A Contemplative Reflection (Luke 24:13\u201335) in the style of Imaginative Contemplation from the Jesuit Tradition inspired by the image \u201cEmmaus Road” (1992) by artist Janet Brooks-Gerloff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walk the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Feel the weight of your steps, the quiet ache of disappointment. Hope once lived here, but now it lingers as a question, we had hoped\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Around you, the figures blur, like in Brooks-Gerloff\u2019s painting, edges softened, certainty dissolving. Grief does that. It reshapes what we thought we knew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You are not alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two companions walk beside you, their conversation circling loss and confusion. And then, another presence. Not dramatic, not overwhelming. Simply there. Walking. Listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat are you discussing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The question invites truth to surface. You speak it aloud, the story, the fracture, the longing. And He does not rush to fix it. He walks at your pace, entering the sorrow rather than standing apart from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He begins to speak, drawing on memory, Scripture, promise. Not with sudden clarity, but with a slow unfolding. Something stirs. A warmth returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Were not our hearts burning within us\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stay with that feeling, the quiet rekindling of hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The road leads to the table. Evening settles. You hesitate, then ask the simplest prayer, Stay with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And He does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bread is taken, blessed, broken, given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the breaking, recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not in the walking. Not in the words. But here, in relationship, in shared presence. And then,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or perhaps not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The road is still before you, but now it is changed. The fire remains. What was blurred begins to take shape again, not as certainty, but as encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turn back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carry the flame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For even in the unrecognised, the unfinished, the uncertain,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He walks with you.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
by Virginia Fortunat\u2028<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Contemplative Reflection (Luke 24:13\u201335) in the style of Imaginative Contemplation from the Jesuit Tradition inspired by the image \u201cEmmaus Road” (1992) by artist Janet Brooks-Gerloff. Walk the road. Feel the weight of your steps, the quiet ache of disappointment. Hope once lived here, but now it lingers as a question, we had hoped\u2026 Around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":28865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t