Emmaus ~ "Aha"-lleluia!

 

 In the account of the disciples walking to Emmaus, after the experience of the crucifixion of Jesus, they headed out of town ASAP!  They were disappointed, disillusioned, disoriented, and disbelieving of the women’s message of Jesus’ resurrection. They expected Jesus to do great things and overtake the political and religious leaders – their hopes in Jesus were sealed away in the tomb with a two ton rock positioned at its entrance.  

As they were walking, they were extroverting, debating, and probably taking part in “global-whining” as to what they had recently experienced with shock and terror in Jerusalem. Along the road, Jesus meets them and they are described as having eyes cast down and hearts slow to believe. In other words, these disciples were probably experiencing their own unique form of post traumatic stress. But it is Jesus who gets them to attend to what they experienced, to recall and remember what was written in the Scriptures, and to stir up their juices of empowerment once again.  The rock was slowly being moved from their hearts, and their eyes were gently opening to the Mystery that was walking with them.  Then, noticing that it was nearly evening, they asked Jesus to stay with them, and they would chip in for the supper at the near-by inn.  

It was then at table, in the blessing of the bread, and it’s being broken and shared once again, that they recognized him.  And what’s more, they noticed that their hearts were on fire!! I am told that someplace it is written that the Jews at that time believed that there was a “connection” between one’s eyes and one’s heart – So eyes cast down leads to sad and slow to believing hearts. Yet, in the presence of the blessing and bread breaking – their eyes were opened and their hearts were set on fire! Jesus – “aha” “aha-lleluia” – He is alive – just as the women said! So they set out at once to return to Jerusalem, and “the rest is history” as the saying goes.  

So what is the Good News for us?  “There are times when we too have our hopes and expectations disappointed. We may feel that God has not treated us fairly or has abandoned us, and we are left in a state of bewilderment and confusion. Our challenge then is to accept, perhaps with difficulty, that God has not abandoned us, but is leading us to a new understanding of what our life is about. To a greater or less extent an experience of disorientation is inevitable until we get our bearings again.” (Source unknown)

Sister Helen ~ bread baker sharing her bread!

Thomas, the Believer!

This Sunday, in some places, is called, “Thomas Sunday.” Our Gospel for our liturgies includes John 20:19-31. It is the story of a week after the Resurrection event, when the disciples are crowded together again in the upper room - this time with Thomas present. He was absent from their first experience of Jesus’ appearance to them in the upper room.  So here they are again for another time of gathering to process what they have experienced and how to move forward beyond Jerusalem!

So often Thomas is associated with doubting, especially in relation to faith.  Although we hear in the other resurrection Gospels that other disciples doubted as well.  Let us not forget Mr. and Mrs. Cleopas who skipped town after the crucifixion and were “found out” on the road to Emmaus when the "Stranger" caught up with them.  However, the finger is often pointed at Thomas and we might hear the expression, “Doubting Thomas” in some gatherings.

As I reflected on this Gospel, I thought that Thomas is like many of us who sometimes just need to take leave of all the tensions, trauma, and “too muching” of highly intense events. We then struggle to get back to balance and our inner center. He just witnessed the betrayal, arrest, crucifixion, death, and burial of Jesus, whom he loyally followed for three years. Don’t we all have our own individual and unique ways of holding our pain and the ache of our grief?

Perhaps the disciples searched for Thomas, and upon finding him invited Thomas to gather with them once again as they shared their experience of the Risen Jesus. He may have felt hurt, or jealous, or  still be in pain upon hearing that Jesus appeared in the flesh to them and he was absent.  He knew what he saw and experienced as the Roman soldiers pierced the side of Jesus and nailed him to the cross. It was too much for his person to hold!  He needed space far away to let the pain of it all weave through his weary spirit.

But this time, he was in need of some facts – pie charts, bar graphs, graphics, and possibly a spread sheet with more data!  So often in our own journey of faith, have we not murmured  . . . “OK, God, show me a sign and then I’ll believe it . . .” Thomas is all of us who in our faithing have to be invited by our God again and again to trust and to risk being loved unconditionally. 

Jesus came in the way that Thomas most needed.  He instructed Thomas to put his hand in his side and fingers in the place of the nails if that is what Thomas needed.  We don’t know if he did.  But he did as with laser speed move to a deeper place of belief and exclaimed, “MY LORD and MY GOD!!"  This was Thomas’ own moment of inner rising!

So let us pray this day that the hand of God touch into the wounds of our world.  Are we not weary with the violence, wars, injustices, and deaths that humanity has inflicted upon itself and creation? 

Let us also pray that we let God’s fingers probe our minds, hearts, and spirits to release us from anything that keeps us in doubt or resistant to receiving God’s grace, mercy, and unconditional love. Peace be to all of us!!

Previously posted

In the breaking of the bread . . .

EMMAUS JOURNEY (Luke 24: 13-35)

All was chaos when he died.
We fled our separate ways at first,
then gathered again in the upper room
to chatter blue-lipped prayers
around the table where he’d talked
of love and oneness.

On the third day Cleopas and I
left for the home we’d abandoned
in order to follow him.

We wanted no part of the babble
the women had brought from the tomb.
We vowed to get on with our grieving.

On the road we met a Stranger
whose voice grew vaguely familiar
as he spoke of signs and suffering.

By the time we reached our village,
every tree and bush was blazing,
and we pressed him to stay the night.

Yet not till we sat at the table
and watched the bread being broken
did we see the light.

Irene Zimmerman, osf
From: Woman Un-Bent

 

(Previously posted)

Easter's First Responders!

On June 22, 2018, 12 members of the Thailand Wild Boar soccer team (ages 11-16) and their coach (age 25, a former Buddhist monk) entered one of the many cave networks in Thailand for a quick, relaxing excursion.  Then unexpectedly, the torrential rains began falling while they were underground, and water filled the caverns cutting them off from their exit and blocking their escape.

After nine days of being trapped one-half mile below the surface and two miles from the mouth of the cave, they were found by two British divers who were among the first responders. According to reports, they were not “panicking, crying, yelling, or depleting their resources.” Instead, they were found sitting in the darkness meditating.  “Their coach had taught them to meditate to keep them calm and preserve their energy.”

During the nearly three-week ordeal with no food or water, they drank sparingly from the fresh water that trickled from the ceiling. They were tough, resilient athletes who believed in one another as members of the Wild Boar soccer team.

Parents, friends, and people from surrounding villages set up prayer shrines and food centers for the workers, and prayed that the lost would be found – alive!

The first responders were a mix of a thousand volunteers from across the world including:
• 60 Thai Navy Seal divers
• Chinese, British and Australian cave experts
• U. S. military teams
• Other teams included translators, oxygen refueling teams, mountain climbing teams,  electricity and water management teams, kitchen teams, and spiritual support teams.
• Their equipment consisted of pumps, ropes, oxygen tanks, helicopters, medics, and  so much more.

Finally, on July 10, the 18th day, and after three previous days of rescue efforts to remove all the boys, their coach, medics and divers, all were safe and escorted off to a nearby hospital; after which, all water pumps broke and rushing waters filled the caves once again.  It was thus written:
“The rescue of Thailand’s Wild Boars’ soccer team and its coach from a flooded cave will be remembered as one of the greatest rescues of all time.”(Ottawa Citizen)

Tonight all our vigil readings speak to us that our God has always been our eternal, divine first responder, finder, and redeemer!  In our Gospel this evening, we meet our Easter women who are first responders as well.
As they begin their own early morning “excursion” to the garden cave-like tomb fully expecting to find the dead body of Jesus, they are still walking “ankle deep” in grief and sorrow, reeling from having witnessed the arrest, crucifixion, death, and burial of Jesus, their friend, leader, and teacher. 

They witness to us a determination, a courage, and resilience, much like the Thailand responders, as they carry their simple equipment of fragrant substances – spices, perfumes, and oil to anoint the body of Jesus. 

In every Gospel narrative of the Resurrection, it is always women who are the first responders to the tomb. No special teams journey with them to the tomb; no heavy-duty equipment is available to move the rock. These women, with the power of their love, magnanimous faith, trust, and bold spirits are all that is needed to respond.

Upon approaching the tomb, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, and the cohort of guards was no longer present. Moving from the dimness of the early morning light into the darkness of the cave, they soon realized that it was empty and Jesus’ body was gone! (Now we know that Jesus is truly an early riser!) 

Confused and somewhat terrified upon discovering that the body of Jesus was gone, they immediately encountered two messengers dressed in dazzling white garments. The blinding blaze from the garments flooded the entire tomb and swiftly flashed outward into the entire cosmos, dispelling Good Friday darkness and kissing all of creation with Easter energy!

The messengers ask the women why they seek the living one in a cemetery, then tell them that Jesus is risen, he is alive; he is loose among them once again!  He refuses to stay put. "He is free again to create earthquakes among the religious and political leaders, to once again empower his disciples."              
For no cross can keep him from loving us!
No sealed tomb can keep him from loving us!
No experience of death can keep him from loving us . . .

Called by God to be the first witnesses of the Resurrection, the first disciples of the Easter Good News, and first responders walking into new Easter faith, these women came to grieve, but "left with a message that would change the world."

Easter is the celebration of Jesus’ rising and ours as well . . .  for we are invited to take up where Jesus left off.   Let us recall that we moved from the darkness of the room below this chapel to blazing lights in procession, with our Easter candle illuminating our journey. This Easter light now radiates through the pathways of this house and throughout the surrounding land, dispelling the darkness of our world and blessing it with the brilliance of Resurrection joy!

• Therefore, as we experience life by embracing its joyful and sorrowful mysteries, let us move forward with Easter energy, and respond with Resurrection joy.
• As we speak the Good News of truth and spread hope as joyful witnesses – let us respond with Resurrection joy.
• As we stand up with resiliency for justice, goodness, and non-violence – let us respond with Resurrection joy.
• Finally, let us accept and embrace our God’s desire to Easter in us and remove all stones of fear or resistance from our hearts, minds, and spirits, so that we, like the women in our Scriptures, may be responders to the power of God’s love raising us up with a resilient Easter faith and bold spirits that cannot be confined.

Jean Hinderer, CSA
MH - Easter Vigil 2019

"This is my body, broken for you."

Crucifixion

Stripped of godliness,
hands hammered open,,
arms yanked wide,
the crossbeamed Christ
pours himself out
till rivers run red with
wine enough to satisfy
century-cries of thirst.

Irene Zimmerman, OSF
Woman Un-Bent

 

Crucifix in chapel of Jesuit Retreat Center, Oshkosh, WI

 

And It Was Night . . .

You stumble unseeing from the upper room
and no number of lanterns and torches can dim
your darkness now, Judas. When did you let
the light go out? When did you begin
to guard the hoard and spend starry evenings
behind drawn tent flaps, running the coins
through acquisitive fingers while the company sat
in a circle outside, breaking bread
and talking of light in the crackling campfire?

When did you fine-tune your ears to the clink
of copper and silver and gold, letting
the words of the Master fade out unheeded?
When did you start to begrudge begging hands
and when did you welcome disciples more
for the treasures they gave than the treasures they were?

Now, in the dark of Gethsemane’s garden,
you touch greedy lips to the Master’s cheek –
a cheap giveaway to your cohorts of night.

Irene Zimmerman, OSF
Woman Un-Bent



Do this in my memory . . .

Painting by Fr. Bob Gilroy

used with permission

Dec. October 29, 2017

https://www.trinitystores.com/artist/fr-bob-gilroy-sj

 

 

Once upon a time when I was attending a Holy Thursday service at a nearby parish,  there were chairs set up in the aisles along with pitchers of water, basins, and towels.  So it was that when it came to the ritual of foot washing, everyone participated. I found myself entering into the movements and happenings with such emotion, I could feel it deep in my soul space.
During this time, I watched husbands and wives washing each other’s feet, their children washing the feet of their parents. I saw sons and daughters washing the feet of their elderly parents. Children washing the feet of their siblings.  It was oh so moving that I cried throughout the whole experience, and especially as my feet were washed. What a powerful act of intimacy - an act of sacred touching, healing, welcoming, and forgiving.