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This past week our Diocese had our Clergy Conference, and the speaker for this event was The Rev. Dr. Mark Francisco Bozzuti-Jones, a priest at Trinity Wall Street in New York and, as it turned out, a former Jesuit.
Now you may have heard of the Jesuits as a monastic order, though you may not know they were founded all the way back in the 1540s by the incredibly spiritual Ignatius of Loyola, who even created his own spiritual exercises.
It was exciting for me having a former Jesuit priest lead our session because he threw in a lot of Ignatian exercises. This took me back to my own experience years ago at Sacred Heart Retreat Center in Colorado. As part of my retreat there I was assigned a spiritual director who led me in some of Ignatius’ exercises. One of these moments involved my director telling me to picture Jesus greeting me on my way home from the retreat and needing a place to stay. After a week of doing these sort of exercises, it was very easy to fall into this rhythm and actually picture Jesus in my head. This image has stayed with me over the years. It’s not quite the Jesus we see depicted in our art work at church. This was Jesus with darker hair, darker than mine even, with a beard maybe not quite as well kept as what we often see, yet still lovely. The hue of his skin was much darker than mine, as it would have been for an early A.D. middle-eastern man. I was living in Montana at the time, so the image of Jesus came to me in flannel and jeans. This was a Jesus who was loving and smiling and very easy to be around.
This moment of experiencing Jesus this way was very powerful for me. The Rev. Dr. Bozzuti-Jones leading us in these exercises was a great moment for me because as he led us through these same type of exercises, calling us to see Jesus walking before the Disciples, I started to see this same image of Jesus. It was an encounter that recalled my earlier encounter. It was a moment when I once again got an unexpected experience of Jesus.
That is what is occurring in our Gospel reading today: a surprise encounter with Jesus. As with my own, it wasn’t planned for. It fell in the laps of Cleopas and his companion on their way to Emmaus.
Here they are, thinking Jesus is dead. Yet here they are encountering Him, though they know Him not. Though Jesus tells them the truth behind everything that has happened, the reason even why it had to happen, they still don’t recognize Him. Even with all the truth they hear, it is not until they see Jesus perform an action He has done in front of them many times before, breaking the bread to begin their feast, that their eyes are open and they know Him. It is not until the end of their experience that they come to understand what exactly has happened.
Jesus appears to us when we least expect it in surprising and new ways. It is only by being prepared, by having a relationship with Jesus already, that we can know Him when these moments occur. It is only by preparing ourselves that we can see Jesus when He comes, even if only at the last moment.
We do not come to know the Truth without first turning to our Lord. That is what both Acts and 1 Peter tell us today. The true encounter with God comes from Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus alone.
The point of life, our purpose in this world even, is to come closer in relationship with God, and in doing so help bring others to Him as well. Jesus will always surprise us. We do not know when we encounter Him on the way. Yet Cleopas and his friend knew Him because they had seen Him before. They just hadn’t realized the full Truth yet.
Even for me, when I have encountered Jesus, though a surprise, I cannot truly say that it occurred when I wasn’t looking. I went to Sacred Heart hoping to deepen my relationship with God. I went to Clergy Conference hoping to learn more about our Lord. God continues to surprise us, yet we are called to take those moments to be ready for that surprise.
This is what the work of the church is about. It’s not about providing a social club or gathering. It’s not about simply coming because we’ve always come here, because “it’s tradition.” It’s not even about fulfilling some sort of sense of “duty”. We are here to deepen our relationship with God. We are here to come closer to Jesus. We are here to prepare ourselves so that we might know our Lord even in the simple act of just getting ready to prepare a meal. We are here to get to know Jesus better, and then to do all the good works that come after.
If you need help along your way, then this is the time and place to turn to receive that aid. My role as pastor, priest, and teacher is to assist you along that way. Yet I hope that you will also turn to your fellow Christian sitting by you as well. Who knows? Maybe turning to that person will be the moment you see the face of Jesus. Maybe that other person will be that road to Emmaus for you so that you can recognize our Lord as He breaks bread together with you.