The Road to Emmaus

Today’s Gospel provides the beautiful, and well known story of the Road to Emmaus. Two disciples are making their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus and encounter the Risen Jesus, who at first they don’t recognize. They tell him the Easter story, and Jesus explains to them how it was a fulfillment of Sacred Scripture. It is finally in the Breaking of the Bread that the two recognize Jesus, and realize the truth of the Resurrection.

The Jesuit Priest, Fr. Christopher Viscardi writes of this passage, “they were trapped in disillusionment.” I would think that all of us can relate to that experience!

These two men are heartbroken. They had put all their hope in Jesus, but he didn’t turn out to be what they expected him to be. A story that they expected to end with a triumphant victory over the Roman Empire ended instead with a cross, a tomb, and mixed reports of either a missing, stolen, or risen body. They were still – even after all that had happened- so caught up in their own expectations that they were unable to recognize the Risen Jesus…even when he connected all the dots for them.

I am sure I’m not alone in having had the experience of being so committed to a particular image in my mind of Jesus- who he is, what he would be, what he would do, etc- that I could not recognize him when he drew near. We have all been there. Very likely if we were to look back over the course of our lives and look at the times that we thought he was the furthest, that he in fact was right by our side. It’s the story of the poem “Footprints” played out over and over again. So how do we fix it? How do we come to open our eyes so as to recognize him when he’s right there by our side?

The Gospel presented some obvious tools: the scriptures and the breaking of the bread. We always find him in word and sacrament. I think there’s more we can do, and Saint Ignatius would agree.

The bedrock of Ignatian Spirituality is learning how to find God in everything, and the Road to Emmaus shows us exactly why. If we can train ourselves to change our ways of thinking, we will see him more and more. In those frustrations and anxious moments in our lives we must change our prayer from “Lord, help me”, to “Lord, I know you are right here, but what are you trying to do?”

We have to first become aware of our emotions in the first place. Grab a notebook and periodically make note of your feelings. When you start your day, what are you feeling? At midday, what was some of your strongest emotions so far? In the evening the same. Pray with it, because often feelings have another feeling as a co-pilot. Other times one feeling may throw another feeling in the backseat entirely.

When we wake up feeling anxiety, why is that anxiety there? Did we have a dream that shook us all up? What else is going on in our hearts? Is anxiety co-pilot with loneliness? Jesus is whispering for you to draw nearer. Did you have a dream about something crazy: a nightmare about a breakup, a disaster, or a drunk dream (for those in recovery)…all obvious causes of anxiety. Jesus is reminding us of our reliance on him.

Do we look over our day and find ourselves angry at someone because of something they said or did? Jesus places his own wounded hand on our shoulder, reminding us that if we are to be one with him in glory, we must be one with him in suffering too.

In short, what are the interior movements that are happening beneath our emotions? Are they moving toward peace, freedom, joy, and love? Or are they causing confusion, frustration, and angst.

In the scriptures and the Breaking of the Bread our eyes of faith are sharpened, so that as we go through our day to day reality we are equipped to discern more effectively Jesus’ action in our lives. Am I consistently doing the next right thing? Do I try to see the world as Jesus sees it? The better we know him, the more we recognize his voice (through our interior movements) the more our relationship with him will grow deeper.

This Risen Jesus that we celebrate walks beside us just as he did the two men on the Road to Emmaus! Rest assured, he is there! Now what has to happen for us to recognize him?