Jesus’ disciples experienced a lot of doubt, even on the original Easter Sunday. Fr. Rolheiser writes that they, like us, were mourning crucified dreams. What reversed this? What moved them from despair to new hope? It was not just the fact of the resurrection that changed them, for they doubted, huddled in fear, locked doors, despaired, and tried to go back to their old ways of life even after they had seen the empty tomb. What brought resurrection faith was the in-the-flesh appearance of the resurrected Christ. Through these appearances, Christ built up their faith slowly and gently until they no longer needed these appearances. Where does the resurrected Christ have flesh in our life? The resurrected Christ appears to us in the flesh in those persons who are arsonists of the heart and make our hearts burn within us. What kind of person burns messianic holes within us? Those who speak of mustard seeds, who tell us about the value of what’s hidden, small, and insignificant; those who tell us that pain can bring deep meaning and redemption; those who tell us that, despite all, that reality is gracious, and we can trust and love. These words stir what’s best within us, burn holes in us, stir faith, roll stones back from tombs, and show us the resurrected Christ in the flesh. And that flesh always looks ordinary. The arsonist of the heart invariably looks like someone we know, a familiar somebody, like the resurrected Christ in his appearances from a gardener, to a cook, to a stranger. It is interesting to speculate why the disciples often didn’t recognize Christ after the resurrection. Yet Mary Magdalene, who surely knew him well, took him for a gardener. Later, on the road and the shore, his disciples took him to be a stranger, then a cook. They only recognized him as the Christ in the breaking of the bread. That is why as we journey together, mourning so many of our crucified dreams, we would do well to be attentive to what causes arson in the heart. We should learn to look more closely at each other’s faces during the breaking of the bread.