From Emmaus to the Upper Room: The Meaning of Easter Evening

National Catholic Register, 5 April 2026

In his first Easter ‘Urbi et Orbi,’ Pope Leo drew attention to a part of Easter Sunday often overlooked.

Pope Leo XIV was elected during the Easter season, and he began his first Urbi et from the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica with an Easter greeting.

“Peace be with you all!” the Holy Father said. “Dearest brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the Risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who gave his life for God’s flock.”

Not precisely. The first greeting of the Risen Jesus was to Mary Magdalene and the other women on Easter morning. That was followed on the evening of Easter Sunday, when Jesus appeared in the Upper Room and greeted the apostles, “Peace be with you!” (Luke 24:36; John 20:19).

It was a happy thing, though, that Leo directed attention to Easter Sunday evening, for Easter evening is more central to the life of the Church. And it is often overlooked liturgically.

Holy Week is rich in the Word of God, with the Passion narratives being read on Palm Sunday and Good Friday, and the nine scriptural readings plus psalms and canticles at the Easter Vigil — to say nothing of the Lamentations of Jeremiah at Tenebrae, the Seven Last Words from the Cross, or the Reproaches on Good Friday, which summarize all of salvation history.

On Easter Sunday, we get the brief Gospel accounts of the empty tomb in the early morning, and then everyone retires after lunch for a most welcome Sunday nap.

The accounts of Easter Sunday evening are read at an evening Mass (Luke 24), which is unusual for Easter Sunday, or must wait until Divine Mercy Sunday (John 20). This is something of a pity, considering all that happens on Easter evening.

The encounter of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) is the most detailed Resurrection appearance, with the Risen Jesus in extensive conversation with the disciples, though they do not recognize him. They confessed that they “had hoped” in “Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,” but now were “sad” after his crucifixion and death.

Jesus delivers to them a stern rebuke: “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” The fierceness of the Risen Christ — in contrast with the gentle greeting to Mary Magdalene in the garden — returns again in the encounter with Saul on the road to Damascus.

Then Jesus, “beginning with Moses and all the prophets … interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” When they reach Emmaus, Jesus joins them at table, and they recognize him “in the breaking of the bread.”

Emmaus is the “first Mass” as we offer the Holy Mass today. Calvary is the original and singular “Mass,” the sacrificial offering of Jesus to the Father for the redemption of the world and the salvation of souls. This sacrifice is made sacramentally present in anticipation at the Last Supper — thus, the “first Mass” is Good Friday made present on Holy Thursday.

The sacrifice of Calvary is never repeated but is made present anew after the event, unlike on Holy Thursday, when it was made present beforehand. In this sense, the Mass at Emmaus — a “Liturgy of the Word” on the road followed by the “Liturgy of the Eucharist” at table — is the “first Mass” the Church has celebrated throughout history. Each Mass today is, in some ways, more like Emmaus than like Calvary or the Upper Room.

Later that same Easter evening, in the Upper Room with the apostles, Jesus “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,” providing for the nascent Church a reliable means of understanding divine revelation.

In John 20, even more of significance for the life of the Church is compressed into fewer verses.

“He showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’” (John 20:20-23)

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