Dear Friends,
The encounter of Jesus with
the two disciples on the road to Emmaus is a great favorite of
believers. We are at home in the story.
Later that night, Jesus would meet the Eleven in the Upper
Room. But earlier, he found Cleophas and his companion on the road west out of
Jerusalem toward Emmaus. There is every reason to think that Cleophas’
companion was Mary, his wife. She was, after all, one of the women cited
as being at the cross of Jesus. (John 19.27) The Gospel writer,
John, tells us that Jesus began walking alongside them, but “their
eyes were kept from recognizing Him.” (Luke 24.16) Pain and loss
have a way of doing that – preventing us from seeing that Jesus walks with
us.
In our day, all of the elements of the Emmaus
encounter are what we experience with the Risen Jesus. He walks with us,
listens to our laments, calls us to listen with renewed attention all that
the Scriptures tell us.
He will not intrude on
our homecoming. The Risen Lord will stay with us only if we
ask. Moreover, we are the ones who have to prepare the
table. When we break bread with the Risen Lord, we are called
to recognize him in that act and to recall feeling our hearts
burning within us as we remember how He walked with us on the road. The
image at the head of this blog is a painting by Dick Kane that hangs
as part of a resurrection triptych in the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes
Church in Brighton, NY. Stop by sometime and just sit quietly with it.
The distilled truth, beauty and the presence of the Holy One is given to us – God comes to stay with us – if we wish. Only if we wish.
Only if we want it. Only if we welcome the Risen Lord and
are willing to run back to Jerusalem to tell the others. Are we?
~ Sister Joan Sobala
