Who Are You Walking With Today?

This Sunday's Gospel is a favorite of so many of us; the story of the road to Emmaus. There's a lot to like in this Easter Sunday appearance.

The mystery of why the disciples didn't recognize Jesus,
the utter humanity of their sorrow and surprise at his apparent ignorance of the week's events.
His seeming playfulness with them.
The suspense of knowing what will come when they sit down to table together and
the wonder of what happens there.
The passion that causes their race back to Jerusalem and the others to share what had happened to them.

My focus rests today on the companionship of the two disciples, as well as lengths that Jesus goes to in order to explain lessons of scripture to them both. I put before myself and you, two simple questions: who are you spending these days with and what are you learning today?

One of the beautiful aspects of this story is the message of accompaniment. Those two disciples, in their sorrow after Good Friday, are off on a journey together. I would imagine their conversation to be one where they are trying to figure out what had just happened, where things had somehow gone 'wrong', what their next steps might be, what would the future look like going ahead. They surely consoled one another. Maybe at some points there were tears, hopefully a moment or two of fond memories of the time they shared with Jesus and some laughter.

When Jesus enters into their conversation, the care he takes to help them understand scripture, to teach them what they need to know in order to put those recent events into some kind of understanding is such a loving thing for him to do. He's trying to give them the tools they will need as they move forward into the future. Setting them up for success as disciples in the days to come.

Who are your companions today, during these days of uncertainty? Who are you sharing life with? How are you helping one another to cope with the unknown? What are the stories you share and how are you hopeful for whatever the future may bring? How are you praying with one another?

What are you learning today? How are you stretching your mind and heart? How are you growing so as to be better prepared to be a more loving, more thoughtful disciple when we are allowed to go forth and move out of our Pandemic caves, and back into a world searching for new ways to be connected as community?

We don't know how long we will be living in this uncertainty. Let's do our best to use this time well and to value our companions on this journey. The world will need us to be prepared when we come out of our homes, to be creative new thinking disciples for the community we will be re entering. Until then, cherish your companions on this journey.