Doubtless it would be hopelessly arrogant and impossibly irresponsible to suggest, much less maintain, much less preach, that Jesus' disciples, if not our Lord himself, were Anglo-Catholics. But still, but still . . . those first disciples were human beings like us, with surely similar ways of thinking and believing, so it is not a stretch I think to assume hat that they shared similar ways of understanding and seeing and knowing and experiencing the Risen Christ in their lives, as we do in ours. For me, the greatest appeal of Anglo-Catholicism is just this - it is timeless, universal, an always appealing, forever helpful way of being religious, of being a believing, struggling Christian, and so it seems reasonable, even reverent, to think that what appeals to us and makes it so compelling for us, would not, could not, have been totally alien to anything and everything those original believers faced and embraced and accepted and found useful and helpful.

I am struck each year, with one great, consistent, recurring aspect of our Lord's appearances in the lives of his followers in those earliest days, which, it seems to me, continues to be the very best and thus moist likely way for him to appear in our lives and makes himself known, and lead us onward into ever greater and deeper faith, devotion, and commitment.

And it is precisely that - his appearances. The true on for Anglo-Catholics is that we see as very holy and highly appropriate, those visible aspects of our faith and worship that sustain us and make it all just a bit clearer, a bit easier to understand and appreciate that huge mystery that finally goes beyond knowing or even the possibility comprehending. Yet we can and do see, and touch and hear and watch and recognize.

This Sunday this third Sunday of Easter is always about the Risen Lord being made known in the breaking of the bread as the Collect puts it, as the second Sunday of Easter is always about Thomas and his great journey from doubt to blazing faith. One year we have the most characteristic Gospel of this Sunday each year, the Road to Emmanuel, when the two disciples encounter the Risen Jesus and yet do not recognize him as Mary Magdalene did not that very first morning, as the disciple fishing much later, on the sea of Galilee, when he stands on the beach before them - until he speaks, calls to them by name, calls out across the sea or shows himself - The disciple on the Road to Emmaus note that he "was made known to them in the breaking of the bread" - and then later, but only later, only afterward, do they recall and marvel over the fact that their hearts burned within them as the stranger opened scripture to them.

So it does not seem to be remembering, recalling, making sense of all the predictions Jesus made about his last days in Jerusalem and his passion and his rising again.

It is always first and foremost his appearance - being with them, really, genuinely, physically, that they then can make some sense of Scripture and the teaching and remembering and learning.

We can make too much of the difference between catholics and protestants, but, roughly, one can say with fairness and accuracy, that catholic focus is in the Sacramental presence of Christ in the Mass, while protestants focus more on his teaching presence in the written Scriptures. Episcopalians appreciate and affirm both ways of appearing and teaching us, and make use of both. Martin Luther wisely maintained that doctrine, right belief, right theology can only be based on Scripture - nothing else. Catholics rightly maintained always that the full presence of Christ can be only experienced and appreciated in the Mass - in the breaking of the Bread. When Christ comes among us and makes himself known, then we are better able to understand what the Scriptures, what the teaching, what the Word of God is, and means and how it changes us, only if and if we have been changed by the very real true presence of our Lord,

Among them in that room eating fish, on the beach by the Sea of Galilee, calling out to them in their boat, in the Garden calling Mary by her name.

So it is for us, and this is the connection between us as Anglo-Catholic and the disciples, whom we really cannot call such, but can see some similarities - he is present in the Mass in the breaking of the bread, present in the room, this very room in our garden addressing us, calling us by name, showing himself to be with us, and for us, and always among us. Then, and only then, I believe will our hearts burn within us, and we will have the Scriptures by his divine guidance, opened to us, and the teaching made real and relevant and compelling. But first, we see him, risen and standing among us, we hear him; Risen and calling our names, we see him, made known to us in the Breaking of the Bread and so we in our turn can say, did not our heats burn within us, we can cry My Lord, and my God.