Third Sunday of Easter/A
Massimo Palombella
Today’s Gospel (Lk 24:13-35) recounts the famous encounter of Jesus with the disciples of Emmaus.
It is interesting to note how the disciples themselves recognise that “their hearts were burning” as Jesus conversed with them.
Recognising where our heart ‘burns’ is a crucial issue for the quality and stability of our lives. Indeed, the ‘heart’ often precedes the intelligence of reality, and only by recognising this, and thus performing an act of intelligence, of ordered understanding, do we allow our ‘heart’, our ‘burning’ to express itself in truth and fullness.
Staying in touch with our “burning”, seeking, as much as we lose it, our “burning” keeps us alive, improves our life, refines us more and more, allows us to face difficulties, to concentrate on what is essential in our life, to discover and relate more and more to the true God who awaits us to make our existence ever more full and authentic.
The Alleluia verse in Gregorian chant for today’s celebration is taken from chapter 24 of the Gospel of Luke (Lk 24:46) and reads as follows:
Alleluia. Oportebat pati Christum, et resurgere a mortuis: et ita intrare in gloriam suam. Alleluia
(Alleluia. It was necessary that Christ should suffer and rise from the dead, and so enter into his glory. Alleluia).
The attached music, in Gregorian chant, is taken from the Graduale Triplex published at Solesmes in 1979. The performance is by the Schola Gregoriana Bratislavensis.
A blessed Sunday and heartfelt greetings.
