STAY WITH JESUS

Have you lost someone or something? We look or long for the things and persons we have lost in our life. Normally, we look for the lost things or person in the last place where we had them. We keep on going back to places we had frequented with a departed loved one so that we may be reminded of their presence.

In the gospel, after losing Jesus, two disciples were walking away from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They long for Christ, but they did not dare to remain in Jerusalem to look and long for Christ in the place where they probably met Him. Perhaps out of fear of suffering the same fate as their Master, they left. Though they long to understand what had happen to Jesus, their fear prevented them from doing so. Jesus was suddenly in their midst; in the midst of their confusions, fears, and faltering faith. He accompanied them in the search for understanding. When darkness was about to envelop them, they invited Jesus: stay with us Lord. He accompanied them through familiar events; through their “Jesus experience”: the breaking of bread. There they recognized Jesus and understood everything. Their heart and faith were enflamed and burning, so much so that they returned to Jerusalem and proclaimed their encounter with the Risen Lord. 

In our confusions and fear, God takes the initiative to strengthen us that we may overcome our fears. When our faith falters, and the light of our lamps is fading, the Lord enters the dark scene. But like the two disciples, do we have the same enthusiasm to invite the Lord (stay with us Lord) so that we may understand fully; that we may experience and recognize Him more? More than us inviting Jesus to stay with us, do we dare to stay with Lord and not walk away from Him and from our faith in Him; to courageously live our faith even in places that may endanger our life? Or do we run away? We can be strengthened by Christ if we desire so. We can be strengthened by Christ through the community he founded, the Church. We can always find the comforting presence of Christ through our shared experiences of God. Like coals gathered together, our Christian faith can remain burning by the warmness we can share with one another especially to those who had grown cold in their faith.

When our faith grows colder and we lose our trust in God, we are invited to remain in Jesus, to remain in His Church and to beg the good Lord to stay with us. And God will be our strength and source of light. His Church will keep us warm. Concretely, He gave us the Eucharist to nourish us with His words, and his very body and blood to sustain us in colder and darker days of our faith.

Stay with Jesus!