Today in this Mass, we pray for all those who are suffering from sadness, because they are alone or because they do not know what to expect in the future, or because they cannot keep their family afloat because they don’t have money, because they don’t have work. So many people suffering from sadness. Let us pray for them today.
This was Pope Francis’ intention for his morning Mass of Sunday, April 26. He focused his homily on the day’s Gospel (Luke 24:13-35). It recounts how the Lord accompanied the disciples on their way to Emmaus.
Pope Francis began his homily with a description of a Christian. “A person is Christian because he or she has met Jesus and has allowed Jesus to meet them.” The Lord interacts with us in just the same way that He interacted with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, the pope continued.
We are thirsty for God
It begins with the “seed of dissatisfaction” that we are born with, he explained. Many times, we are not aware of the thirst in our souls for fulfillment. We take many wrong roads seeking what in the end never satisfies us. What we are really thirsting for is “the encounter with God,” Pope Francis stated.
At the same time, God thirsts to meet us. This is why God sent Jesus so that He could draw near and satisfy this thirst. Jesus is extremely respectful of “our personal situation,” the Holy Father reflected.
“He moves slowly”
“He is respectful of our readiness”
“He is the Lord of patience”
“How much patience the Lord has with each one of us. He walks beside us”
“He doesn’t rush ahead,” Pope Francis explained. “There is an ancient rule of pilgrimage that says that the true pilgrim goes at the speed of the slowest person.”
Jesus accompanies us at our side and invites us to talk about what bothers us, even to the point of feigning ignorance. “He knows our problems!” the pope said.
The Lord likes to hear us speak so He can understand us well and to give the correct response to our dissatisfaction. The Lord does not accelerate. He always goes at our own pace… He waits for us to take the first step. And when it is the right moment, He asks us a question… Then He responds. He explains up until the right point… Then He pretends to go farther, to see how deep our dissatisfaction is… Jesus is always looking for us. Always.At the moment when our restlessness encounters Jesus, the life of grace, the fullness of life, the life of the Christian journey begins there.
What did Jesus say?
Pope Francis says that he has always been curious to know what Jesus said to those two disciples “so as to do the same.” “It must have been a beautiful catechesis,” he said. Jesus accompanies us along the entire journey, even when we are not aware of His presence.
We meet Jesus in the darkness of our doubts, even in the horrible darkness of our sins. The Lord is always there to help us in our distress. He’s always with us… The Lord accompanies us because He desires to meet us. This is the core of Christianity.
The pope’s concluding prayer was that “Jesus might grant to each one of us the grace of meeting Him every day, to knowing and to specifically recognizing that He walks with us in every moment. He is our companion along the pilgrim way.”
Read more:
Did Jesus appear to a married couple on the road to Emmaus?
And today we celebrate...