Transcript
Have you ever walked with Jesus and not realised it? This is what happened to the disciples on the Emmaus road, they’re walking along thinking they’re with a stranger, but in fact, it’s the one they had followed for the previous 3 years. There are some really interesting things that happen on the road to Emmaus, that we can learn from. And the first is this, God often comes to us in a way that we don’t expect. When we square God off, put Him in a box and say that this is the little domain that God is allowed to move in, we miss out when God is doing something here and here. When God is doing something we don’t expect, we can fail to recognize it. So, are we open to the movement of God, even when God comes in a way we didn’t expect? The second thing that happens for the disciples is they’re with this stranger, it’s getting to the end of the day, and they invite the stranger in. Now, if they hadn’t had invited that stranger in, they may not ever have realized that it was Jesus. It was only because Jesus stayed for the meal that His identity was revealed. How often do we invite that stranger into our lives? Do we give people we don’t know and we don’t expect, place in our space, at our meals, at the table? The third thing of course happens is that Jesus is revealed at the breaking of bread. And this is profound for us in the Mass when the priest consecrates and he holds up this bread and the wine and says, “This is my body given for you.” Do you and I, do we recognise Jesus in the bread? And finally, when the disciples are reflecting on this journey, they say, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as we talked to Jesus?” Has your heart ever burnt with the presence of God? You’ve had that feeling of something supernatural is going on. My daughter got confirmed just this week. And I said, “How did you experience God in that?” And she said, “You know when-” it was Father Michael placed his hands on her head and prayed for the Holy Spirit, she felt this sense of something going on for her. My son talked about that experience in his first reconciliation. Are we open and attentive to the Spirit of God, the presence of God, burning in our hearts? If you’ve never experienced that, invite God to come and move in your life in a way you never expected, that His Spirit might burn in your heart.