Reflection for 19 April 2026: Third Sunday of Easter (Year A)
“Then they said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning [within us] while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?’… Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread” (Lk 24:32, 35).
Dear Marian Helpers and Members of our Marian Family,
In the past few years, there has been a concerted effort in the Church to stress the importance of the Eucharist, in which Jesus Christ is truly present — Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, although hidden under the appearance of bread and wine.
Unfortunately, many Catholics (even Catholics who attend Mass every single week!) do not believe in the Real Presence, but rather think that the Eucharist is only a symbol.
But it is not…it is Jesus, truly and really with us!
Jesus hid Himself from the two disciples on the way to Emmaus to show them, to prove to them, the importance of the Eucharist (“the breaking of the bread”) and to confirm the fact that He is present in the Eucharist. But He is not just in the Eucharist — we find Christ in other ways and places too!
Just as those two disciples did, we find Him in the Scriptures, the Word of God given to the People of God for our benefit, education, and consolation.
We find Him in the deacons, priests, and bishops of the Church, those who are conformed to Christ in a special and unique way through the Sacrament of Holy Orders: the prayer of ordination and the laying on of hands.
We find Him in the Church, His Body, which is guided and protected by His Spirit.
And we find Him in prayer, in those quiet times of intimate union with Him, when He speaks to us and we speak to Him.
All of these different ways we find Christ present with and to us are found in the Mass…after all, the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life”, as the Catechism says (CCC 1324). As we go to Mass every Sunday (or more often, for those who are able), we can take comfort and strength in the fact that Our Lord is with us, pouring His grace upon us and into us, most especially in our reception of Holy Communion.
As you attend Mass this Sunday (and hopefully every time you attend Mass afterwards), you will have your eyes opened through the hearing of Scripture, through the various prayers and responses during the Mass, and, just like those two disciples, in the breaking of the bread, the Eucharist.
As we continue in the Christian life, we see more and more the countless ways that God shows His love to us and the many ways that He is present to us.
My prayer for you is that the Risen Lord will make Himself known to you in a special and life-changing way this Easter season.
May God bless you now and always!
Fr Alex Pumphrey, MIC
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Contact Father Alex at info@divinemercy.org.uk
Please send us your prayer intentions! (click here). We will place them at the foot of our altar in the Divine Mercy Apostolate’s Chapel here in West Ealing, London and will remember them in our daily Chaplets of Divine Mercy.
