Slightly more than twenty years ago I made my first pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Like any pilgrim, I wanted to visit the holy sites. Among the places I wanted to see was Emmaus, on the road to which two disciples had encountered the Risen Lord Jesus (Sunday’s Gospel - Luke 24:13-35). What stands out in my memory is having been informed that there are actually three places today which tradition identifies as the possible site of that ancient locale. In other words, unlike with many of the other holy places, the precise location of Emmaus cannot be pinpointed with certainty.
This fact renders “the road to Emmaus" symbolically
significant for the times in which we live. It now stands for a path to an
unclear destination, and thus represents the life situation of many people
today. With our attention drawn to an increasing variety of banal messaging and
our time spread thin over myriad demands, little focus is trained upon life’s
ultimate questions, such as: Where is my life headed? What is its true meaning?
By what measure do I assess the rightness of my decisions? What is real and
true? Or, what is my true destination? When the answer to this is unclear, then
life loses any sense of confident direction. This is precisely the “road” on which
many are walking today. It is a directionless path, which leads nowhere but to
the confusion and unrest that bring with them the collateral effects of anxiety
and frustration and hopelessness.
These are precisely the sentiments that inhabited the hearts of
the two disciples on the road to ancient Emmaus. It is important to observe
that their road did have a clearly known destination at the end of it. Yet,
they were nevertheless downcast and without hope. They thought that Jesus was
dead and forever absent from their lives. When he appeared to them, sadness
gave way to joy and despair yielded to hope. From this we understand that
clarity of destination is to be found not in a place but in a person. Our
destination is Jesus. He who came from heaven to lead us to our Father in
heaven is one with the Father (cf. John 10:30). In Jesus, our lives are
given true direction and meaning. In him, our restless hearts find rest (St.
Augustine) and we are at peace.
What is more, Jesus accompanies us on our pilgrim way as he leads
us to himself. The reaction of those two disciples to the presence of the Lord
with them on the road tells us clearly that there is no greater joy than that
which arises from knowing he is near. I particularly love the image of the
“hearts burning within” the disciples as Jesus explained to them everything in
Sacred Scripture that pertained to himself and his place in the accomplishment
of God’s saving plan for the world. That “burning” is the hope that arises from
the clarity of God-given understanding of the divine purpose centered on and
achieving fulfillment in Christ Jesus. It is the joy that issues from the
awareness that the Risen Lord is with us at every moment of the journey,
rendering himself particularly present in the sacraments of the Church, above
all in “the breaking of the bread,” the Eucharist. The “burning” at the Lord’s
presence leaves despair in ashes as it ignites within us an energy that impels
us out of ourselves toward others to tell what we have experienced.
So, let’s put an end to time wasted on unnecessary searching for direction and meaning. These are given in Christ Jesus, who draws near to us as our companion and destination. Let’s open our hearts to him, that they, too, will burn with love for our Lord and the desire to announce his presence to others.
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| Join me on the next Holy Land pilgrimage in December. Visit here. |
