Rediscovering Christ on the Road to Emmaus

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

Signs and Wonders

Dear Friends,

We celebrate Easter 2026 in a world on fire with conflict, rivalry, and a good deal of madness. World community members and leaders struggle to make sense and do good. Reading John 20:19-31, we hear of resurrection, but also cry with Thomas, "Help our unbelief!"

On the Sunday after Easter, Christians also read Acts 2:42-47. This passage describes the believing community and the wonders and signs done in and through them. Some members, like Thomas the apostle, struggled to accept the resurrected Jesus. The community did not abandon them. Blessed by the shared stories, meals, and prayer, Thomas and others could share their doubts and gradually experience the presence of Jesus. 

For me, the shared experience of the Artemis II space mission offers an additional way to believe in the creative presence of God. Gazing on the earth and moon, we know the loving kindness with which God views creation. God, whose hands cradle creation, feels near enough to touch! The joy and awe of the space travelers are infectious. Even the doubters among us are drawn to rejoice in the work of divine and human hands.

Can we make our way through the current time of world crisis? Can we follow Thomas’s example? Like Thomas, we are capable of doubt and belief, wounds and resurrection, signs and wonders. Like Thomas, we will only find our way in beloved community. 

~ Susan Schantz, SSJ

Easter and the Surprise of Hope

Happy Easter, Dear Friends,

Even though it has been a long hard winter and a crucifying Lent for immigrants worldwide and others drawn into a world of war and denial of life, hope stirs in us that the promises of God have truly been kept in the risen Christ. 

Thinking about the early morning events of that First Day of the Week, we probably wouldn’t have done it that way.

It was all too silent, too quick, too unlike the Jesus whom these faithful women had known and loved. Their Jesus would have welcomed them, up, as they were long before dawn, hurrying to the tomb to be there at first light to perform the burial rites for Jesus. That’s what women of Jesus’ time did.

The cave where Jesus lay behind the stone
seemed to be an insurmountable block to their mission.

No worry. The stone had already been rolled away.
Jesus was not there.

A confusing start to the resurrection.
We probably wouldn’t have done it that way.

God had shattered the human expectation of death. 

Through his love for them during their years together, and in choosing them to be at the tomb that remarkable moment, Jesus gave them hope – 
and words – true, real and succinct –
to bear to his brothers that
violence against him during his passion
did not quench life.            

Jesus was Alive!

Amazingly and undeniably,
Jesus had linked his own resurrection
to the witness of women.

You tell the brothers I am alive.

We probably wouldn’t have done it that way.
We would have thought that the men would have heard the message first. 

But women are midwives of life. Why wouldn’t Jesus choose them?

Christ’s resurrection shattered the impossible. He was alive. 
No more bondage to the way things were.  

Easter does not disappoint.
Rather, it gives courage to all who seek to embody in their own lives all that the Risen Jesus is and stands for.

Easter is not naïve. 
Only the imagination of God 
can make the unthinkable happen.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Join the Crowd!

Dear Friends,

On this Palm Sunday, the holy week of the Lord’s passion begins. We Christian believers hear the call to join the crowd. 

Sunday’s bible story pictures Jewish believers streaming into Jerusalem, ready to celebrate Passover, their great feast of liberation from slavery and oppression. Jesus and his disciples join the excited and unruly crowd, citizens immersed in political upheaval and religious dissent

Some of the crowd recognize Jesus, who is arriving with his friends for the Passover. Seeing him, they cry, "Hosanna! Hosanna!" Hearing their cries, we join the crowd and sing, "Hosanna! Hosanna!"

2026 is a year immersed in political upheaval and religious dissent. War. Hunger. Extreme weather. Lies. International alliances threatened. Divisive politics. Like the believers of Jesus’s time, we are in turmoil. What does it mean to be in the crowd this Palm Sunday?

Then and now, the crowd remembers the saving acts of God.
Hosanna to the God who travels with us!
Then and now, the crowd sees evil and chooses good, even momentarily.
Hosanna to the God who travels with us!
Then and now the rituals of bread and wine nourish and restore believers’ faith. We continue the journey.
Hosanna to the God who travels with us! 

~ Susan Schantz SSJ

A Call to Believe

Dear Friends,

The home of Jesus’ friends, Lazarus, Martha and Mary was in Bethany, about two miles from Jerusalem - close enough for the news about the raising of Lazarus to travel quickly to the high priests in the holy city. These religious officials quickly convoked the Sanhedrin and together, they decided that it was time. Jesus must die.

As he wept with Martha and Mary over the death of their brother, his friend, Lazarus, Jesus also stood at the opening of his own grave. His own did not want him.

Raising Lazarus from the dead set his own passion in motion. Soon, you and I will walk with him through the tomb into new life.

We get so absorbed in Jesus and Lazarus in this account that we fail to notice Martha and Mary. They must have consoled one another with a mantra, for each of them said separately to Jesus when they ran to meet him, overcome with grief: “Lord,” each said, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

That’s how Martha and Mary thought of Jesus – as a wonderworker. But Jesus called Martha to a deeper faith. He called her to believe that he was God. The giver of life. The one who would die on the cross and rise again.

“Do you believe this?” he asked Martha.

Earlier in John’s Gospel (Chapter 6), Peter made a profession of faith in Jesus. Now, closer to his entrance into Jerusalem, Martha made the same profession of faith.

Will we?

Closing in on Holy Week with its drama, awe, sadness and bleakness, will we make a profession of faith in Jesus? Will we say:

~Jesus, I believe in you. Help my unbelief.

~Jesus, your own death helps me make sense of the many deaths I know in life. Help my unbelief.

~Jesus, let me come with you into the garden, into your trials, into the way of your cross. Help my unbelief.

At the tomb of Lazarus, faith rose up in Martha. She believed and invited us to do the same. So come, with Martha and Mary and their raised-up brother, Lazarus. Let us go forth towards Holy Week.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

A New Bishop for Rochester

Dear Friends,

The illustration above is provided by the Vatican office of the synod. I love this portrayal of a dynamic journeying church, a church on the road, a church energized by baptismal call. It is a church I recognize locally and worldwide. It is a church of disciples accompanied and led by bishops walking among us as servant leaders.  

The retirement of Rochester NY Bishop Salvatore Matano and the appointment of Bishop John Bonnici are occasioning local media coverage. Here are some resources to supplement that coverage. 

1. Speech by Pope Leo XIV on the role of the bishop

2. America Media podcast episode on role of the bishop

3. Links for streaming the March 19, 2:00 PM installation ritual:

www.dor.org

www.sacredheartrochester.org

www.catholiccourier.com

4. Mailing address for messages to Bishop John Bonnici or retiring Bishop Salvatore Matano:

Diocese of Rochester

1150 Buffalo Road

Rochester NY 14624

In hope,
Susan Schantz SSJ

Listening for God in Unexpected Conversations

Dear Friends,

Two stories of chance encounters at places of refreshment teach us the need for both speaking up and listening.

In today’s gospel, Jesus showed a lot of imagination and took a big risk in talking with the Samaritan woman at the well, asking her for a drink of water. It was not the done thing. The woman was dumbfounded that he would talk to her. The disciples were dumbfounded too.

A number of years ago, Bill, a young medical student at Cornell and recently engaged to Anna, was assigned to an extended research project at Yale. Understandably, he was not happy about being away from Anna for three months. Without enthusiasm, Bill boarded a bus for New Haven.

Somewhere along the way, a short layover found him dejectedly seated at the lunch counter in the terminal, drinking coffee.

Sitting next to him was a middle-aged Black woman. She looked at his unsmiling face and said to him. “Honey, what’s wrong? You look so unhappy!” “I am," he said. She pushed on. “What’s wrong, honey?”

He told her the sad story of needing to leave behind his fiancé for three months. The woman said, "Show me her picture.” Bill obliged. “Oh, she’s beautiful,” the woman exuded. “Honey, marriage is wonderful. You’re going to have a long and happy life together. Now you just gotta do what you gotta do.”

Bill watched her board her bus, having taken in her message. Thinking back to that moment after being a compassionate physician for many years, Bill knew that that single encounter changed his attitude, his outlook, his sense of God’s presence.

We have a lot in common with the Samaritan woman and Bill. One came to fill her bucket with water, the other wanted a cup of coffee. Each was wrapped up in their own concerns: she with the scars of five marriages, he with the youthful loneliness of Anna’s absence. In a moment of grace, the Samaritan woman met the one who is the source of life and hope. Bill met the messenger of the one who is the source of life and hope. In their chance encounters, each met God in a whole new way. It changed them for the better.

This third week of Lent, beginning today, will we be ready to meet God or the messenger of God? Will we accept the potential the encounter offers?

~ Sister Joan Sobala

It is Good to Be Here

Dear Friends,

This Sunday’s gospel reading is Matthew’s account of the transfiguration.

Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother,
and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them;
his face shone like the sun
and his clothes became white as light.
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them,
conversing with him.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
“Lord, it is good that we are here.
If you wish, I will make three tents here,
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

                                                                        Matthew 17:1-9

Peter’s suggestion sprang from the instinct to mark a site of spiritual struggle and revelation with a sacred artifact. As I read this week’s gospel story, I remembered the story of a simple chapel on the Scottish island of Orkney. It commemorates the faith experience of WWII military prisoners. Even in crisis, they experienced God and realized the holiness of the site.

During World War II, several hundred Italian prisoners of war were transported from North Africa to the sparsely populated Scottish Isles. They were forced to erect sea barriers to block invading Axis navy vessels. The prisoners were exhausted, cold, and lonely. They wondered if they would ever return to their lives in Italy. Their military chaplain had been captured with them and the men gathered regularly to pray.

Soon they had the idea of building a small chapel. They received permission to work after hours, using scrap materials. The men salvaged scraps of metal and wood. The camp commander gave them two Nissen huts to create a chapel body. They made cement to fashion walls and a church entrance. Pieces of glass were painted for windows. A fresco replicated a prayer card carried from Italy by one of the soldiers.

For the prisoners, their exile was a time of deep community. Together they experienced God and the island was a holy place. Like Peter in the gospel, they may have prayed, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.”

~ Susan Schantz, SSJ

Rescuing God from Smallness

Dear Friends, 

Many years ago, when I was a fledgling in religious life, I came across a slim volume by the biblical theologian J.B. Phillips entitled “Your God Is Too Small!" In it, Phillips described the many ways people have reduced God to a manageable size and then ended up not liking this crafted God very much.

The title and the challenge of J.B. Phillips’ book have stayed with me all these years and I find wrestling with God to release God from smallness an apt Lenten practice. Since Lent is a preparation time for Easter and the full-blooming of the Risen Lord, it’s only appropriate that our own Lenten practice should lead us to a new depth of relationship with Jesus who has conquered sin and death, and with the God he incarnated.

True, on Ash Wednesday, we are encouraged to fast, pray and give alms, but to what end? To be able to say at the end of Lent, “I’ve done it!”? In our spiritual growth, learning to let God be God – learning to treasure and love this God who is beyond all our designs – is an indispensable work on our part. 

Recently, Ron Rolheiser offered his readers some understandings that help us treasure the God who is and not the one of our own making.

Writing in Insane for the Light (a strange title for a book unless you know that phrase is a line from Goethe’s poem “The Holy Longing"), Rolheiser encourages his readers to rescue God from narrowness – or on the language of Phillips, a God who is too small.

As we fast from confining ideas, pray for wisdom, and give away all we can so as to travel lightly toward God, we might want to employ our energies to understanding a bit more the attributes of our very big God. Rolheiser says, first of all, that “our God has no favorites. No one person, race, gender or nation is favored more than others by God. All are privileged. Secondly, God is scandalously understanding and compassionate, especially toward the weak and sinners…Moreover, God asks us to be compassionate in the same way. God does not have a preferential option for the virtuous. In addition, God is critical of those who, whatever their sincerity, try to block access to God…Finally and centrally, God is good news for the poor…These are the attributes of God, whom Jesus incarnated. We need to work always at rescuing God from narrowness, even as we are sensitive to proper boundaries and the demands of orthodox teaching.” (pp102-103)

In these six Lenten weeks before us, let’s enlarge our hearts to embrace the God who is: big, generous, compassionate lover of all creation, all people without exception. Let us bless God for all God is and let us open ourselves to God’s companionship even more.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Chocolate in Lent

Dear Friends,

On a spring Saturday morning in the early 1960’s, at the four corners in Pittsford, a man in his late 60s boarded the East Avenue bus. Within a half hour, he was in Sibley’s Bakery picking up a seven-layer mocha cake. Outside Sibley’s he caught a #10 Dewey bus. Carefully balancing the cake on his lap, he traveled another half hour to a bus stop in the Maplewood neighborhood. He walked to the Schantz home at 380 Seneca Parkway, walked up the porch steps, and rang the front doorbell. “Is your dad home?” he said to my brother who opened the door. “I’m his Uncle Herb.”

Herb had never met me or any of my seven siblings. His brother Rupert died when my dad was seven. Grandpa’s family became estranged from my dad’s mother due to their cultural and financial differences. After thirty years’ separation, Herb had recently reached out to my dad, but this first visit was a surprise. Herb became a beloved part of our family, along with his sister Irene. 

This winter I am identifying with Uncle Herb and his desire to reconnect. I reflect on my own family bonds. They have been weakened in recent years by geographical distance, family deaths, and infrequent gatherings. As Lent begins, I am drawn to find ways to reconnect. What can I do to strengthen loving connections?     

Is there anyone you are missing in your own life? Do you feel drawn to make a journey, too, carrying the sweet gift of connection?

In hope, 

Susan Schantz SSJ

A Season of Choosing Love

Dear Friends,

In anticipation of Valentine’s Day and the season of Lent, beginning on February 15, here are some ideas for celebrating both:

                                                                       

Mend a quarrel. Search out a forgotten friend.

Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust.

Write a love letter. Share some treasure. Give a soft answer.

Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in a word or deed.

                                                                       

Keep a promise. Find the time. Forego a grudge.

Forgive an enemy. Listen. Apologize if you were wrong.

Try to understand. Flout envy. Examine your demands of others.

Think first of someone else.

Appreciate, be kind, be gentle. Laugh a little more.

                                                                       

Deserve confidence. Take up arms against malice.

Decry complacency. Express your gratitude.

Worship your God. Gladden the birth of a child.

Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth.

Speak your love. Speak it to God. Speak it to your neighbor.

Speak it again. Speak it again. Speak it again.

Speak it still once again.

                                                                     

Author unknown, but a worthy challenge to live out the valuable little things in the ever-growing life God has given us. Live it. Pass it on. Happy Valentine’s Day. Expand your sense of Lent.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Living Words

Dear Friends,

Emily Dickinson, the nineteenth century American poet, wrote about the power of the word. Here is her poem:

A word is dead

when it is said,

some say.

I say it just

begins to live

that day.

In recent weeks of violence, dissent, and challenged faith, many words have been written, and many words have been spoken. When we believers gather in weekend worship, we hear sacred scriptures proclaimed. Some of us have heard preachers relate the bible passages with current events. Some of us are still waiting for such preaching.

This weekend’s gospel passage begs for proclamation and preaching and lived response. The reading for Sunday, February 1 is this familiar passage from Matthew 5:

When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
He began to teach them, saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.

If you are reading this post, take the time to read it aloud. Join the Sunday preachers in speaking this living word. Join the Sunday preachers in speaking aloud the words that call us all to a reign of God’s justice, peace, and mercy. Identify God at work bringing a reign of justice, peace, and mercy, the word once said, beginning to live this day.

With hope,

Susan Schantz SSJ

The Small Gestures of Life

Dear Friends,

Have you ever been encouraged by others to “think big?" I have. Thinking big is a worldview, an attitude that can lead to success in the world’s estimation.

Thinking big involves expecting more, better, larger physical, mental, spiritual amounts of everything. The creators of the concept leading to self-storage units strewn across the landscape understood what it means to think big. They knew that people had long ago internalized this concept and were in need of more space for everything they had accumulated.

Today, let’s spend time with what “thinking small” might offer us.

Small pleasures, small blessings, small gifts, small steps, small realizations.

Our everyday spiritual lives are most often one of these “smalls” or a combination of them. Jesus, in the Gospel, paid great attention to the power of the small: a cup of cold water, the lilies of the field, the sparrow, one fig tree that didn’t bear fruit, the poor, the sick, the lame and the children who were too small to be considered important. In the Magnificat, Jesus’ Mother, Mary sang of God who has lifted up the lowly.

There are a few saints in the history of the church who did remarkable things. Most were faithful to their call from God in small ways. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, wrote often of the power of the small: “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word…" and elsewhere “Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of God. Do small things with great love.”

Sometimes, in a gesture of universal recognition, something enters the public awareness as remarkably important. Such was the case in 1954 when Kitty Kallen introduced a song which has endure to today: “Little Things Mean A Lot.” This song had only one message: the power of the small.

                “Give me your arm when we cross the street.
                A line a day when you’re far away.
                Give me your hand when I’ve lost the way
                Give me your shoulder to cry on.
                Whether the day is bright or gray,
                Give me your heart to rely on.
                Little things mean a lot.”

As winter deepens and the darkness still falls early, as Valentine’s Day approaches and we prepare to celebrate the loves of our lives, express God’s presence to all we meet in the small gestures that every day can hold. 

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Marching for Life

Dear Friends, 

God called the journeying Israelite believers to choose life. They were thirsty and their feet hurt. Their children were fussy and hungry. All the travelers felt wilderness heat and nighttime chill. They sang. They prayed. They complained. What was this journey? Can we do this? Keep going, called Moses. God is giving us a life and death choice. Choose life and we will live. 

We see many brave exodus travelers in our world today. Protestors in Minneapolis and Portland. Israelis demanding hostage release. Gazans protesting rationed food supplies. Hospital workers alarmed at the steep increase in health insurance premiums. Immigrants leaving oppressive regimes. Other immigrants and citizens expelled by corrupt government officials. Nigerians rallying against the military’s treatment of civilians. Venezuelans fighting for self-government. On Friday, January 23, the annual March for Life will unfold in Washington, DC. 

Choose life that you and your children may live. All these January marchers, these brave travelers, are marching for us, for the human community. Whatever our own religion or politics, we owe respect and support to those who march for life.  

In hope,
Susan Schantz SSJ

Walking with Jesus Through the Wilderness

Dear Friends,

There is the Baptism of Repentance that John the Baptist offered and there is Christian Baptism. They both appear in the New Testament. They are not the same. 

We celebrate Christian Baptism, that is a lasting immersion into Christ at the Easter Vigil. Today we celebrate the Baptism that John offered to people who came to him at the Jordan River. Among those who came was Jesus. He and John gazed at each other. John didn’t think that his baptizing Jesus was appropriate. Jesus was, after all, God-made-human – without sin. But Jesus had come to take on the sin of the world, and his baptism by John symbolized Jesus’ wholeheartedness to do so.

Then what?

What happened after the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan? They parted company.

Jesus went out into the wilderness to pray, to deepen, to wrestle with the powers of evil. Jesus went alone – but he was not alone. The angels ministered to him. Angels, it seems, hovered around Jesus – to keep him company, to encourage him to withstand evil. But who said it was easy?

Jesus was confronted by Satan who thought he could overcome Jesus. But he didn’t and he couldn’t. Jesus was strengthened by his baptism and by his time of prayer on the desert. Jesus was not overcome, but Satan promised to return for another round. He came in the garden of Gethsemane, as Jesus’ passion began and once again, did not overcome Jesus.

What of us? What can we take away from this feast this year of endless, debilitating natural storms and fatal violence against other people?

For one thing, we can take in the realization that Jesus came to take away the power of sin in people’s lives. It will take our cooperation to achieve that. For another thing, we might embrace the wilderness in which we find ourselves – accept being alone “out there” but not alone. We are called to find and walk with others who likewise want to look Satan in the eye and reject him – Satan, who comes to us in so many attractive ways. Together, we need to say no to Satan.

All of this.

Together with Jesus, who never leaves us to work out the difficulties of our lives alone.

It would be easy to skip over this part of Jesus’ experience as not pertaining to us………But it does. In the sweep of life, we are one with Jesus, from the Jordan to the garden of the Resurrection.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Watching for Stars

Dear Friends,

Year after year, we Christians unpack and retell the Christmas stories. They are full of darkness and full of stars. This year I am attracted to the Magi’s journey tale. This year, 2025, the shadows and threats in the story remind me of our own world’s shadows and threats. The travelers’ discovery of grace in an unexpected place? That, too, is part of my personal journey. The gospel travelers needed to plot a new route and that resonates with me as 2026 progresses.

The Magi spent time in darkness, studying stars. As the northern hemisphere moves through the dark season, I am drawn to the hours of dusk and dawn. Those are the times I can pause and pray, let go of the day or greet the new day. I can review the day and remember God’s presence. I can welcome a new day and pray to be wise and faithful. I can plot new routes and accompany others on the road. I can hope, morning and evening, that the stars seen in darkness will guide all of us travelers.

In hope,

Susan Schantz SSJ