A lot of different things can go right or wrong during any given day. We can often wake up in the morning with a gloomy disposition that is turned around is a few moment by the recognition of a gift of grace seen and received. The same is true in the opposite direction, a good morning can be soured by an unkind word, action or thought that intrudes upon the moments of peace.
I was out on one of my early morning walks earlier this week. I had finished my rosary and was pondering how well the Dodgers would do against that other team this week. Lost in the reverie and hope of a sweep, (2-2 split was reality) I wasn’t paying much attention to my surrounding. Out of the blue the ferocious sounds of barking came springing towards me as I jumped back in alarm. Soon after was the panicked call of the owner and then the embarrassed asking of forgiveness. The pause, the words “not a problem” and then laughter. The ferocious dog was about 10 pounds in weight and not much danger to anything larger than himself.
In reality, I could have let this moment cloud my day to the negative. I was startled and it did bring my heart rate a tad bit higher. But there was also comedy in the moment that I could choose to live with too. I chose the later. In choosing the later I was able to hopefully bring a bit of peace to the dogs owner instead of the feelings that may have arisen.
Please believe when I say that this isn’t always the way I react. I could also use an example from this week when following a busy morning and knowing the afternoon was also heavily scheduled, a person stopped me before I exited the church and spoke those six words…”Father, do you have a moment?” Blood began to boil, pressure began to rise, eyes began to stare…I cold almost feel her recoil. I ruined my afternoon remembering and regretting the moment but I am also sure that her afternoon was not as joyous as it could have been if I had listened with grace rather than listening with my heart closed and turned away.
“Their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.” (Lk 24:16)
These words come from our Sunday Gospel and are written in the Road to Emmaus story in St. Luke’s Gospel. They are words that speak of a choice to see the good or the bad of any given day. What prevents our eyes from recognizing God’s presence in our life? What prevents our hearts from responding to recognizing God’s movement in the daily challenges set before us?
For me, and for many of us, it can be when I let the busyness of life become the all consuming focus. I won’t and can’t see anything else. I become so focussed on what I “want” to be done that I loose focus on what God wants of me.
How do we overcome this? We can look once more to Emmaus and Jesus’ patience and untiring love as he walks with them in their hurriedness to get home, their worriedness in what to do next and their disappointedness that things didn’t work out the way they had wanted them to do. Instead, he let them walk away from all of this and into the blessing of the Eucharist, the blessing of God’s presence.
We are reminded time and again how God uses our roads to bring us home when we choose to seek the blessings, even when they are hard blessings, difficult blessings and sad blessings. When we choose to walk with him then we will get it right most of the time because we are with him who is love and thanksgiving.
Many people say, “Of course they got it, it was Jesus with them. We don’t have Jesus with us.” My response was to remind them, myself and all of us, Jesus walks with us always because he has promised the he has “got us” until the end of time.
God bless
Fr. Mark