"But their eyes were kept from recognising him" (Lk 24:16)

Recently, in a care home in England, the carers brought an unusual birthday gift for a 94-year-old widower. A small pillow. The pillow the carers had given him bore a picture of his late wife. He recognised her.

Nothing unusual, perhaps a little unimaginative. This seemingly everyday event reveals a somewhat deeper background. The man in question had lost his wife nine months before this event, and every evening he would go to sleep holding a picture of his late wife in his hand. Understandable. They had been married for 71 years. He used to call her "the best girl in the world" The pillow the carers had given him bore a picture of his late wife. He recognised her. We can imagine his reaction to this gift. Let us imagine the joy when, on an ordinary pillow, he saw the imprinted likeness of "his best girl."

For some time now we have been "walking" through the liturgical season of Easter, in which the Church rejoices over the foundational event not only of Christianity but of the whole universe: Christ's victory over death, the beginning of a new form of life, life in fullness, immortal, eternal life: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (cf. Jn 10:10)

It is interesting that the beginning of this Easter season, that is, the very day of Easter, begins with a failure to recognise the risen Christ! Mary Magdalene thought he was the gardener when she saw him by the empty tomb. The disciples on the road to Emmaus called him a "stranger." The risen existence of Jesus Christ is entirely different from our conception of heavenly reality. Our thoughts are simply different from His. Christ is a stranger to us. These disciples, who walked sadly towards Emmaus, "were kept" from recognising him. The original translation would be as if they were "possessed" by a fog that prevented them from clearly seeing the New Life! From seeing the new Reality in the Person of Jesus Christ. God is different. We are simply "earthly"; "that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (cf. Jn 3:6).

If we fail to recognise God because of our earthly corporeality, our earth filled with looking at ourselves, we also find it hard to recognise the other person. This Easter failure to recognise also applies to our relationships. Especially family relationships. How often do we hear: "You are not the husband I met. I don't recognise you! You are not my mother! I did not marry this woman, you are a different person now!" Divorces. Divisions. Failures of recognition. At the beginning things were good, and later everything went wrong. Your boss at work was a wonderful person, but now, after ten years, he seems like a monster. You no longer recognise him. Your son-in-law, at the beginning, was just the right man for your daughter, but now he is a "stranger" to you.

Interesting. The logic of heaven is different from the logic of the flesh, of the earth. While the Gospels show us how, on Sunday morning, the disciples "were kept" from recognising Christ, they also show us Christ's strategy, by which he brought them to recognise and know him. On earth it is different. At first we know everything, we are familiar with everything, everything is clear, and later darkness comes. Gloom. "I don't know you, I don't recognise you, who are you? You didn't used to be like this.

Is there a solution? How can earth and heaven be joined? Simply. Through Christ's logic. He showed the disciples his wounds, and ate with them. "Then their eyes were opened." Here is the key to the relationship. To live Christ's reality. The risen Christ shows his wounds and says: do not be afraid to show your wounds, I am in them. Let us soften our hearts. Then let us eat together and eat Christ. Here is my body and my blood. "They recognised him in the breaking of the bread." Only when we "open our eyes" and recognise Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the good shepherd, and experience that he loves us, can we open our eyes. The state of being possessed disappears. We recognise, in that person beside us, our wife, our husband, our son … St Gregory the Great writes: "The one I love, I also recognise". Only the one who is loved truly watches, and in watching recognises. Only the love of the new Life makes it possible, even after thirty, seventy years of marriage, to say: that is my husband, that is my wife. To live by the logic of heaven.