Faith Formation Reflections and Resources

The Easter season begins on Easter Sunday and lasts until the celebration of the feast of Pentecost. It is a season of Alleluias and constant reminders that Jesus, who was mocked, ridiculed, and crucified has risen from the dead. On the Wednesday of the Octave of Easter (April 8), and again on the Third Sunday of Easter (April 19) we hear the gospel reading that recounts Jesus’ post-resurrection walk with two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). After the disciples recognize Jesus when he broke bread with them, they asked each other “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” This “hearts were burning” experience of the disciples is one which, according to the US Bishops in their 1999 document on adult faith formation entitled Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us, tells us that the disciples “saw for an instant the full scope of the Father's loving plan and its high point in Christ's death and resurrection.