I don't know about you, but any time I sit down to a meal with other people, whether at a restaurant or a private home, I have this feeling that something should happen. Something should be said or done to indicate and acknowledge that something important is taking place. We're gathered to eat as someone's guest.

There needs to some expression of gratitude for that. We're eating food that God put on this earth to feed us and to maintain ecological balance. Maybe it doesn't need to be formal but it seems to me that we should all smile and look at other another and say something to the communicate that we're awfully lucky to have each other, a table, and a meal.

In today's Gospel reading, two of Jesus' disciples, despondent over his crucifixion, are wandering down a road to a town called Emmaus, lamenting their fate. While they are walking, a stranger approaches them and asks about their troubles.

They tell the whole story of their relationship with Christ - their amazement at his teaching and miracles, and their hope that he would rescue Israel. They are shocked that the stranger hasn't heard about all these things. The stranger responds by opening the Scriptures and explaining why all these things had to take place.

As the day wears on, they invite the stranger to join them for supper. As he blesses and breaks bread, they recognize that it is Jesus himself. Just as they recognize Jesus, he vanishes.

"He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread," we're told. As they sit down to share a meal, their eyes are opened and they can recognize the presence of Christ.

This is a wonderful passage to reflect on during the Easter season. As the disciples ponder the meaning of the risen Christ - something Jesus had predicted but few seemed to grasp - they will remember the Last Supper, and how Jesus instructed them to break bread in his remembrance. Today's Gospel gives us a glimpse of the power of this ritual - that in breaking bread and giving thanks we come closer to Jesus, and can more fully experience his presence.

Are all meals to be a source of spiritual strength? It seems that they could be. Our faith is, of course, centered around a meal. We may not think of the Mass as the sharing of a meal, but that is what we are indeed remembering and re-experiencing.

That is what the celebration of the Eucharist is all about - remembering the death and resurrection of Christ as he instructed us. This celebration is, as the Church teaches (in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, n. 10), "the source and summit" of our experience as Catholics. Just as the two wandering disciples in today's readings experience Jesus in the breaking of the bread, so can each of us.

So when we sit down to share a meal with friends or loved ones, we have the option of doing more than merely nourishing our bodies. We have an opportunity like few others to draw closer to God by giving thanks and remembering Jesus. The Eucharist is at the center of this experience, but we can have our eyes opened each time we break bread with another.

Bill Peatman writes from Napa.