So, how are we all doing in these extraordinary times? How do we cope when bombarded with stories of grief and disease and despair all around us? The gospel for this weekend may offer a clue and a direction.
After Jesus has been crucified, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, and they were conversing and debating. Jesus asks them what they are discussing, and they are downcast. They talked of how they hoped that Jesus the Nazarene was the Messiah and would have been the one to restore Israel to greatness. They talked of dashed expectations when Jesus was crucified instead. Jesus goes on to explain the scripture to them, and how all was necessary so that the prophecies about the Messiah might be fulfilled.
He stayed with them, and they eventually recognized Him in the breaking of the bread. When he vanished from their sight, they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scripture to us? With all of us feeling cut off from our parish and its sacramental life, how do we recognize Him still?
We can recognize Him when we are reconnecting with family, maybe many family members we don’t always talk with as often as we should. We can recognize Him when reaffirming friendships, some from long past. We can recognize Him with time with our families, a time we may come to cherish as it is so out of the ordinary, but perhaps should be more ordinary.
In our prolife Church, we should also recognize Him in the nurse and doctor who return to work each day, bringing lifegiving care at the risk of their own. We should recognize Him in those essential workers in our grocery stores, our mail and package delivery service workers, our first responders, who all selflessly work so we can manage our lives. We should recognize Him in our teachers, still connecting with our students and educating them in every way that they can.
Most of all, in these difficult times, we need to recognize Him in each other. Our care needs to be His care, our compassion needs to be His compassion. May we all pray as one that we can exclaim as did the early disciples, “The Lord has truly been raised!” His resurrection is made manifest when we all act as one, and love one another, as He has loved us. Remember what Jesus said when He appeared to his disciples, “Do not be afraid.”
May we all live without fear; may we all live with patience. May we all live as members of His body, redeemed by His life, death, and resurrection.