April 23, 2023
I have met many people who found this story really helped at times when they were down, when there were disappointments in life, when they encountered illness and many of the crosses of life.
They believed in him after he had vanished, having broken bread with them.
He had accompanied them in a dark journey of life.
Jesus went to them – he did not await their visit. Somehow he knew that people of his ‘set’ were in darkness and maybe despair. This is the call of the church – to be with us in prayer, community and service always, and especially for what Pope Francis calls’ the peripheries of life’. Most of us spend some time there, and appreciate the help of love and faith.
Then they went to tell the story of how they were changed. Faith grows through sharing it. A father said, ‘At my child’s first communion, my faith became stronger’.
They told their story of Jesus in the here and now, sometimes reminiscing on what things were once like in Galilee. Every journey of life can be an Emmaus journey where we meet the Lord. Every altar can be the altar of Emmaus, and indeed every meal can be a time of friendship, care and nourishment for body and for soul.
Notice this week where the Lord is present in love, care, creation,
an uplift of joy, prayer and the Eucharist.
Lord, lift my hope and my faith in your presence as the disciples
found their hearts burning when they listened to you.
