Seeing with Burning Hearts

“And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.”

Luke 24:30-31

While on the road to Emmaus, the two disciples were walking, debating all that had been taking place about Jesus.  A man approached them and they explained to him all that had took place.  The man, who is really Jesus, was unrecognizable to the disciples.  This was so maybe because they did not see with the eyes of faith.  They were perhaps discussing whether the things that had happened could possibly be true and if so, what it all meant.  Jesus said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are!  How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke." Their hearts were not moved to believe — yet.   After saying this, Jesus began to explain all that the prophets had prophesied about Him.  In the midst of our unbelief and slowness of heart, Jesus accompanies us and teaches us.

As they approached Emmaus, they asked Jesus to stay with them.  Jesus agreed and followed them to their home.  "Stay with us."  The disciples asked, and Jesus willingly complied.  The disciples, after walking with Jesus and listening to Him were intrigued and wanted to listen more to this man (they did not know he was Jesus yet).  When they had arrived home, they had dinner, and it was then that the disciples recognized Jesus.  It was the breaking of the bread — the re-presentation of the events of the Last Supper that opened the eyes of the disciples and removed the obstacles that slowed their hearts.  It is the Eucharist that enables us to see Christ. It is His Body and Blood that moves our hearts from unbelief to belief.  It is the great sacrificial love behind the breaking of the bread that gives us the hope of eternal life.  The road to Emmaus is the road to faith.  

Just as with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, there will be times when we question, debate, and discuss on our road to faith, and fortunately Jesus will be present there to lead, guide, and teach.  This road and journey is one of encounter — encountering one another, encountering ourselves, and encountering God.  In encountering one another we share all that we have learned and have come to believe.  In encountering ourselves we come to learn our own strengths and weaknesses, as well as confront the limitations and stumbling blocks that hold us back.  In encountering God, we bring everything to Him, asking Him to help us make meaning of all that we have experienced - the joys and the sorrows, the confusions and the doubts, the affirmations and the revelations, the consolations and the desolations, the acceptances and the rejections, the guilt and the remorse, the desires and the shames, the gains and the losses, and the love and the sacrifices — and how to use them in the mission He has for us.  When we are able to encounter the Father is such a way, like the disciples, our hearts will feel as if they were burning within us. 

This burning is the recognition of the presence of God, the awareness of the loving gaze with which He looks at us.  Our hearts burn within us because it recognizes the heart of Jesus, which is pierced and beats for love of us.  Our hearts burn within us because we have come to experience the heart of Our Lady, whose heart is one with Her Son's, and whose heart was pierced by a sword "so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed" (Lk. 2:35).  Our hearts finally burn within us because we come to know, believe, and accept that the heart which beats within us is not our own, but rather belongs to Christ, whose heart beats and bleeds only for His people.

"Stay with me, Lord.  Make my heart like Yours, pierced and bleeding, so that it can burn strongly and continually with pure love for You and Your people."

Merciful Peace

“Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’
Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.’”

John 20:26-27

Do you believe? On the Second Sunday of Easter, the Church celebrates Divine Mercy Sunday, highlighting and reminding us of the boundless and vast mercy with which the Lord embraces us. When we hear of “divine mercy” the image of the red and white/blue rays coming forth from the side of Jesus. On the cross, when the centurion pierced Our Lord we are told that blood and water gushed forth, giving birth to the Church — the waters of baptism and the blood that nourishes us in the Eucharist. That is how much God loves us. “He loved his own to the very end” (John 13:1). Today we meditate on this love and give thanks for such a gift.

Our world is in turmoil. War and violence seems to be the new normal, but that can’t be, brothers and sisters. Hatred and violence cannot be the new normal, and Our Lord reminds us of that today. His love is what sustains us, and it is His mercy that strengthens us. After His Resurrection, Our Lord went to the Apostles in the Upper Room. The first words that Jesus speaks to them is “Peace be with you.” Not why did you leave me, abandon me, betray me, deny me, but — peace be with you. One of the fruit of one’s relationship with God is peace. A peace that surpasses all human words and understanding, a peace that speaks to the heart and that ripples into our daily lives. The Lord says to you today, “Peace be with you.”

But we are human and the worries of this world cause us to lose sight of this peace, maybe sometimes even doubt it. We are told that the Lord stood in the midst of the Apostles even though the doors were locked. There is no barrier that Our Lord cannot and will not overcome to reach us if we call for Him. Our Lord descended into hell to free the souls of the just and brought them into heaven. There is NO length or depth that Our Lord will not go to reach us and to bring us His peace and mercy. So, what are the things that trouble us today? The Lord says to us, “I know you, and I know your heart is troubled, but here I am. Peace be with you.” He breathes on us and reminds us that He sustains us and walks with us. Let us not be unbelieving but believe. He comes to us and He stays with us in His peace and His mercy.

May we pray today, brothers and sisters, that we might not keep the doors to our hearts locked and that we might allow the love and peace and mercy the Lord died to give to us to pour out upon us and envelop us. May His merciful peace shower down upon our world today and move the hearts of those charged with the governance of peoples that they might seek first and always the common good, the peace that prevails.

Jesus, we believe that Your are the Lord, the Prince of Peace. Grant us the grace to allow Your love and mercy to move our hearts to peace, so that all might come to know You.

Jesus, I trust in You!

Leaving the Tomb

“He said to them,

‘Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.’”

Mark 16:6

The idea of “resurrection” was still only a concept in the minds of many at the time of Jesus. It was something some Jews believed in, but perhaps they were not quite sure what that might look like or how it would happen. We still really do not know today, but as St. John tells us “we shall be like him” (1 Jn. 3:2). For Christians the Resurrection is not a concept, but a reality.

Furthermore, St. Paul tells us that “For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection” (Rom. 6:5). And so, we have hope that we will share in Christ’s Resurrection, and what a joy it would be!

The women looked inside the tomb and saw that it was empty and the angel spoke with them. They are witnesses of Jesus’s Resurrection. Jesus has truly risen from the dead! The tomb could not contain Jesus. Jesus rose from the dead and dies no more. The Author of Life brings to us new life, life that never ends, life with God Himself. That is the joy of the Resurrection.

We know that sin and death have been defeated and that the final battle has already been won by Christ. This ought to give us hope, hope that even though sin still exists, it does not have the final say. Sin no longer weighs us down or chains us to the cave of darkness. Just as Jesus descended into hell, the Light of Christ dispels the darkness that dims our hearts.

He has been raised; he is not here. Neither should we stay in the tomb, brothers and sisters. Let us leave the tombs that prevent us from seeing the light. Jesus is waiting to pull us out, just as He rescued the righteous from hell.

What are those tombs that we have allowed to hold us back from living in the light and the hope of the Resurrection? Do we want Jesus to pull us out?

Lord, Jesus Christ, You are the Resurrection and the Life! Remove the darkness from my eyes so that I might come to see the light of your glory.