Open The Eyes Of My Heart Lord

This is a first draft of my reflection for the Gospel on Sunday, April 26th that was written a few weeks ago at 1:30 AM. Yes, I am very early, but I will be preaching that day so I wanted to start early.

"With that, their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight." These are the words that conclude the Gospel reading today - The road to Emmaus. This story is very near and dear to my heart and I have a strong connection to it. In addition to being one of my favorite Gospel passages, it is the name of the first retreat I attended while at Canisius High School. Emmaus, an experience I will never forget.

Every time I hear this story, I can't help but be perplexed. How did the two travelers not realize they were walking side by side with the risen Christ? We hear that they recount the resurrection story to Jesus and that they long for their savior when He is in fact in their very midst. How could they have been so blind?

But would we be any different? Would we have been able to tell that we were walking with Jesus? In my humble opinion, I think it is no mistake that only one of the travelers, Cleopas, is named - the other left to our imagination. I think the second traveler is unnamed so we can easily insert ourselves into the situation to ponder how we would react.

It's also interesting to note the way Jesus approaches Cleopas and you in the story. There is no Sermon on the Mount, no blinding Transfiguration, no burning bush. Just a simple, plain, ordinary guy walking down the road. The Disciples and all of Jesus' followers were anticipating a glorious return from Him - of course it would have been easy to overlook this man walking to Emmaus.

When are the times in our lives that we have been blinded to God working in our lives? When were the occasions that we were just too busy to slow down and recognize God working in and among us? We have become conditioned to expect immediate gratification in our society - Fast food, 8 minute abs, and now DVR where we don't even need to sit through commercials anymore because we can fast forward through them. We need to slow down, take a few deep breaths, and listen to our lives speaking to us. We need to be attentive to the people we interact with and the events that play out on a daily basis. We might just hear the answers to our prayers.

Students will often ask me if their prayers are answered and I like to say there are three answers we can receive from God: (1) yes, (2) No, and (3) Not now. And that third answer is the hardest for us to deal with because it usually doesn't happen according to our schedule. And worse yet, if we're too busy, we can miss the answer completely and think we got a "no." Surprisingly enough, the movie "Evan Almighty" starring Steve Carrell has some amazing theological points in it. In response to a question regrading prayer Morgan Freeman, who plays the role of God, tells the person his take on prayer. He says: When a person prays for strength, does God give them strength or the opportunity to be strong? if they pray for courage, does God give them courage or the opportunity to be courageous? if they pray for love, do they get love, or the opportunity to be loving?

How many times have we been blinded to Jesus walking with us? How many times will you now take the extra moment to see God in all things - to appreciate God's active and loving role in your life?

With that, our eyes were opened and we recognized him, but He vanished from our sight.