This is Cardinal Francis George. I invite you to join me for the next two minutes to reflect

with Father Robert Barron on the Word of God, which is the Word on Fire. Word on Fire Catholic

Ministries is a non-profit ministry at the forefront of Catholic evangelization, using

new media to spread the faith and every continent. Father Barron challenges us to open our hearts

to the Word on Fire, which is God's Word of Love for each of us. If our hearts are open,

the Lord can change and transform us so that we might speak with love about the one who

is love. The global benefactors of Word on Fire with the support of the Archdiocese of

Chicago now present Word on Fire. 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

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. Well, there's Resurrection Day. As I mentioned last week, the first day

of the week that calls to mind the first day of creation, new creation. On that 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.

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