Insights from the Road to Emmaus

Each week we take a different text or scripture or poem , or maybe an idea from the Holy Spirit , and we use that idea or poem or song to help us reflect more deeply on our grief and God's place in our life and God's place next to us as we grieve . Please remember you're always welcome in our circle of healing , love and support .

We all know the story of the road to Emmaus , how two men traveling in grief don't recognize that the man who joins them on the road is in fact the person whom they grieve . Jesus accompanies them on this road and it isn't until the three men stop for a meal that the two realize who has been their companion . So it is in our own grief .

We have companions along the way . Parts of the road may seem dark and dreary and many times it feels like we are alone , but on that road God travels with us . He makes certain we are cared for . He makes certain we stop for a meal . He makes certain we don't wander off the road into the wilderness .

So it was that I felt this week , after an opportunity to get together with many of the people who traveled this grief road with me , that I remembered how important those companions are when you get to a certain age , and almost everyone has experienced a loss , a significant loss , and they've all been through something like you've been through significant .

This doesn't mean that any two experiences are the same , because people's grief is as different as people's fingerprints , as individual as their lives are individual and special as their relationships were special with the people they have lost .

Now we are told in Luke that when the three men sat down to eat and broke bread together , their eyes were opened and Jesus disappeared . I think this is so much like a grief journey . Some of us become contented because our loved one who is no longer on this earth with us . The spirit of them is so near .

We talk to them as if they're still in the room with us , as if they're still beside us and of course they're not . And when we realize they're not , we feel like those two disciples at the table when Jesus is gone .

Many stories in the Gospels about the various sightings of Jesus after he has been crucified and risen are comfort to the survivors , to the surviving disciples and those who believed . They don't understand this miracle and maybe it's the only way Jesus could reassure them , not of His Majesty or Divinity , but of His love for them .

How determined that love was , how certain , how true , and that it was only His physical presence that could remind them and reassure them and comfort them .

So it is , as we grieve , the only thing , the only tiny corner of that grief that reassures us is that love , because the first time after a loss , when we take that love out and examine it , we try to put it in our hand as a precious jewel . We recognize it . It's so familiar .

If it was a garment you could put it on and it would be comforting , comforting and familiar . That love lives on , it's with us always , whether we carry it in a pocket or wear it around our neck or put it on a shelf we can look at every morning .

We carry it with us , we carry that reassurance of love that Jesus gave to his disciples , that he gives continuously to us and reminds us of our love for the departed and their ongoing love for us .

That brings to a close another episode . I'm Candee Lucas , your host , aftercare coordinator for Catholic Cemeteries in San Jose , Chaplain and Spiritual Director . Please support us by subscribing on Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , Amazon Music or Spotify . You can contact us through the telephone number or email in the show notes .

W e always welcome your comments and suggestions for future episodes . Spiritual direction is always available for those who are grieving through Catholic cemeteries . Be gentle with undefined . Travel with God, vaya con Dios .