Wednesday in the Octave of Easter
Today’s Gospel reading, the Road to Emmaus, is a familiar story to many of us. This is a popular reading used on retreats to provide a framework for sharing with another person. The hope is for two strangers to connect and learn about one another. While I have often heard this Gospel used to describe the building of a relationship between two strangers, when I read it today, I found it provides for us a framework for how to pray – how to build a spiritual connection with Jesus.
First, I think it’s important to note that this conversation, this sharing, happened while on the road. Much like in our prayer lives, it is in our daily work and our daily journeys that we should be turning to Jesus and sharing with him. He wants to walk the road with us, sharing daily life with us. He draws near to us and walks with us. Yet, we, just like the disciples can often fail to recognize when Christ is in our midst. This Easter season, may we open our eyes to his goodness.
Next we see that Jesus engages the disciples in conversation. Christ wants to engage in conversation with each of us. He wants to know what we are each talking about and thinking about. In this conversation the disciples share their sorrows, their hopes, their challenges. Jesus wants us to do the same.
If we continue reading, we hear that Jesus then interprets Scripture for them. In our prayer life, this is essential. It is so necessary for us to sit with Scripture, with the Lord nearby. Finally, their prayer conversation with Jesus comes to fruition in the breaking of the bread. It was in the breaking of the bread that they recognized him. What a powerful moment for the disciples and a beautiful testament for all of us that attending the Eucharist is where we can come to know the Lord more fully.
I love the line that states - “were not our hearts burning within us?” I don’t know about you, but I would LOVE to feel this level of connection and passion in my prayer life – to feel my heart on fire with Christ, through prayer – what a gift. Through this gift, we, like the disciples, are then empowered to go and share this beautiful gift of prayer and connection to Jesus with others.
May our prayer lives follow the model of the Road to Emmaus. May we welcome Christ into our daily lives and converse with Him. In our sharing, may we authentically share our joys and sorrows, hopes and shortcomings. Once we have shared our emotional lives may we break open the Scripture and be open to Jesus helping us to interpret them. Let us not forget the importance of the Eucharist and the way that holy meal fills us to share our relationship with Jesus with others. Amen.
—AJ Grimm