The Sunday Collect

I’ve gotten away from praying and sharing the collects (prayers) of the Church. However, Easter is a time for starting anew. Great. Here goes:

Third Sunday of Easter

O God, whose blessed Son made Himself known to His disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold Him in all His redeeming work; who lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Emmaus – an ordinary town hardly mentioned in the Gospel narrative. But there, in one of the most powerful post-resurrection eyewitness accounts recorded, our risen Lord Jesus did an amazing thing. He walked and talked with dejected, depressed disciples, people whose dreams of an earthly military kingdom had been shattered by Christ’s death on the cross. He heard them. Then He taught them, showing through the Scriptures how His ministry had always been to die. Then He sat with them at table. And finally, in the breaking of the bread, He revealed Himself to them! They saw the Master, the one who had last broken bread as He taught about His body broken for them. They saw Him for who He was.

Then He was gone. And they were gone, too, flying back to the other disciples with resurrection joy flooding their hearts! He’s alive! He’s alive!

As you pray this week’s prayer, alone or with the Church, let your heart burn within you with the certainty and the overpowering joy of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

(The collects can be found in The Book of Common Prayer, pp. 211-261)