From the time I was a little boy, simply wanting to stay up late, until he was forced to retire a few years ago, I always looked forward to the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon. I would watch the very end when Jerry Lewis would sing "You'll never walk alone". Beautiful lyrics: "when you walk through a storm hold your head up high. Walk on! Walk on! with hope in your heart, and you'll never walk alone. You'll never walk alone!"
In life we are challenged to walk on; to move forward toward our destination. Often our destinations are places of hope, of joy of promise and sometimes our destinations are places of concern, disappointment and pain. Still we walk on, still we keep moving forward to our destination.
As people of faith, Jesus walks with us; now and all the way to our ultimate destination. And we never walk alone!
Since Easter we have been reading the post-Resurrection stories from all four Gospels. Today, we have the Gospel of Luke and one of the last post-Resurrection stories. We have just heard about the road to Emmaus and soon we will arrive at the Ascension of the Lord. During this time Jesus kept coming to His apostles. Having already showed the depth of His love in the Resurrection, Jesus still walked with His followers and kept coming to them; to help them realize that it is He and not a ghost; not their imagination, Jesus is truly risen! Jesus never withholds His real presence from His Apostles and still today does not withhold His real presence from us!
For 2,000 years now Jesus keeps walking with us; He keeps coming to us. In so many and various ways Jesus keeps revealing Himself to us. Even if we fail to come toward him, he still comes toward us! He comes to us in the Church that he founded and left us. When the Church teaches us, gives us the Sacraments, forgives us and shows us love, it is Jesus teaching, offering, forgiving, loving each one of us. Jesus taught us: he who hears you, hears me. Jesus reveals Himself to us in the Sacraments; these outward and visible signs of an inner and not so visible grace. In Baptism, Communion and Confirmation, Jesus, through his Church, initiates us into his one body, into our faith! In Reconciliation and the Anointing of the Sick, Jesus comes to us with his forgiveness, his mercy and his healing. Yes, some 2,000 years later, Jesus still binds wounds and heals hearts and minds and souls. In Holy Matrimony, one man and one woman, and Holy Orders, Jesus comes to us in service, his service to each of us.
Jesus reveals Himself to us in every Mass, in every Eucharist, his body broken for us and his blood poured out for us. Jesus is still coming to us in his Word which we hear proclaimed every time we gather for Mass. And there is another way, perhaps the one way we least think about. Jesus is still coming to us, still walking to us in our brothers and sisters. How many times this week will Jesus come to us in one of them and we fail to recognize Him?
Jesus may reveal Himself to us in the simple moments spent between a parent and a child and a husband and a wife. Jesus may come to us in an unborn child longing to be born and at the same time in that frightened mother, unwed and pregnant and unsure what to do. Jesus may come to us in a senior citizen who misses their spouse or has not been visited by family for way too long, Jesus may come to us in the beggar who really wants something to eat while we debate if they are hungry or faking it. Jesus may come to us in the immigrant who longs to be a citizen of a land that gives him and his family a chance. Jesus may come to us in the prisoner, who like the rest of us, is working out his salvation in fear and trembling Jesus comes to us in those who need us to be their hands and their feet, their eyes and their voice. Yes, Jesus comes to us in those who have made mistakes, those needing forgiveness, those struggling with illness or addiction, those different in color, sexual orientation, or language. Jesus comes to us in those who have no where to sleep tonight or will get no sleep tonight keeping vigil bedside of a loved one dying. Jesus comes to us in our own family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and a million other ways; Jesus is coming to us, Jesus is revealing Himself to us; will we see Jesus? Do we recognize Jesus in all the beautiful and wonderful ways He comes to us?
With the Gospel in front of us, can we pray in the week ahead and ponder how did Jesus reveal Himself to me this week?
Yes, Jesus is still walking with us, he walks toward us, never allowing us to ever be alone; revealing Himself to us so we always recognize Him. May we embrace the Risen Jesus in our lives, in our faith and in our brothers and sisters!
Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, and you'll never walk alone; you'll never walk alone!
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