Hearts on Fire

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

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

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

“Did not our hearts burn within us when he explained to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32), we’re told in the Gospel of St. Luke.

And in St. Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians, he says, “The love of Christ captivates and impels us” (2 Cor 5:14).

These two disciples were confused and dismayed, but their encounter with Christ in the Word and in the breaking of the bread sparked in them the enthusiastic desire to set out again towards Jerusalem and to proclaim that the Lord had truly risen.

In the Gospel account, we perceive, or we see, the change in the disciples through a few revealing images: their hearts “burned within them” as they heard the Scriptures explained by Jesus, “their eyes were opened” as they recognized Him, and, ultimately, “their feet set out” on the way.

“By meditating on these images, we reflect the journey of all disciples with the mission. We can renew our zeal for evangelization in today's world” (Pope Francis, Message for World Mission Day, January 6, 2023).

In all missionary activity, the Word of God illumines and transforms hearts. The Second Vatican Council liked to point out that before, a missionary was somebody who went away to a faraway place, and there conducted their mission.

But the Council began to talk about the mission of every baptized person. Suddenly we all became missionaries.

On the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), the hearts of the two disciples were downcast, as shown by their dejected faces, all because of the death of Jesus, in whom they had believed.

Faced with the failure of the crucified Master, we’re told in St. Luke, their hopes that He was the Messiah collapsed (cf. Luke 24:21).

Then, “as they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them” (Luke 24:15).

As when He called the first disciples, so now, amid the bewilderment, the Lord takes the initiative; He approaches them and walks alongside them.

In His great mercy, He never tires of being with us, despite all our failings, our doubts, our weaknesses, and the dismay and pessimism that make us become “foolish and slow of heart” (Luke 24:25)—too dull of wit, too slow of heart—men and women of little faith.

As the risen Lord remains close to His missionary disciples and walks with them, particularly when they feel disoriented, discouraged, and fearful of the mystery of iniquity that surrounds them and seeks to overwhelm them, Pope Francis says, “Let us not ourselves be robbed of hope!” (Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelium gaudium, Point 86).

Our Lord is greater than all our problems, above all if we encounter them in our mission of proclaiming the Gospel to the world.

For in the end, this mission is His. We're nothing more than humble co-workers, “useless servants,” as St. Luke says (cf. Luke 17:10).

There was a lady once who was on a plane. She noticed St. Josemaría was on the same plane.

She had converted to Catholicism after reading his books and his homilies. She went to him and said, “Father, I want to thank you, because it's through your homilies and your writings that I've converted to the Catholic faith.”

He said to her, “My daughter, when you receive a message in an envelope, you read the message and you throw the envelope away. I am just the envelope.”

He was recounting really that reality that we're “useless servants.” But Our Lord is always with us. He sees our generosity and the sacrifices that we make for our mission of evangelization in all sorts of places.

Possibly not every day of our life is serene and unclouded, but we should never forget the words that Our Lord said to His friends before His Passion:

“In the world, you will have tribulations, but be courageous: I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33).

Mother Angelica liked to say that if God sends us tribulations, then He wants us to “tribulate.” It's in those tribulations that we will find our journey to holiness.

After listening to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Our Lord, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).

The hearts of the disciples thrilled, and they later confided to each other: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32).

Our Lord Himself is the living Word. He alone can make our hearts burn within us, as He enlightens us and transforms us.

We can come to a better understanding of St. Jerome's phrase that “ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (St. Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah).

Pope Francis said, “Without the Lord to introduce us, it is impossible to understand sacred Scripture in depth. Yet the opposite is equally true: without sacred Scripture, the events of Jesus’ mission and of his Church in the world would remain indecipherable” (Pope Francis, Apostolic Letter, Aperuit illis, Point 1).

It follows that knowledge of Scripture is important for the Christian life, and even more so for the preaching of Christ and His Gospel.

St. Josemaría has recommended for busy people in the middle of the world to read the Gospel for three minutes a day or even shorter—maybe a chapter, maybe a phrase, maybe a word, but something—so that over the course of our life, we come to have a deep knowledge of Our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Scriptures.

“Otherwise, what will we pass on to others if not our own ideas and projects? A cold heart can never make other hearts burn!” (Pope Francis, Message for World Mission Day, January 6, 2023). We cannot give what we do not have.

We can always try to be willing to let ourselves be accompanied by the risen Lord as He explains to us the meaning of the Scriptures.

May He make our hearts burn within us; may He enlighten and transform us, so that we can proclaim His mystery of salvation to the world with the power and wisdom that come from His Spirit.

The disciples said, “Our eyes were opened and we recognized him” in the breaking of bread (cf. Luke 24:31). Our Lord is the source and the summit of every mission.

The fact that their hearts had burned for the Word of God prompted the disciples of Emmaus to ask this mysterious Wayfarer to stay with them as evening was drawing near.

When they gathered around the table, “their eyes were opened and they recognized him” when He broke the bread (Luke 24:31).

The decisive element that opened the eyes of the disciples was the sequence of actions performed by Jesus: He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them.

Those were the usual gestures of the head of a Jewish household, but, performed by Jesus Christ with the grace of the Holy Spirit, they renewed for His two table companions the sign of the multiplication of the loaves and above all, that of the Eucharist, the sacrament of the sacrifice of the Cross.

Yet at that very moment when they recognized Him in the breaking of bread, we are told by St. Luke, “He vanished from their sight” (Luke 24:31).

We can recognize here an essential reality of our faith. Christ, who breaks the bread, now becomes the bread broken, shared with the disciples and consumed by them.

He is seen no longer, because now He has entered the hearts of the disciples to make them burn all the more, and this prompts them to set out immediately to share with everyone their unique experience of meeting the risen Lord.

The risen Christ, then, is both the one who breaks the bread and at the same time, the bread itself, broken for us.

It follows then that every missionary disciple is called to become, like Jesus and in Him, through the working of the Holy Spirit, one who breaks the bread and one who is broken bread for the world.

And it could be remembered that breaking our material bread with the hungry in the name of Christ is already a work of Christian mission.

How much more so is the breaking of the Eucharistic bread, which is Christ Himself, a work of mission par excellence, since the Eucharist is the source and summit of the life and mission of the Church.

Pope St. John Paul II liked to say, “The Church draws her life from the Eucharist” (John Paul II, Encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Point 1, April 17, 2003).

Pope Benedict has pointed out: “We cannot keep to ourselves the love we celebrate in the Sacrament [of the Eucharist]. By its very nature it asks to be communicated to everyone. What the world needs is the love of God, to encounter Christ and believe in him.

“For this reason, the Eucharist is not only the source and the summit of the life of the Church; it is also the source and the summit of her mission. An authentically Eucharistic Church is a missionary Church” (Benedict XVI, Sacramentum caritatis, Point 84, February 22, 2007).

And in order to bear fruit, we have to remain united to Jesus (cf. John 15:4-9). That union is achieved through daily prayer, particularly in Eucharistic adoration, as we remain in silence in the presence of the Lord, who remains with us in the Blessed Sacrament.

By lovingly cultivating this communion with Christ, the missionary disciple can become a mystic in action.

May our hearts always yearn for the company of Jesus, echoing the ardent plea of the two disciples of Emmaus, especially in the evening hours: “Stay with us, Lord!” (cf. Luke 24:29).

Then our feet set out on the way, with the joy of telling others about the risen Christ, as the eternal youth of a Church that is always going forth.

After their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus “in the breaking of bread”, the disciples “set out without delay to return to Jerusalem” (cf. Luke 24:33).

We can think of our own personal apostolate of our friends that we’re trying to bring closer to Him—of new horizons that we need to face, new challenges, new aspects of our apostolate that may be developing before our eyes—our new beginnings again in the tasks entrusted to us.

This setting out in haste, to share with others the joy of meeting the Lord, demonstrates, said Pope Francis, that “the joy of the Gospel fills the heart and the whole life of those who meet Jesus.

“Those who allow themselves to be saved by him are freed from sin, from sadness, from inner emptiness, from isolation. With Jesus Christ, joy is always born and reborn” (Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii gaudium, Point 1).

One cannot truly encounter the risen Christ without being set on fire with enthusiasm to tell everyone about Him.

I heard a story many years ago of a young Spanish fellow who was asked or invited to go and study at the University of Navarre. He had recently joined Opus Dei.

He knew nobody in that university. But he understood that the reason for his being there was to try and do apostolate.

He was invoking the Holy Spirit and asking for light to see people that God might want him to deal with. Then one day he heard two people talking behind him.

One was saying to the other, ‘A funny thing happened to me on the bus yesterday. I bumped into a German who was an architect, who was a priest, here in Pamplona, a very unusual combination.’

This fellow realized that this guy must be talking about a priest of Opus Dei, because otherwise it would be very unusual to find somebody with those characteristics.

He turned around and butted into the conversation and said, ‘How strange.’ That was the beginning of breaking the ice in that relationship.

A few days later, he took a cup of coffee with those guys. He got to know them better. He invited them to a meditation on a Saturday afternoon in the center of Opus Dei.

One was interested and came; the other was not. But the fellow who came kept coming. He liked what he saw and what he heard. He opened himself up to formation.

He began to lead a plan of life. He began to do apostolate with other friends. Six months later, that fellow discovered his vocation as a numerary of Opus Dei.

That whole missionary journey had all started with those two words ‘how strange’ being brought into that conversation.

Our Lord may place souls around us, but He also wants our initiative, our commitment to try and bring them closer to Christ.

We cannot truly encounter the risen Christ without being set on fire with enthusiasm to tell everyone about Him.

The primary and principal resource of the mission are those persons who have come to know the risen Christ in the Scriptures and in the Eucharist, who carry His fire in their heart and His light in their gaze.

Sometimes the people we meet with chance encounters may be the very people that Our Lord wants us to deal with, to bring them closer.

We can bear witness to the life that never dies, even in the most difficult of situations and in the darkest of moments. We bring the light and warmth of Christ to all souls.

The image of “feet setting out” reminds us once more of the perennial validity of the missio ad gentes, the mission to all people, as a document of the Second Vatican Council, precisely titled with those words, Ad gentes–“To All People.”

The mission entrusted to the Church by the risen Lord is to evangelize all individuals and peoples, even to the ends of the earth. That's the way we have to be thinking and praying.

The seed that St. Josemaría received on the 2nd of October 1928 and on the 14th of February 1930 has reached islands in the South Pacific through the influence of the Holy Spirit and our cooperation.

Today, more than ever, our human family, wounded by so many situations of injustice, so many divisions and wars, is so much in need of the Good News of peace and the salvation in Christ.

Pope Francis said, “I take this opportunity to reiterate that ‘everyone has the right to receive the Gospel. Christians have the duty to announce it without excluding anyone, not as one who imposes a new obligation, but as one who shares a joy, signals a beautiful horizon, offers a desirable banquet’ (Ibid., Point 14).

“Missionary conversion remains the principal goal that we have to set for ourselves as individuals, and also as a community, because ‘missionary outreach is paradigmatic for all the Church's activity’” (Ibid., Point 15, as quoted in Message for World Mission Day 2023).

We have to be thinking apostolate, dreaming apostolate, helping that apostolate to happen.

St. Paul confirms, “The love of Christ captivates and impels us” (2 Cor. 5:14), caritas Christi urget nos–“The charity of Christ drives us on.”

This love is twofold: the love of Christ for us, which calls forth, and inspires, and arouses our love for Him. A love that makes the Church, in constantly setting out anew, ever young.

We have the image these days of the Holy Father planning a trip to the other side of the world at 87 years of age—a great example of great leadership.

All of us have to think about how we're going to use the latter years of our life to do more apostolate.

All of our members of the Church are entrusted with the mission of proclaiming the Gospel of Christ, in the conviction that “He died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves,” we're told in the Letter to the Corinthians, “but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Cor. 5:15).

All of us can contribute to this missionary movement: with our prayers and activities, with material offerings and the offering of our sufferings, and also with our personal witness.

The urgency of the Church's missionary activity naturally calls for an ever closer missionary cooperation on the part of all her members and at every level.

This is an essential goal of the journey that the Church has undertaken, guided by the key words: communion, participation, mission.

This journey is certainly not a turning of the Church in upon herself; it's not a referendum about what we ought to believe and practice, nor a matter of human preferences.

Rather, it is a process of setting out on the way and, like the disciples of Emmaus, listening to the [risen Lord], because He always comes among us to explain the meaning of the Scriptures and to break bread for us, so that we can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, carry out His mission in the world.

Just as the two disciples of Emmaus told the others what had taken place along the way (cf. Luke 24:35), so too our proclamation will be a joyful telling of Christ the Lord; His life, His passion, death and resurrection, and the wonders that His love has accomplished in our lives.

We need to set out once more, illumined by our encounter with the risen Lord and prompted by His Spirit. We should be always beginning again in our apostolate.

St. Josemaría in The Forge talks about how Lazarus must have heard and responded to the words of the Master: “Lazarus, come forth” (John 11:43).

If he didn't want to listen, if he didn't want to change, if he didn't want to get out of the situation he was in, he would have just turned over and gone back to sleep and say, ‘leave me alone.’

But “he wanted to get out of the situation he was in” (Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, Point 211). He wanted to begin again.

We should try to set out again with burning hearts, with our eyes open and our feet in motion, looking always for souls.

We can ask again with burning hearts, ask Our Lord for those burning hearts, with our eyes open and our feet in motion.

We want to set out to make other hearts burn with the Word of God, to open the eyes of others to Jesus in the Eucharist, and to invite everyone to walk together on the path of peace and salvation that God, in Christ, has bestowed upon all humanity.

Jesus is our friend. In Him, the apostles found their greatest friendship. He was someone who loved them, someone to whom they could speak of their joys and sorrows, someone they could question with complete confidence.

They well knew what He meant when He told them, “Love one another, even as I have loved you” (John 13:34).

The sisters of Lazarus can find no better description than that of friendship when asking Him to come. They sent a message to Him saying, “Your friend is sick” (John 11:3). It's the best argument they can think of.

Our Lord sought and encouraged the friendship of all He met on the roads of Palestine. He always made use of conversation in order to get to the bottom of their souls and fill them with love.

Apart from His infinite love for all men, He openly showed His friendship with particular people: the apostles, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, Lazarus and his family, and others.

He didn't deny the title of “friend” to Judas himself at the very moment when the latter was handing Him over to His enemies.

He asked Peter after the denials, “Do you love me?” (John 21:15-17). ‘Are you my friend? Can I rely on you?’ And He gives him His Church: “feed my lambs…feed my sheep.”

St. Josemaría says, “The risen Christ is our companion and friend. He is a companion whom we can see only in the shadows—but the fact that he is really there fills our whole life and makes us yearn to be with him forever” (J. Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, Point 116).

He who has partaken of our lives also wants to share in our burdens: “I will give you rest,” He tells us (Matt. 11:28). He's the same one who ardently wishes us to share in His glory for all eternity.

Christ is the friend who never betrays. When we go to Him or speak to Him, He's always ready to receive us. He awaits us with a welcome that is always the same, even though there may have been forgetfulness or coldness on our part. He always helps, encourages, and consoles us.

Friendship with Our Lord, which is born and grows through prayer and the worthy reception of the sacraments, helps us to understand better the significance of human friendship.

Scripture describes it as a treasure. In the Book of Sirach, we're told: “A faithful friend is a sturdy protector. He that has found one has found a treasure. There is nothing so precious as a faithful friend; and no scales can measure his excellence” (Sir. 6:14-15).

The apostles learned the true meaning of friendship from Christ Himself.

The Acts of the Apostles show us how St. Paul had many friends, whom he loved dearly. He misses them when they're not there. He's filled with joy when he gets news of them (cf. 2 Cor. 2:13).

Early Christianity has left us testimonies of great friendships among our early brothers in the faith.

Our daily conversation of friendship with Christ leads us to have an open, sympathetic attitude, which increases our capacity for having friends.

Prayer refines the soul and makes us particularly apt to understand other people.

Also, it increases our generosity, our optimism, our affability in social relations, and our gratitude—all being virtues which facilitate the way of friendship for the Christian.

You also see, in Our Lady, practical examples of friendship. She went into the hill country in those days to visit her friend and cousin, Elizabeth. She stays there three months (Luke 1:39-40, 56).

It's a serious contribution. She doesn't stay there three hours or three days, but three months.

We can ask Our Lady, that she might teach us how to be a better friend to our friends, and to savor the great reality of friendship in our life.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

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

DWM