Friends, welcome to Word on Fire, Catholic Ministries. Word on Fire is an apostolate dedicated

to the mission of evangelization, using media both old and new to share the faith on every

continent and to facilitate and encounter with Christ and His Church. The efforts of

Word on Fire engage the culture and bring the transformative power of God's Word where

it is most needed. Today we invite you to join Bishop Robert Baron as he preaches

the gospel and shares the warmth and light of Christ with each of us.

Peace be with you. Friends, on this third Sunday of Easter we have the great privilege

of hearing once again the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. What is

it about this story that just captivates us? And why does the church return to it so

frequently? You find it many times throughout the liturgical year. It's as though there's

something inexhaustible about it that after 2,000 years we're still meditating upon

this literary and theological masterpiece. Here's how it begins. At very day, the first

day of the week, where there's resurrection days, I mentioned last week, the first day

of the week that calls to mind the first day of creation, new creation. I'm at first

day two of Jesus' disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called

Emmaus. It's been a lot of scholarship around this question of where was Emmaus? No one

seems to know. Different possibilities have been suggested. One, I think intriguing suggestion

is that Emmaus was actually a Roman garrison town, a little place where the Roman army

had established itself. Where are these men going? They're going the wrong way. There's

the point. Everything in Luke's gospel gravitates toward Jerusalem. Why? Because it's the city

of the cross. Jesus' whole life and mission has been about the cross, this path of suffering

love. It's very important now that these two disciples of Jesus are walking away from

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