Reflection for the Vigil of the Third Sunday of Easter 2008
Oblate Sunday 2008
Anne Shepard, OSB

In the olden days, the decade of the 90's in the Diocese of Kansas City- St. Joseph, Denise Simeone and I planned catechetical training for the new teachers. The opening of the teachers’ days included a three hour prayer experience on “The multiple images of God.” Our intent was to model the various ways the scriptures can be taught as well as the various ways our God is presented in the Word of God. Some selections were memorized. Some were read. A reflection on the Crucifixion consisted of having ten different crucifixes or crosses held by people while the students of religion walked around at intervals meditating on the diverse art forms while music was playing. Our own Mary Alice Guilfoil mimed the parable of finding the lost coin. For one of the last experiences, Mary Alice and I told the Emmaus story. Scarfed in babushkas and holding shopping bags with bread and wine sticking out, we spoke as two Jewish women who realized they had seen the Risen Christ. (Go through a few lines in the Brooklyn accent.)

“Hey Sophie, I am so discouraged. He died and shouldn’t have.”
“Hey, Cleopha, can you believe what we just saw?”
“He didn’t even know anything about Jesus when we starting talking to him.”
“He was so ordinary.”
“He talked and then he broke bread and then we could tell.”
“We must go and tell others.”
They got the message.

Eating and telling stories are two ordinary daily events that can transform us at times. Sharing meals is an almost lost art these days. For many of us, when we were growing up, attendance at the main meal of the day was mandatory. Stories were told from the day. Humor from classes was welcomed and shared. Growing up in D.C., political arguments were common at my dinner table. What did we learn? What did we read? What did we do? Who did we meet? These were questions meant to include everyone, to stimulate sometimes intelligent conversation, to have the others laugh, and to accept the personality differences in a large family.

In a passage from the Center of Concern for the gospel commentary for this week, I read, “It is no accident that the Risen Christ is discovered in the breaking of bread which takes place after the sharing of stories and questions on the road. The sharing of bread and the sharing of stories both bring people together. People begin to see things in a new way. In these experiences God is discovered. We discover God in new ways when we listen to the stories of people, especially those who are in any struggling or in need.”

The late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin described the gospel story on his weekly radio show: “The journey to Emmaus begins in blindness, gloom, disillusionment and despair. It ends with the warming of the disciples' hearts, the opening of their eyes, and their return to Jerusalem. It begins with the shattering of an immature faith and ends with the disciples giving witness to a mature faith. Their story now is a new one—a story filled with life and hope.”

The Emmaus narrative reveals the evolution of an adult Christian believer . The two disciples come to recognize Jesus both in the unfolding of Scripture and the breaking of bread. “Jesus' explanation that the Messiah's death was necessary does not trigger an immediate recognition of who the Stranger is. This happens only in His free gesture of breaking the bread.”

For St. Luke, the Christian life in not a solitary, melancholic journey. Christians follow Christ in full assurance that He has not abandoned them but will lead them through grief and suffering to glory. Each of us is challenged to decide where to stand on the road: among the perplexed and disillusioned who have doubting hearts and blinded eyes—or among those who listen attentively, see clearly, and respond appropriately to Jesus' own story. Scripture must be read—not with a slow, doubting heart but with a responsive heart. It is Jesus Himself who makes our hearts burn and opens our eyes.

The Emmaus story is a familiar one, a monastic one, enveloping rhythms of our Benedictine lives. As we seek the face of God in our Emmaus journeys, may our hearts burn with love for Christ. May we openly tell stories at mealtime, in our families, community and in our living groups. May we find Christ in the stranger, in gestures of generous hospitality. Perhaps most important of all, may we model the Risen Christ to others by consciously being disciples full of life and hope.

© 2008 Benedictine Sisters
Mount St. Scholastica
Atchison, Kansas