Susan relates the story of today’s gospel so well, I’ll send you there for that summary. And I’ll take up her challenge to reflect on what keeps me from being able to see that Jesus is with me.
How many small walks to Emmaus do we make? I’m brought back to the refrain of the song I quoted the other day:
Walk with me, talk with me
Tell me about all the good things you’ve seen
Stay with me, pray with me
Leave all your blues in your shoes at the door
Almost every Wednesday morning at breakfast, I find myself back in the room seeing Jesus among us as we share coffee and breakfast. We walk through our week, we share what we have seen or done, we pray, we sit together and it’s like Emmaus all over again: Suddenly we see Jesus among us. We see where God was present in everyday events. And then we are ready to set out on our day with new eyes and renewed hope.
So, what keeps my eyes blinded during so much of the rest of the week? It seems that when I feel the hurts or find myself in situations that confuse me and make me feel small and scared and angry then my tendency to withdraw sets in. If I can sit with the feelings and step back just a bit and listen to them, just like the friends they ultimately are, I can learn what they have to say to me. I can learn to accept. And, I can allow myself to see God in the situation. It involves work, true – at least the work involved in taking the time to sit and reflect.
There we go! Back to our Lenten theme at church this year: Listen — Reflect — Receive
I think I’ll quit now before the babbling gets out of hand.