St. Bede-St. Denis Parish Home

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

 

Those of us who have walked the Camino de Santiago in a group know that, although many things are prepared before setting out, it is the journey itself that shapes the experiences we undergo. Walking alongside someone—striking up a conversation, breaking down the barriers created by the routine of daily life—opens the heart and makes it possible to begin sharing one’s life with another.

 

Those two disheartened and disillusioned disciples also walked the road with Jesus on their return to Emmaus. As they walked and listened to Him, a new way of seeing things began to emerge within them. It was not so much that the reality they had lived through changed suddenly, but rather that *they* were the ones who changed.

 

The very events that, just a few steps earlier, had seemed like signs of failure were transformed— when spoken by Jesus—into signs of hope. Their personal encounter with the Risen One transformed their routine religiosity into an indelible experience of God’s closeness in their lives. That is why they felt the need to reunite with their friends—to return so they could be together and, within the community, confirm that personal experience they had lived out on the road.

 

Our recent experience of restrictions on gathering to pray has taught us that being a Christian is not merely an individual experience. For us, prayer is not simply the practice of relaxation techniques designed to provide inner balance. Our faith entails walking together in order to encounter Jesus personally.

 

We need to feel accompanied in order to strengthen our faith, to listen to His Word, to share at His table, and to view life through His eyes as we recognize Him in the breaking of the bread. May we feel, with ever-increasing intensity, the need to encounter Him—and to set out on the road once more—so that we may return to the community and there, alongside our brothers and sisters, share both our faith and our daily lives.

 

Happy Sunday!

 

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