Archbishop challenges faithful, see Christ in the breaking of the bread

By Klysha Best

On the Feast of La Divina Pastora, the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of the ‘Divine Shepherdess’, a packed congregation at the La Divina Pastora RC Church heard a pointed homily from Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon.

He opened by asking them why they had left their warm beds on a Sunday morning to travel to the southern town of Siparia from all corners of T&T and then answered his own question.

“You came with heavy hearts and petitions because things are bad,” he said. “Because you’re not seeing your way yet. And you know you need a divine favour to help you find your way to what God is asking.”

Drawing from last Sunday’s Gospel story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, the Archbishop reframed the familiar narrative as a mirror of the struggles facing Trinidadians today, like economic pressure, family discord, unemployment, and a sense of hopelessness.

Like the disciples, they set out with heavy hearts. “Things that are not settling,” Archbishop Gordon said, “that you can’t see your way with, that you need a divine intervention to make this thing work properly.”

The disciples on the road to Emmaus had every reason to believe. They had walked with Jesus, witnessed His miracles, and even heard reports that the tomb was empty. Yet their eyes were barred from recognising the risen Lord walking beside them.

“How many times has Jesus walked up to you and your eyes are barred from recognising Him?” the Archbishop asked. He noted that one of the disciples, Cleophas, was a blood relative of Jesus married to Mary’s sister, and a leader in the early Church. Yet, even he was walking away from Jerusalem, fleeing in depression and disappointment.

“The problem was not with Jesus,” Archbishop Gordon declared. “The problem was with Cleophas and his companion.”

He then turned the question to the congregation. “Many times, when we’re seeing all the signs of our world, when we’re seeing the signs of our own nation, our family, our community, and we go into despair, it’s not because Jesus is not present. It is because our eyes are not recognising Him.”

He said: “The greatest challenge that we’re facing today is not the absence of God in the midst of the chaos of our world. The greatest challenge we’re facing today is the absence of the eyes of disciples who are willing to look for the risen Christ in the midst of the challenges of our world.”

The Archbishop pointed to the familiar struggles of Trinbagonian life: “water more than flour,” high unemployment, family arguments, a nation unable to find its way, as the very places where Christ is present, if only believers would look.

As the disciples reached Emmaus, they begged the stranger to stay with them because evening was near. The Archbishop invited the congregation to join in that heartfelt cry.

“‘Stay with us, Lord’. You don’t get a more heartfelt cry than that.”

When Jesus finally broke bread with them, their eyes were opened and immediately, He vanished from their sight.

The Archbishop explained the paradox. Their prayer was answered, but not in the way they expected. Jesus would now remain with them not in His bodily form, but in the breaking of the bread, in the Eucharist.

“He was showing them how He is going to stay with them. Not in the bodily form that He was before the Resurrection, but He’s now staying with them in the breaking of the bread. He vanished, but the Eucharist remained.”

Archbishop Gordon lamented that many Catholics come to Mass with closed eyes, failing to recognise the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

“If when we come to the Eucharist, our eyes are open to who we are coming to, our hearts would burn when the Word is proclaimed amongst us. Our eyes will be open in the breaking of the bread. And we will see Him really, truly, substantially, physically present.”

He turned to La Divina Pastora, the patroness of Siparia, as the one who always leads the faithful to her Son.

“Today, as we come to La Divina Pastora, let us pray for a grace. The grace to have our eyes open. That we will see Him in the breaking of the bread. That we will see Him in the breaking of the Word.”