During my freshman year of college, a very popular band released a very popular album that produced several major hit songs, driving the album to the top of the charts. But I want to turn our attention to a lesser known track on that album titled, “Nothing Ever Goes As Planned.” Over the years, when the best laid plans I’ve made do not go according to plan, I think of that song and it’s catchy refrain and mutter, “Boy, isn’t that the truth!”
I recalled that song recently when Gospel of Luke provided us with the account of the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Things had not gone according to plan for them. Their vision and understanding of Jesus Christ was governed by their own expectations and plans, and they did not see as God sees. Just picture these two sadly trudging the road to Emmaus. It clearly was a good time to get out of Jerusalem. There they were, downcast. Their hopes in Jesus dashed by His crucifixion and death. Their dreams of the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel shattered.
Even though they had heard the accounts of those who had seen the risen Lord, they are getting out – their faith insufficient to have complete belief in what Jesus taught, even though they heard that the Lord had risen. Nope. Best to get away. Head over to Emmaus where it’s safer – lay low for a while. Then they are joined by Jesus Christ Himself, risen and walking the world again. Those disciples did not recognize Him, and they shared their disappointments and dismay with Him. The Lord is not very patient with them, either. He calls them fools.
So, the Lord explained what his days on Earth meant. Still, there is no recognition. His breaking open of the history of salvation for them did not convince them that God’s plan was fulfilled and that the true victory had been achieved already: Jesus’ conquest of sin and death had opened the way between Heaven and Earth. When they stop for the day and have a meal with Jesus, it was when He broke open the bread that they saw and believed. Wonder, awe, understanding, and joy flooded their minds and hearts.
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They knew – truly knew – that all that had just transpired in their lives and in the lives of all who followed Jesus – the sorrows, the doubts, all those terrible days leading up to that awful moment on Calvary – all of it in the end fell into place as parts of God’s plan. Now they realized that Jesus did not come to conquer the Romans and restore the Kingdom of Israel. Something infinitely more important had occurred.
By His earthly life and sacrifices, Jesus had come to conquer death and redeem humanity. Loss became gain. Sorrow became joy. What a relief and a gift for those disciples to learn so profoundly that defeat was now victory. In his book The Shattering of Loneliness, Bishop Erik Varden (Bishop of Trondheim, Norway), says that with the breaking of the bread, Jesus, “will hold the bread of mourning up as a Eucharistic host… The old has passed. The new has come. There is a golden shimmer of glory to things (p. 162).”
Like those two disciples, all of us have walked our own roads to Emmaus. It’s unavoidable. We all experience loss in our lives, which calls us to ask ourselves: In the midst of our own road to Emmaus experiences, can we see God’s plan at work? Can we see in the pains, sorrows, disappointments, and losses the victory of God’s intentions? The answer, my friends, is – yes!
St. Therese of Lisieux learned this during her short life. When she became a Carmelite nun, she was convinced she would accomplish great things for the Lord. What a disappointment she had when she was given menial tasks like scrubbing floors and doing laundry. What greatness was there in that? She wanted to be part of the big responsibilities of her convent. It hurt. But Therese discovered that she could do those menial tasks with great love and devotion.
And here is why we say God so often works in mysterious ways. One of St. Therese’s superiors encouraged her to keep a little journal, to write down her thoughts. Listen to Therese’s own words: “The sun shines equally both on cedars and every tiny flower. In just the same way God looks after every soul as if it had no equal. All is planned for the good of every soul, exactly as the seasons are so arranged that the humblest daisy blossoms at the appointed time (The Story Of A Soul, p.3, Image Doubleday, 2001 edition).”
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After her death, the other sisters read through her journal and were deeply struck by it. They published it. And they kept on publishing it, for about 130 years now. Sr. Therese’s little way of trusting Jesus inspired millions of people, myself included. Her book was life-changing for me. Twenty eight years after her death, she was canonized a saint. In 1997, Pope St. John Paul II declared St. Therese a doctor of the Church, someone to be remembered as one of the greatest of human teachers of the Catholic faith.
We learn from St. Therese as well as the disciples on the Road to Emmaus that the Lord’s plans may not be clear right away to our human minds. It may take quite a while for us to see God’s plan at work. Maybe we won’t even completely understand it in our own lifetime. But God’s plans are always there, working in every moment of our lives. And He invites us to work with Him. So, even though have all trudged that road to Emmaus, may we also understand what a difference the presence of Christ in our lives makes.
When we trust Him with saint-like humility, our hearts and minds are opened to new ways of understanding God and His plans, deeper levels of trust in Him, living as people of Christian hope.
Bishop Varden has also said, “To have Christian hope is not to expect everything to work out all right. Not everything does. To hope is to have confidence that everything, even suffering, disappointment, and injustice, can be purposeful (Towards Dawn, Introduction, p. x).”
Through our hope and trust, we can recognize Jesus’ Real Presence in our lives, welcoming the grace that God so very much wants to pour into us so that we are renewed and restored, filled with hope and a joy that can only come from trust that leads to a deep and wonderful harmony with God, seeing every moment of life – both the good and bad – as opportunities in the life of faith and not setbacks.
That’s what those disciples on that road outside discovered and what St. Therese realized – what Church leaders like Bishop Varden and of course our own Bishop – Bishop Fernandes – teach us. I pray that all of us go forth every day to do the same.