Burning Hearts

The phrase in today's gospel that always grabs me is, "Were not their hearts buring within them as he spoke to them on the way?" I try to get in touch with scripture passages that have been very significant to me over the years, ones which evoked a passionate response. Sometimes part of discernment is being aware of what moves us, especially things from scripture of particular actions or atttitudes of Jesus.



For me this story is always moving as well as the one about the woman at the well and the one about Jesus being the vine and our being the branches. I can also remember a time when Jesus' cure of the blind man moved me deeply.



I look for patterns. It seems to be that I am moved by stories in which people begin to see what was hidden from them before and also the sense of the life-giving connection that we have with Jesus. It appears then not only that it is important to me to see and understand and to feel a close presence of Jesus, but that I am called to bring those elements into the lives of others. There are clues to our call in the patterns of our responses.



Today the disciples are so wrapped up in their disappointment and sorrow that they do not see. They do not recognize Jesus even when he is walking with them. Two things open their eyes. One is being called back to the scripture and the other is breaking bread. If we are in a process of discernment about our life choices, we do well to spend time daily with scripture, look for patterns in our life of what moves us and participate in the Eucharist whenever we can.