Easter Monday, celebrated in the traditional liturgy prior to 1955, is a day dedicated to deepening the joy of the Resurrection and meditating on the first manifestations of the glorious Jesus Christ to His disciples. This commemoration has its roots in the ancient tradition of the Church extending the Easter festivities throughout an octave, considering each day as "Easter," given the magnitude of the Resurrection event. It was a time of intensive catechesis and deepening in the mysteries of the newly proclaimed faith. The particular focus of this day, according to the Vetus Ordo liturgy, falls upon the appearance of Jesus to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, as narrated in the Gospel of Luke. This appearance is emblematic of the way Christ reveals Himself to the hearts of the faithful: through the Word and the Eucharist. The commemoration does not dwell on a specific saint, but on the continuation of the celebration of the Paschal Mystery, which is the apex of the history of salvation. The "stations" (churches where the papal Mass was celebrated) of the Easter octave were an ancient Roman practice, and on Easter Monday, the station traditionally occurred at the Church of Santa Maria Nova, in Rome, which underscores the centrality of the Eternal City in the maintenance and dissemination of liturgical traditions.
🕊️ Introito (Sl 138, 18 e 5-6 | Sl 104, 1)
Introdúxit vos Dóminus in terram fluéntem lac et mel, allelúia; et ut lex Dómini sit in ore vestro, allelúia, allelúia. Ps. Confitemini Domino et invocate nomen eius: annuntiate inter gentes opera eius.
The Lord has brought you into a land flowing with milk and honey, alleluia; and that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth, alleluia, alleluia. Ps. Praise the Lord and call upon His name; proclaim His works among the nations.
📖 Epístola (At 10, 37-43)
In those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the people and said: My brethren, you know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached. You know how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things that He did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed Him, hanging Him on a tree. But God raised Him up on the third day and made Him manifest, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen beforehand by God, to us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and of the dead. To Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.
✝️ Evangelho (Lc 24, 13-35)
At that time, two disciples of Jesus were walking on the same day [of the Resurrection] to a village called Emmaus, which was about sixty stadia from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. And it came to pass that while they were conversing and discussing, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them; but their eyes were held so that they did not recognize Him. And He said to them: What are these conversations that you are exchanging as you walk, and why are you sad? One of them, named Cleopas, answered Him: Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? And He said to them: What things? And they said: Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death and crucified Him. But we had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel. And now, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company have amazed us. They went to the tomb early in the morning and did not find His body; they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that He is alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but Him they did not see. Then Jesus said to them: O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and so enter into His glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, He acted as if He were going farther. But they urged Him strongly, saying: Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent. So He went in to stay with them. When He was at table with them, He took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. And He vanished from their sight. They said to each other: Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us? And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying: The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon! Then they told what had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
💡 The journey of faith and the recognition of the risen Christ
The Gospel of Luke 24:13-35, which narrates the encounter of Jesus with the disciples on the way to Emmaus, is a profound meditation on how faith and hope can be restored even in the midst of desolation. Saint Augustine, in his Sermons, explains that the blindness of the disciples of Emmaus was not physical, but spiritual, a veil that prevented the recognition of Christ due to their sadness and lack of understanding of the Scriptures. Only when Jesus explained the prophecies to them and, finally, in the breaking of the bread, were their eyes opened. This revelation in the breaking of the bread is, for Saint Augustine, a clear prefiguration of the Eucharist, where the Lord gives Himself to us under the appearances of bread, nourishing our faith and making our hearts burn. He emphasizes that sadness and lack of hope are obstacles to the recognition of Christ, and that the Word and the Sacrament are the means by which He manifests Himself and raises us from darkness to the light of the Resurrection.
The Epistle (Acts 10:37-43), through the testimony of Peter, complements the Emmaus narrative, offering the public foundation of apostolic preaching. Saint Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa Theologiae, teaches that the preaching of the Apostles, centered on the Resurrection of Christ, is the "efficient cause" of the remission of sins, for it is by faith in the Risen Christ that we are justified. Peter not only recounts the facts of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, but proclaims that He is the "Judge of the living and the dead", and that through Him the remission of sins is obtained. This testimony is the manifestation of the divine authority conferred upon Christ, and the certainty that faith in Him is the way to salvation. The ardor in the hearts of the Emmaus disciples upon hearing the Scriptures, and the recognition of Jesus in the breaking of the bread, are the intimate experience that Peter, in his preaching, makes universal: Christ lives and His victory over death is our hope.
The union of these two passages—the public testimony of the Epistle and the intimate revelation of the Gospel—perfectly illustrates the theme of the Introit: "The Lord has brought you into a land flowing with milk and honey, alleluia; and that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth, alleluia, alleluia". The "land flowing with milk and honey" is the Church and the new life in Christ, achieved through the Resurrection. The "law of the Lord in your mouth" is the preaching of the Word, which, as Peter demonstrates, announces the victory of Christ and the remission of sins. The recognition of Jesus at Emmaus, mediated by Scripture and the Eucharist, reflects the experience of the "heart burning" when welcoming the "law of the Lord". Thus, the joy of Easter manifests itself both in the apostolic proclamation that builds up the Church and in the personal experience that transforms every soul, leading us to the risen Christ who feeds us and guides us to eternal life.