Third Sunday of Easter
The Road to Emmaus: Following the Spirit’s Intoxicating Call
Baikauskas,
Associate Pastor
~ Sunday’s Gospel is a story of intoxicating excitement—it is “the rest of the story” about Emmaus. We know the story itself, where a couple of disciples are walking away from Jerusalem to a small town, full of disappointment, sadness, and uncertainty.
We are all on our own journeys of faith. Sometimes, like those disciples, we might feel our journey is taking us away from our own Jerusalem, away from Jesus. Other times, we might find ourselves traveling exactly the way our Lord desires, but we dig in our heels because we simply do not want to go. The Holy Spirit is constantly guiding us, but surrendering to that guidance requires trust.
I have been reflecting deeply on this as I prepare for a new journey of my own. I have been called to serve at the Catholic Center at the University of Chicago. This new assignment will take me back to a ministry I feel profoundly called to and have loved deeply throughout my priesthood—campus ministry. I have seen the profound joy in young students who are so excited about their faith and about talking about it that they want the feeling to remain and not be lost. At the same time, this call requires me to leave a ministry I truly love here, serving all of you in the community of Saint Margaret of Scotland.
These moments of transition, these profound calls from the Lord, can be overwhelming. I hope this story on the road to Emmaus helps each of us remember a time in our lives when we experienced moments of excitement that felt like intoxication. There have been extraordinary moments in my life that are hard even for me to take in, especially surrounding my entry into life as a priest—the moment of my vows and ordination—moments of weeping for joy and being intoxicated by the moment.
When the disciples finally recognized Christ when he broke the bread, they ran to Jerusalem as fast as they could to tell the others. Their sense of astonishment and intoxication returned. We all want that kind of feeling to remain—not to lose it—even when we know realistically that it cannot go on forever.
We are meant to cherish these mountaintop experiences, these intoxicating seasons of life and ministry, but we are not called to stay in them indefinitely. The Holy Spirit has a way of calling us forward, asking us to break camp and travel to new places. Jesus patiently does what he needs to do to break down our disbelief, showing us that our own intoxication with our faith will change the world.
As my journey shifts toward Chicago and yours continues here at Saint Margaret, the work of the Gospel remains the same. There comes a time when we have to take ownership of our faith. We can’t expect to sit benignly in the pews and expect to become excited by our faith. It needs to be lived every day in a dozen different ways.
We can start this moment—letting our faith come alive in us. Let us allow ourselves to be intoxicated by what we believe, recognizing the incredible reality of what Christ has done for each of us. There are so many ways we can do that, so let us begin today, and our faith will excite us in ways we’ve never imagined.
I will miss you! Let us continue to pray for one another as we continue our journeys of faith.
