I remember being about 8 or 9 years old being in downtown Chicago with my mom. We were walk down one of the busy streets when this very large man was crossing and coming toward us. My mom took my hand and leaned down to me and said in a very hushed tone: “You see that man coming toward us. Say hello to him and wish him a good morning.” My mom was a very vivacious friendly extrovert who never met a stranger. I was this shy introvert child who had trouble saying one word to anyone. Well, I knew this was something I had to do, so when the man reached me, I said hello to him and wished him a good morning. He responded to me with a big smile, “Well hello young man, good morning to you too.” As he walked away, I asked my mom why she wanted me to greet this stranger. She responded: “Doesn’t that man look familiar to you? That was Mayor Daley.” Looking back now, I cherish that memory, and it so reflect my mom’s friendly outgoing personality.
I did not expect to meet the mayor of Chicago crossing a busy street on an outing with my mom. The disciples did not expect to meet Jesus on the road to Emmaus as they fled the city of Jerusalem, sad, frightening, and dejected that the man who was their hero and their spiritual leader had been put to death. Yet, they meet this stranger on the road who turns out to be Jesus. We can imagine their excitement in relating that story to the rest of their group when they returned to Jerusalem, Then in the midst to the excitement in telling of their encounter with Jesus, he appears to them again. Luke’s Gospel states that “they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost.” Jesus showed them he was not a ghost. He showed them the wounds in his hands and his feet. He helpedhis them delve into Sacred Scripture to understand what was happening and to help them grow in their faith and their belief.
Both life and faith are full of surprises. Both life and faith are full of mystery as well. Perhaps we can understand how we can approach our faith in the context of our first reading today. The crowds had just seen Peter cure a lame man in the name of Jesus in the Temple area. This miracle of healing drew the attention of the crowds. After talking about Jesus in relation to the prophets and to Scripture, and explaining to them how the people were complicit in handing Jesus over to death, he invites them to a call to repentance, to receive forgiveness from Christ, to believe in the new life he is offering to us. I love the word “invite,” because Jesus invites us to believe and enter into a relationship with him. The Church invites us into the community of believers, into the Body of Christ.
I know all of us are restless in wanting to travel and to do things after we have been locked down this past year. Most of you know how I love to travel and how I love to go on pilgrimage. I have been to Spain seven different times on pilgrimage. I am more than ready to go back. But we have to be patient right now. The pilgrimage community has been very active with different webinars and podcasts and chats on the internet so we can all support each other and be there for each other during the challenging times, and at the same time, keep the spirit of pilgrimage alive in our hearts and in our lives. Recently a pilgrim posted a very beautiful photo of a beautiful blazing sky as the sun was rising on the pilgrimage trail in Spain. When I go to Spain, I love getting up early and starting out while it is still dark so I can see the sun rise. When the sun rises, there is that magical moment that just lasts a few seconds, where everything glows in a mysterious and beautiful way. That moment cannot be captured in photos and descriptions cannot do it justice either.
And that beautiful moment of sunset is like the mysteries of our faith that happen in our lives. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we never know who we are going to meet on our journey of faith. We never know how a certain prayer or passage from Scripture or spiritual book is going to touch us. We never know how God is going to touch us and speak to us on our journey. Celebrating the risen Christ in the Easter season is an invitation to open ourselves up to the mysteries of our faith, to those amazing faith experiences that await us.
At our Masses today, we are handing out the book THE SEARCH by Chris Stefanik. Many of you have watched the video series of THE SEARCH last fall on the FORMED website. We want to invite you all of to read this book. And we invite you to other faith formation experiences that will help us learn and grow in our faith. God invites us into the mystery of faith. We need to respond to that invitation with joy and enthusiasm.
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