Pilgrims on a Journey
- Fr Raphael Ma, CR
- Luke 24: 13 - 35
A Resurrectionist Vocation Minute for April 23, 2023 – 3rd Sunday of Easter
Pilgrims on a Journey
The story of the Road to Emmaus which we hear this Sunday is near and dear to the hearts of many people. It seems to contain all the essential elements of Christian life in this world as we find it, in between the Resurrection of Jesus and the day of His Second Coming. There’s experiences of losing hope, and of beginning to walk away. There’s the presence of the Risen One we do not always recognize in our midst. There’s the encounter with the Risen Jesus in Word and Sacrament, and finally there’s the returning to the community of disciples and sharing the good news of our encounter with the Risen Lord.
In the third Eucharistic Prayer, we ask God to “Be pleased to confirm in faith and charity your pilgrim Church on earth.” Something that I don’t think we always appreciate is that the Church is not a static institution, but always a pilgrim Church, a Church “on the way.” This is in large part what the upcoming Synod on Synodality is trying to emphasize, to recover and better live this out as a Church on all levels.
At the level of our individual vocations, like the disciples on the Road to Emmaus, we too are “on the way,” we are pilgrims on a journey. So look around, who are your fellow pilgrims? Who are you walking with? Who is walking with you? Where are you going? How is the Risen Jesus in your midst?
“…We call others, especially youth and families, to communities of the Risen Christ in which faith, hope and love radiate as a sign of union with Christ and his mother, Mary, in the Church. We are convinced that to do this our Congregation must be a model of Christian community in which people are one in heart and mind.”