The Road to Emmaus

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.”