One of Christ's appearances after the Resurrection took place in Emmaus, to two of his disciples, Simeon and Cleophas, who recognised the Master after Jesus had broken bread with them. In the Holy Land, this biblical episode is celebrated on Easter Monday by the Franciscans at Emmaus Al Qubeibeh, where the Shrine of the Manifestation of Jesus is located, a place that commemorates Jesus' encounter with the two disciples. Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Custos of the Holy Land "We came here to Emmaus Qubeibeh, which is one of the possible identifications of the place narrated by St Luke in chapter 24. Emmaus Qubeibeh is 11 km from Jerusalem and when our archaeologists from the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum were confined here as prisoners during the Second World War, they carried out excavations and the ruins they found brought to light a village from the time of Jesus." In the Shrine, Brother Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land, presided over the celebration attended by many Franciscans, religious and the few local Christians of Emmaus Al Qubeibeh, whose population is predominantly Muslim. Br ARTURO VASATURO, ofm Administrator of the Emmaus Shrine "Our relationship with the Muslims has always been peaceful because we friars have come to serve. The Muslim community that lives here is very attached to the friary because in the concept of the friary there is the word "der". "Der" is "where you live", so the local people look favourably on those who consecrate themselves to the Lord and all our employees are locals. In all these 100 years, we have always had local people working here, so our relationship with them has always been good." In his homily Br Francesco Patton said that "Jesus teaches the disciples through the Gospel the mystery of Easter". And in the celebration he blessed two new sculptures inside the Shrine. Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Custos of the Holy Land "During the celebration we also blessed these two bas-reliefs from Ortisei in Val Gardena in northern Italy. They are the work of the sculptor Willy Messner, and were donated by a benefactress precisely to recall two fundamental passages of the Gospel of Emmaus: Jesus walking with the disciples explaining the Scriptures - in the bas-relief Jesus explains a passage from Isaiah - and then Jesus being invited to stay for dinner and being recognised in the gesture of blessing and then breaking the bread. These two sculptures, these two bas-reliefs, will help pilgrims - as soon as they are able to return - to meditate on the Gospel of Emmaus and on the mystery that we remember and experience in this beautiful and very special place." According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus sat down at the table, took the bread, blessed it, broke it and served it to the two disciples who recognised him in this gesture. This gesture of Jesus was repeated by Brother Francesco Patton, who distributed bread in memory of the manifestation of Christ to Simeon and Cleophas.