The Woman At The Well

Beginning Our Quest: On the Road to Emmaus

We are the disciples on the road, on the journey away from Jerusalem after the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  We have witnessed His death and are confused, and yes, worried for our own safety.   Is this what He meant when He said: ”A little while and you will not see me...because I am going to the Father?” ( Jn 16:17)  This is the time of a “darkness of faith”.  This is a time man is unable to penetrate the mysteries of God; it is a time  to say Yes without being able to SEE absolute proof.  It is a time the apostles were unable to see Christ in the way to which they had known Him and consequently use their human assumptions rather than the sacred signs of Christ.

We too go about on our journey of life, knowing ABOUT Him but are unable to SEE Christ.  Our faith is unsettled, confused as the Apostles; man is worried about his own safety, about his destination.  Man is unable to SEE Christ, see His internal complete self, His divine essence, unable to recognize His sacred signs in the breaking of the bread in the Eucharist.  The rhythm of faith in our darkness does not see the Light of the World until grace flows from His side.

Very Reverend Robert Barron imagines it as a light bulb appearing over one’s head, which makes us look at things differently, more clearly, to see patterns in a new way, to begin our journey back to Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem.   However, the Light must enter the eye and go to the heart in order for us to see clearly.  Christ is the Light, projecting His essence onto us, through Scripture and the breaking of the bread. Of course the Apostles did not want to lose the One who made them see Christ’s essence; it is too wonderful.  Man too is afraid one will lose His light if He leaves us to ourselves..  Christ would never do that- He loves us too much!  His Presence is seen, felt, loved in a new wonderful way in His sacred sign of Communion.
  

One asks: ”What is the essence of Christ?”  LOVE, love for the Father, love for ALL of us.  Every thought, every action, every prayer, every word revolved around His love; it was His core being, that which makes Christ, Christ. It can be summed up as:  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.. he who goes to the Father, comes through me.”(Jn 14:16)

On our Emmaus journey, we go back on the road to heavenly Jerusalem, no longer afraid, but now knowing Christ, the world is seen differently; we are different.  We have true faith, the faith of knowing “He is risen”, has not left us; all He said was truth.  The road is richer because we are prepared to love all as He loves all; our hearts are prepared to listen openly to the wisdom of the Spirit sent by Christ; our interactions, our work prepared to follow the will of the Father.  This is what He is teaching His Apostles on the road to Emmaus and we have been privileged to have met in the breaking of the bread.