Easter-time, like Spring itself, is about growth. The gospel stories about Jesus’ appearances after his resurrection are like metaphors of spiritual growth. Growth suggests growing up, like a sapling becoming an adult tree. Spiritual growth is about becoming a spiritual adult. Spiritual saplings need good and wise direction.
My spiritual training was rooted in scripture and in the classical Christ-centered commentaries on scripture by the Fathers of the Church. Because of that, my spirituality has taken the form of absorbing the mind of Christ as revealed in the gospels, and becoming more aware that Christ lives in me - Gal 2:20. When I read in John’s Gospel that the Word was made flesh, I am wired to be aware that he continues to dwell in me and in all of us. I don’t try to imitate Christ as if he were exterior to me; I try to be the Christ that I already have become in some mysterious way through baptism. I ask not ‘what would Jesus do,’ but rather ‘what is Christ doing now…in me.’
This Sunday’s gospel is about the two disciples who encounter the Risen Christ on the way to Emmaus. It’s one of the greatest stories ever told. They were deep in conversation and debate when Jesus, incognito, joined them on the road and asked what they were talking about. They started to talk about ‘Jesus the Nazarene’ and couldn’t be stopped. They went the whole nine yards, but ended up puzzled and perplexed about the empty tomb. Who was this Jesus? Just another impostor messiah like so many before him?
Jesus, still incognito, began to piece the puzzle of the scriptures together for them in a most persuasive way. He had their full attention. They liked what they heard him say and invited him to share supper with them at a wayside inn. They sat down at table like men in a trance as the ‘stranger’ continued to throw further light on this ‘Jesus the Nazarene.’ They were all ears, antennae up and alert. Their eyes popped when they saw their new found friend take bread, bless it, break it and give it to them. That locked it all in. The pieces came together. ‘Their eyes were opened and they recognized him.’
It’s a story of spiritual growth - from darkness and confusion, through struggle, to recognition, belief and commitment. It’s my story and yours. I, like many, struggle with religion. Is God for real? What about a hereafter? Where is Jesus today? Then I take time to think about the Bible and the stories of Jesus. How come so few are partial to Christianity, to the Catholic Church, to the Pope….? How come the official Church’s reluctance to honor individual conscience? How come we dance in the streets at the late Mr. bin Laden’s death, just like his followers did after 9/11? Are Jesus’ words about killing and revenge and retaliation too much for Catholics today? Were his words in the Sermon on the Mount, about the vicious circle of violence, meant for other people, not for Christians? Honest engagement with these kinds of questions is the painful path of spiritual growth, the road less traveled.
We arrive in Church on Sunday, coming from different places of joy and struggle in our lives. We sit and listen to the scriptures and homily in hopes of getting something to take home for the week ahead. Maybe we hear something that tweaks our interest. We begin to see. And, like the two disciples on that road to Emmaus, we want more. Then bread and wine are taken to the altar and blessed in the Eucharistic Prayer. Finally, after the Lord’s Prayer, they are broken and given to us for nourishment. That’s when it all came together for the two disciples. The self-emptying of Christ hit them like an express train. Up to this point their hearts were on fire. In this ‘aha moment’ they recognized divine life was being poured out in love. Their eyes were opened to Christ’s self-emptying so they might have life.
They immediately left that table and journeyed all the way back to Jerusalem in what must have been the middle of the night, a dangerous time for anyone to be out and about at that time. The Eucharist they had just celebrated provided them with the impetus to go and spread the Good News. Our Sunday Mass is the ritual pattern of our lives as Christians. We need to reflect on our lives, and engage with the moral issues and values of the day, so as to appreciate the Eucharist and be nourished by it. It’s why Vatican II referred to Sunday Eucharist as the ‘source and summit of the Christian life.’ They cross-fertilize each other.
PASTOR EMERITUS
Thanks for the wonderful reflection. We all are in the same journey, though some may be more advance than others. The journey is more bearable when we reach out to and with others, just like a sapling cannot grow without someone's care and oversee. And even after the sapling has grown to a full tree, we still cannot help but look to ensure its lasting health and beauty. I think spiritual growth is a lifelong journey. As to the revel on the late Osama Bin Laden's demise, I was uncomfortable to see people dancing on the streets; joyful over his death. Was this the same tone as when Jesus was crucified?
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