gospel opens on a road: two disciples are moving away from Jerusalem on that first Sunday. Their encounter with a "stranger" who walks alongside them transforms their hurried departure into something new. That meeting marks a decisive shift for them, not just in their destination but in its meaning. No longer is it an escape; it becomes an encounter with Someone.
 
To finally recognize the Risen Lord in that unknown traveler, the two disciples needed to purify their frustrated desires, refine their discernment, and reconsider God's mysterious plan. And how did they do this? Through listening. They listened to Jesus as He explained the Scriptures, teaching them the Word of God. Later that night, they would say to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was opening the Scriptures to us?”
 
Listening to Jesus awakened their curiosity. Even though it didn't immediately reveal the identity of the mysterious traveler, His words were enough to ignite their desire for more. They expressed this longing in their plea: “Stay with us!” Here, Saint Luke teaches us a fundamental lesson: the first step is always to listen—to God who speaks to us primarily through the Holy Scriptures but also through the events of our lives.
 
The Resurrection of Christ loses its meaning if it doesn’t touch our reality, transforming our daily lives and dispelling our darkness with His light. We must learn to engage in dialogue with God, like those two disciples, sharing our doubts, frustrations, dreams, and hopes. In this living dialogue, we will experience a burning heart and feel the need for something deeper, prompting us to say, “Stay with us!”
 
And Jesus, the traveler, stays. He sits with them at the table, and there—Saint Luke says—at the breaking of the bread, they recognize Him as their Lord, the Risen One, the Living One. At this table, which we could call the second Eucharist in history (the first was on Holy Thursday), the two disciples from Emmaus discover their faith in Christ, becoming sharers in His death and resurrection, invited to unity with the apostles, driven to announce His Resurrection, and—ultimately—transformed from sorrowful and disillusioned men into bearers of hope.
 
This transformation can happen to anyone who truly experiences the Eucharist. It can happen to us as well. The evangelist Saint Luke encountered the Risen Lord differently from the other Evangelists. He experienced it through the Word of God and the Eucharist. He understood this and conveyed it through the beautiful account of that first day of the week—the day when everything began and when everything started to make sense once again.
 
After that supper in Emmaus, everything changed for those two disciples. No matter how far they have traveled (twelve kilometers), how tired they are, or the dangers of walking at night, they must return to Jerusalem. They must share the news: the Lord has truly risen, and we have recognized Him in the breaking of the bread. 
 
The two disciples of Emmaus had the Scriptures explained to them, the Bread broken, and they saw the risen Lord, their hearts burning with hope. Similarly, we can discover the face of the Risen Lord in the Scriptures, in the Eucharist, and in the humble service of charity.
 
If we truly want Jesus to “stay with us,” it is essential that the Word of God continually shapes our thoughts, that the Eucharist becomes nourishment for our journey and serves as the backbone of our existence.
 
The Resurrection of the Lord changed the course of history for humanity—this is undoubtedly true. However, it first transformed the lives of two disciples, which in turn affected the life of a young Greek named Luke, a physician by profession, who became a disciple of Christ and an evangelist.
 
Christ, the Living One, has the power to change our lives as well. Today, we have gathered not to simply remember an event that occurred two thousand years ago, but to hear His word, share in the broken bread, and recognize Him as alive—now and forever—among us. 
 
This is Easter. The blessing of this day is the presence of Christ alive within us and among us. Alleluia!