Over the weekend we attended Doug and Salwa’s wedding in
Lodi. Doug is our neighbor’s most lovely and kind son. It was a beautiful event and a peaceful
weekend. On Sunday while Joe was checking
out of our hotel in Stockton, I was standing outside, enjoying the warm weather
and sun on my face. There was a man that was walking towards me, small in
stature, smiling as he passed, roughly 60 years old. As he passed we exchanged
smiles, his was contagious and I was already filled with a joyful glow of a
lovely weekend. After he passed and rounded the corner it dawned on me that perhaps
He was Jesus. I recall another time in 2001, after mass at St. Catherine’s, a
mysterious man approached, also with a smile and he handed me a book: He and I, by Gabrielle Bossis, translated and
condensed by Evelyn M Brown. I have not
thought about that day since just now, and I went to my bookshelf and I had
kept this book. So many of my books I pass along, however this one I kept. I had written in the front of the book, the
date I received it and the name of the man who gave it to me: Dominus. I only
know his name, as I had never seen him and thought he must be new to our parish
and so I asked him his name as I thanked him for the book. I never saw him again. It was as random as I
am describing, a man, walks up hands me a book, I ask his name, He tells me and then I
never see him again. My good friend Pierre told me Dominus translated from Latin
means Master. This brings me to my
insight for this blog: were those two occasions
my own road to Emmaus, where I spend a brief moment with Jesus and not realize
it until later? Have you had an Emmaus experience? OK, you won’t believe the end of this blog,
as I was leafing through the pages of the book He and I, before returning it to my
bookshelf, a book mark fell out, with this quote from St. Augustine: “and he departed
from our sight that we might return to our heart, and there find Him. For He
departed, and behold, He is here.”
