"After Emmaus"- a Prayerful, Poetic Reflection by Janice Sevre-Duszynska, ARCWP

Janice Sevre-Duszynska, ARCWP, Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests presides at liturgies in Lexington, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio.

Jesus was changed.  His friends didn’t recognize him at first.

He didn’t smell like death.

What did they know of a resurrected body?

What do we know?

They ate what food was around.

Only in the breaking of the bread…

the mystery of sharing with community…

did they recognize the Nonviolent One –Who offers us friendship.

 In this space – they all ate and we all eat together. 

A WOW moment—a recognition takes place:

We witness the Christ and She appears in everyone.

We rise up again and again as he taught us, as we need to.  Resurrection’s not a one-time deal.

When we’re in that space, the peace of Christ,

 we never want to leave it…

Yes, Jesus suffered like we do.

We recognize him as we touch his wounds…

and relate to our own.

Sometimes we can even help each other heal when we break bread, when we share in his rising from the dead.

Isn’t it something how death loses its sting

Through his rising from the dead

If we’d only believe

That eternity’s already underfoot

We’re already there

So what can we fear?

Except encountering the freedom to be ourselves.

to hear the Spirit moving through us, calling us to new life. Inspiring us, gracing us to mold and shape and bring forth the Kin-dom.

Imagine, how the friends of Jesus must have felt after he died. How lonely and confused and distraught beyond belief they were. Truly,

they were numb with fear.

Until Easter morning transformed the world

And birthed the non-finality of death.