We all walk the road to Emmaus,
A walk not too far from heart breaking affairs.
Affairs which create doubts and questions about what is possible in life.
Such happenings can engage deep conversations with friends,
Turning despair to hope, a place not too far from here.
We all walk our road to Emmaus,
We all walk the road to Emmaus,
A place not too far ahead from where we are.
Can we meet with a stranger there, as we walk our Emmaus?
With heavy heart, with life upside down, how can it be?
Today’s road is not a map, but a road straight to the heart
We all walk our road to Emmaus,
We all walk the road to Emmaus,
A place not too far ahead from where we are.
It’s a personal walk of care; a place between everyday affairs
The road is not new, but there's the stepping into your own shoes,
Because while on the road the Stranger will most likely draw near.
We all walk our road to Emmaus
We all walk the road to Emmaus,
A place not too far ahead from where you are.
And while on the road, like them, you may not recognize the one
Who heals, restores the broken heart (don’t despair) for
When heart and head our down in your boots, you need to hear
The Stranger’s whisper in your heart-ear, I hold you dear
We all walk our road to Emmaus
By Stephen Douglas
– rewrite of an old poem (31/May/2009) inspired to write about this when
attending a senior gathering at St Paul's, on Saturday 30th with JHB
(John Hedley Brown) and the speaker spoke to her title - 'A walk to Emmaus'
and the article copied below.
© stephen c douglas, 5th May 2020
Regina Coeli: With Jesus, we can face all challenges At the Regina Coeli,
Pope Francis reflects on the story of the disciples who meet Jesus on the road
to Emmaus. By Christopher Wells
At the Regina Coeli on the Third Sunday of Easter, Pope Francis reflected on the
Gospel account of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35).
“It is a story which begins and ends on the move”, the Pope said.
On the way from Jerusalem to Emmaus, the disciples are sad, although the Lord,
whom they do not recognise, is walking beside them. On the return journey,
they are joyful, because, although they no longer see Jesus, they feel Him near
them.Two different paths
Pope Francis said that these “two different paths” show us “that in life,
we have two opposite directions in front of us”. One is the path of those who
“let themselves be paralysed by life’s disappointments”, and the other is that
of those who put Jesus, and their brothers and sisters, in first place.
“Here is the turning point”, the Pope said: “to stop orbiting around oneself,
the disappointments of the past, the unrealised ideals, and to go on looking
at the greatest and truest reality of life: Jesus is alive and loves me”.
Moving from “if” to “yes”
Commenting on a play on words in the Italian, the Holy Father said we are
called to move from “if” (se) to yes (sì). We often think “if God had freed us,
if God had listened to me, if life had gone as I wanted, if I had this or that”
. That was the disciples' attitude that first Easter evening. Yet “they pass to
the ‘yes’,” the Pope said: “Yes, the Lord is alive, He walks with us. Yes, now,
not tomorrow, we are on our way to announce it”.
For the two disciples of Emmaus, this change occurred by meeting Jesus.
Pope Francis explained that, for us too, there are three steps we can take
in our own homes: opening our hearts to Jesus, listening to Jesus, and praying
to Jesus.
Choosing the way of God
“In life, we are always journeying”, the Pope reminded us. “And we become what
we go towards. Let us choose the way of God, not of the self… We will discover
that there are no unexpected events, no uphill path, no night that cannot be
faced with Jesus”.
Topics
• POPE FRANCIS
• REGINA CÆLI
• SACRED SCRIPTURE
26 April 2020, 11:02