+JMJ+ Tonight I was reading in the devotional, In Conversation with God, Vol. 2 (see notes below) for Wednesday in the Octave of Easter. The chapter talks about the disciples on the way to Emmaus, part of the readings for the day’s Mass, and the title is “Letting Oneself be Helped.” Sometimes that is the hardest thing, isn’t it? Asking for help. Letting someone help us. Surrendering that insistence on doing things our own way when clearly our own way isn’t working. Or isn’t working as well as it could be. Or is actively working against us. Surrendering control, allowing someone else to decide how to help us and when, and what we need to do. We balk at it naturally. But what if the One trying to help us is the Lord? Do we balk at His direction? Do we refuse to let Him help us?

Sadly, we often do reject His help. As if He didn’t know better than anyone what we truly need. As if He didn’t have our best interests at heart, knowing better than anyone else what we need, He Who loves us more than anyone could, He Who made us and knows everything about us and loves us even so. The disciples on the road to Emmaus think everything they hoped for is now a lost cause. They don’t even recognize that Jesus, the One in Whom they had placed their hopes, is walking right beside them, and, later, sitting with them, opening the Scriptures to them, showing them that they have no reason to despair and every reason to keep trusting the One they claim to have trusted before. All they have to do is let Him speak to them. All they have to do is open heart and ears and the ears of their heart. And He will speak to them. And they do and He does.

And He will speak to us if we open our heart and open our ears and open the ears of our heart. He loves us more than we love ourselves. We need to do what He says do, but in order to do that, first we must listen to His Voice. Our Good Shepherd will not lead us astray or leave us without hope.

Thou hast made us for Thyself
And our hearts are restless
Until they rest in Thee.
–St. Augustine, Confessions

Thank you for visiting and reading. Comments and feedback welcome. And may this be the year we allow ourselves to be helped, and may we become, through His grace, the saints the Lord means us to be. God bless you, every one, and may His peace be always with you. +JMJ+

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Notes and Links

• In Conversation with God, Meditations for Each Day of the Year, Vol. 2: Lent, Holy Week, Eastertide. Paperback (the description says paperback but mine has a vinyl cover with a ribbon marker and a lovely dust jacket with artwork, Noli me Tangere, “in the style of Orcagna”), Kindle, split into two parts: Part 1, Lent and Holy Week and Part 2, Eastertide. (Amazon affiliate links, see Full Disclosure below).
• Mass readings for the day: USCCB.
• Mass Readings Explained, by Brant Pitre. “A Bible study with Dr. Pitre focusing on the Sunday Mass Readings: In-depth, full length Bible study on [a] the Gospel readings, connecting them with the Old Testament reading and Responsorial Psalm, as well as a second video dedicated to the 2nd reading (usually from an epistle of St. Paul) for each Sunday Mass.” And more. Highly recommended!

Images: On the Road to Emmaus, by Robert Zünd, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. The Supper at Emmaus, by Jan Cossiers, via WikiArt, public domain. The Lost Sheep, by Alfred Soord. Gentle Jesus, Good Shepherd, Rosary Team, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. In the Rosary Project banner: Christ Crowned with Thorns, Carlo Dolci, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

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