Disciples on the Road to Emmaus
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29 April 1990
Emmitsburg, Maryland

My dear Sisters,

The Emmaus incident, as recounted by St. Luke, could be described as one of the finest short stories in all literature. It is a story which begins in sadness and ends in joy. It is a story which begins in a mood of disillusionment and ends in one of hope. It is a story that describes how Christ gently put light where there was darkness and faith where there was unbelief. Above all, it is a story that speaks volumes about the humility, sensitivity and gentleness of Christ.

The incident opens in a mood of depression. The two disciples are walking away from Jerusalem, sad and disheartened. They are joined by the Risen Christ, who perhaps noticing their sadness, sympathetically asks them, "What matters are you discussing, as you walk along?" (Lk 24:17).

Often the best help we can offer a person who is depressed is to afford them an opportunity of talking. And Jesus Christ does exactly that when He encounters the depression of the two disciples. So often depressed people seek only a listening ear, or rather I should say--a listening heart. By listening attentively and lovingly to them, He drained the depression out of them.

I am sure that many of you here have discovered in your work for the poor that, while their material needs are often great, their spiritual needs may be greater still.

I am sure, too, that many of you have discovered that on many occasions, when the poor present a problem to you or seek your advice, you come eventually to realize that their real need is not your advice, but rather the sympathy of your listening heart. Often I feel that I have given advice to people when what they were really asking for was understanding and compassion. They were seeking rather a listening heart than a speaking bureau of information. Perhaps words like "What you ought to do is..." come too easily to our lips when people are sharing their pain or their difficulties with us.

In the dialogue between Our Lord and the two disciples, did you notice the slight note of sarcasm used by the disciples? "You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these days." (Ibid., v. 18). Jesus ignored the note of sarcasm and simply asked, "What things?". It is always wise to ignore sarcasm, and more wise never to employ it, for it is a very wounding weapon.

When Jesus had by His loving and attentive listening lifted the disciples out of their depression and thus given them joy, He went on to open the meaning of the Scriptures to them. Did you notice, too, the delicacy of Christ? "He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying 'Stay with us, for it is towards evening and the day is now far spent.'" (Ibid., vv. 28-29). If Our Lord's ignoring of the sarcasm of the two disciples was an indication of his gentleness, then His unwillingness to force His company on the disciples was a manifestation not only of his respect for their persons, but also of that humility of heart which He asked us to learn from Him.

Gentleness and humility of heart are the only two virtues which our Lord asked us to learn from Him. He may have told us to be charitable, to forgive those who offend us and so on, but there are only two virtues He asked us to learn from Him, that of gentleness and of humility.

Some time ago the thought occurred to me that all our failings could be traced back to a lack of gentleness or a lack of humility. List any of the defects you recognize in yourself, and see if they be not rooted in a lack of gentleness and humility: our impatience, our aggression, our stridency, our rudeness, our jealousy, our boastfulness. All these flourish in the garden of our souls because we have failed to learn gentleness and humility from the shepherd of our souls, Jesus Christ.

The gentleness I speak of is not weakness but rather it is strength controlled. The world has much need of that gentleness which is strength controlled, which is the gentleness of Christ. Strong public protest about one issue or another is a phenomenon of our day. Marches of angry men and women are a familiar sight on our streets. I like very much St. Peter's counsel to the Christian women of his day: "Your adornment is rather the hidden character of the heart, expressed in the unfading beauty of a calm and gentle disposition." (1 Pt 3:4). That is an ideal for any Daughter of Charity in the living of her vocation, expressing at all times "the unfading beauty of a calm and gentle disposition." (Ibid.).

Humility is not the most spoken of virtues today. Our age places much value on self-expression and on what each person thinks, and humility often finds itself relegated to a back place in the Christian scale of values. It merits, I think, more frequent meditation on our part, for it is humility that marked so forcefully the entry of Our Lord into life, and it was humility that distinguished His passing from this world. St. Paul saw the point clearly when he wrote: "Christ humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to death on a cross." (Phil 2:8).

So let me end this homily by simply and humbly asking for us all from the Christ of Emmaus that we would come to know more deeply the value of gentleness and humility on the journey of life which we are making in His company at the present time towards the Heavenly Jerusalem. May we not only know what gentleness and humility are, but may we also, through God's grace, give proof of them to those whose lives, inside or outside the Community, we daily touch.

"May God be pleased," prayed St. Vincent, "to grant the Company the grace to study especially and above all the means of acquiring this holy virtue of humility.... Yes, my brothers, I repeat it, we should run after the acquisition of this virtue of humility. May His Divine Majesty be pleased to grant us this grace." (Repetition of Prayer, 1 Nov. 1657).

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