Wednesday in the Octave of Easter

Readings of the Day

What must it have been like for these disciples?  Their friend tortured, then executed.  This friend who they thought was their Anointed One, the one for whom their religious community prepared for generations.

Not only had Jesus died, but their community had scattered, calling into question every aspect of what they believed.  So what do these desolate disciples do?  They get out of town, journeying from Jerusalem, the home of their faith dream, to Emmaus, a place of less chaos, more human consolation.  Responding all too humanly by turning in on themselves, their perspective narrows and they do not even recognize Jesus.     

When Jesus does arrive, he focuses on the disciples’ harm.  He enters into their pain, inviting them to share deeply as they walk.  This is so important because what is not named cannot be healed.  Jesus listens to their pain, their experiences, their understanding of what happened, their dashed conventional messianic hopes.    

Only then does Jesus begin the delicate process of putting the disciples’ story within the context of the wider one of Scripture.  When this is brought more fully into their conscious imagination in the breaking of the bread, the disciples finally see Jesus and heal enough to find their way back to community.

On our journey of discipleship, our faith vision, our understanding of God, Christ and community will be crucified and humiliated, probably more than a few times.  We may even walk away.  But somewhere on that road, Christ will appear and we will be unable to recognize him initially.   

Eventually, that encounter restructures our imagination, allowing us to recognize Christ in a new way that turns us around and sends us back.  What we can find on our own road to Emmaus is a fuller faith vision and meaning of God, Christ, and community.      

During this painful past year, many of us have experienced the spiritual desolation that accompanies our feelings about our Church and world.  Instead of turning away and running, we can walk alongside one another and listen as Jesus modeled.  As we listen, we just may feel Christ’s healing love in our midst and slowly, the desolation turns, widening our perspective.  We may even experience spiritual consolation, a sense that our hearts are burning as we listen to each other.  From this encounter, we might even begin to trust in a way forward as did the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

Mary J. Novak, J.D., M.A.P.S., is the Executive Director for NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice.  She was founding Board Chair of the Catholic Mobilizing Network where she currently serves as Board Secretary.

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