Videos from Fr Claudio Doglio
Original voice in italian, with subtitles in English, Spanish, Portuguese & Cantonese.
On the first day of the week, at dawn, the women who had followed Jesus to the cross and the tomb went to the grave to perform the burial rites. They didn’t have time the evening of Jesus’ death because the Passover feast was starting. They needed to get back before sunset. They had left their rituals of devotion incomplete, and so, with the ointments they bought after the feast in the early morning of that day—that is, the first day after Saturday, when the new week begins—they went to the tomb and were surprised to find something they did not expect.
They did not expect Jesus to rise. They were surprised to see the stone rolled away from the tomb and to find the Lord Jesus’s body missing. They wondered what it all meant. They kept their faces bowed to the ground, looking down in pain, until two divine messengers asked, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead?”
According to Luke, chapter 24 of the Gospel focuses on encounters with the Risen One. None of the evangelists narrates the resurrection itself. Instead, the significance lies in the subsequent effects: the empty tomb, the encounter with the Risen One, and the transformation of the disciples are clear signs of the change and newness brought by Jesus. The crucified One is no longer there. He is not in the tomb. As the angels explain, as they did to the shepherds at Christmas, “A Savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.”
Thus, the angels explain to the women: “He is not here, but he is risen.” They also offer a basic teaching. They remind them: “Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and rise on the third day.” We find this impersonal verb: ‘must be handed over’ – ‘must’ is repeated three times in chapter 24 of Luke and signifies a key part of Christian teaching; it is an essential point. That ‘must’ – meaning ‘it is necessary’ – refers to God’s plan. This will happen inevitably.
Remember the story of Jesus being lost in the temple at age 12. When his mother asks him, “Why have you done this to us?” he replies, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” During the Passover feast in Jerusalem, there is a three-day period of loss, followed by a discovery. When asked why this happened, the answer is, ‘It must be so’ — part of the Father’s plan. Jesus is part of the Father’s plan, and the disciples need to learn to understand and accept it. “It must be so.” The angels tell the women, ‘Remember what he said to you,’ because he had said, “must be handed over.” Things happened as they were meant to.
Remember what he told you and what happened. Now it’s time to announce the victory event. Those women returned from the tomb, remembered his words, and told the apostles, who, however, said, “their story seemed like nonsense, and they did not believe them.” Peter and the other disciples ran to the tomb but did not find Jesus.
The second episode Luke recounts is the encounter with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, an exclusive story from the third evangelist, one of his literary masterpieces. It is asummary of Lucan theology, a story of a meeting during a journey.
Luke enjoys travel stories. As a Christian, he traveled extensively, crossing the ancient world with Paul, and he realized that the road is where you encounter Jesus.
On the night of the first day of the week, Sunday, Easter, two disciples returned home, tired and disappointed. They were heading back to their private homes, disheartened by Jesus. They talked among themselves, sad, sharing what they had seen during those days: the drama of the arrest, the condemnation, the killing, and the feeling that going against death was impossible, especially since he had now died and been buried. So they believed it was all over. As they walked along the road, Jesus joined them. They did not recognize that it was Jesus. They thought he was just an ordinary traveler. They did not see him for who he was.
Their eyes cannot recognize him, and Jesus’ teaching prompts them to talk. “What are you discussing as you walk along?” What happened in Jerusalem? Jesus asks them as if he knows nothing. How? They reply: “Are you a stranger?”
Remember the parable of the Samaritan. Jesus conceals himself behind the figure of this stranger. He is the divine stranger. He appears to be a stranger, yet he is seamlessly part of the story. They explain everything to him; they tell him about the tragedies surrounding Jesus’s death and burial. They also describe the visit to the tomb and, in an almost malicious tone, say that the women went to the grave; they claimed to have seen angels who said he was alive, but they did not see him. Some of our people went to the tomb but didn’t see him.
As they look at Jesus’ face, they wryly claim that their companions, when they went to the tomb, did not see Jesus. Nor do they see him now. They look at him but don’t see him. They explain what happened to him, twisting everything, unaware that they have not understood. And that stranger turns to them, calling them fools and slow of heart.
In biblical language, the heart represents the mind or intelligence. Being slow of heart means being hard-headed, slow to understand, or foolish. The speech does not start well. The insult highlights their inability to grasp what happened. They are slow to recognize the significance of the prophets and the Scriptures’ message.
Jesus himself tells them (this is the second time—verse 26—that this impersonal verb appears): “Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” It was expected; it wasn’t an accident on the road; it was part of the plan; it was necessary to endure these sufferings to reach glory. “Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures.” Jesus is providing a biblical catechesis to the two disciples.
The journey they undertake together toward Emmaus is a formative teaching journey. Jesus reviews the Bible, presents episodes, scenes, words, and prophetic announcements, showing, from a Christological perspective, that everything the prophets wrote was related to him. In the paschal mystery, it has been fulfilled. These two disciples feel their hearts harden as they listen to Jesus’ words, yet they are also transformed.
Once again, Jesus’ mercy is evident in action. This time, his catechetical mercy is a kind word that exposes their ignorance and heals it with Jesus’ wisdom. By now, it’s evening, and they have arrived at the village of Emmaus. Jesus pretends to need to go further. Once again, this is a pedagogical gesture, and they do not want to part ways with him; they invite him to stay, perform an act of mercy, and offer shelter to a pilgrim who has no home but still has a journey ahead. ‘Stay with us, for it is nearly evening, and the day is almost over.’ So he went in to stay with them.
Let’s understand this word well because it is fundamental. “He went in” – we understand it as their house, but the evangelist does not say so. His affirmation is more profound: he entered into them and their lives. He came in to stay. In the house, Jesus presides over the dinner: “He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them”; the Eucharistic gesture is evident. When he broke the bread, “their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.” He was no longer a stranger; he had entered inside. When they recognize him, they no longer see him.
The phrase “their eyes were opened” is a significant biblical passage. In the Genesis story, the man and woman, after eating the fruit God had forbidden, “their eyes were opened,”and they realized they were naked. Now, during the Eucharistic encounter with the risen Lord, the disciples’ eyes are opened, and they see not his nakedness but his presence. They have understood the Scriptures; they have eaten with him.
You can see that the episode describes the Mass in two parts: the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the bread. The journey along the road involves reviewing the Scriptures to understand the meaning of Jesus’ and his disciples’ lives. Then comes the typical table, the opening of the eyes, and the understanding of the mystery. Jesus enters and transforms them from within, and those two tired and disappointed disciples are changed. They retake the road.
From Jerusalem to Emmaus, the road is downhill. They were returning home in the afternoon. Now that it is dark, they retrace their steps up the hill and rush back to Jerusalem to say, “We have met the Lord who has risen … we recognized him by breaking the bread.”When they arrive at the Upper Room, the disciples note that they, too, have seen him. They know it even in Jerusalem. They say, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
While they were all in the Upper Room, Jesus made Himself present again. This was His third appearance, always on the same day. This time, all the disciples had gathered together. Luke notes that the disciples struggled to accept the resurrection; it seemed too good to be true, and they were unwilling to believe it. Doubts crept into their hearts. Out of joy, as Luke mentions, who always tries to defend the apostles, they still did not believe and were filled with amazement. At this point, Jesus gave another teaching.
In verse 44, the impersonal verb appears for the third time: “must be fulfilled.” The central thought is repeated. “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” In this case, there is also a reference to biblical scriptures. The Hebrew form is just mentioned, referring to the Bible: the law of Moses, the books of the prophets, and the other writings, of which the Psalms are the first. The biblical scriptures describe the messianic event as the moment of death and resurrection. It is the path God chose, often mentioned in ancient scriptures, and Jesus walked it. “They must be fulfilled, and it was fulfilled; it is written that Christ will suffer and rise from the dead.”
Now, Jesus assigns the disciples the mission of proclaiming that he is the Christ and, above all, of calling all peoples to conversion and forgiveness of sins, beginning in Jerusalem. The disciples are witnesses to Jesus’ historical life, death, and resurrection. They have experienced God’s transforming mercy and need to be transformed. The encounter with the risen Jesus changes Peter and the others. The risen Jesus has opened their eyes and minds. The evangelist Luke states it clearly in a beautiful phrase: “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scripture.”
The risen Lord opens the disciples’ minds, broadens their eyes and minds, and grants them this profound new understanding. It is the revelation of Easter; it is the realization of mercy and true salvation. From this moment forward, the disciples become continuers of Jesus’s work.
The narrative of the evangelist Luke concludes with the ascension, which appears to occur on the evening of Easter itself. “Then he led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them.” This detail is meaningful. Jesus blesses the disciples with raised hands, a priestly gesture. The blessing was traditionally performed by priests in the temple after the sacrifice.
With this detail, Luke wants to show that Jesus is the faithful priest who, after making the only true sacrifice—his own—raises his hands to bless the people, the new community, and the disciples who have welcomed him. “As he blessed them, he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.”
The gospel of Luke begins in the temple. Remember that the first scene is the appearance of the angel Gabriel to Zacharias in the temple; the last scene is also set in the temple. Several years have passed, and the world has changed. Now, the apostles of Jesus are in the temple, praising God with great joy. Humanity has undergone a transformation. They have received the true blessing. They have witnessed the resurrection and the glorification of Jesus. They have begun proclaiming conversion and the forgiveness of sins to all people.
The apostles proclaim to others the mercy they have received. Thus, the Gospel of Luke ends, and immediately the second book of Luke begins—Acts of the Apostles—which shows how the church, after listening, commits to action; after receiving mercy, it is ready to share the Lord’s mercy with all peoples, so that everyone may be healed as the mercy of Jesus restored the apostles.
For us, holding the Gospel of Luke and contemplating its precious details can be a genuine experience of mercy that reshapes our minds, transforms our hearts, and heals us through this divine therapy. I hope this will be a meaningful, beautiful encounter for you that leaves a mark, transforms, and heals.