Today is Easter Sunday, the day we have all been waiting for. Today marks the end of yet another Lent. Many experience Lent as a desert season, a time of self-emptying, endurance, and perhaps hardship and loss. This was certainly true initially for the two disheartened disciples traveling on the road to Emmaus in our Gospel reading today. Not until their journey had ended did they realize that their Savior had not abandoned them but was a steadfast companion, opening their ears and their hearts to the Truth. Thus, what was once a barren desert became the path to new life, paved with renewed hope.
Often, when we experience desert seasons, it is easy to succumb to the temptation of despair - to lament the sharp stones under our feet, the scorching heat that leaves us parched and thirsting. But Jesus calls us to be hopeful, to remember that He is our steadfast companion whose abundant grace never runs dry. If we listen as the disciples did, we will hear the voice of our steadfast companion, patiently waiting to open our ears and hearts to receive the graces that will bring us out of the desert. We, too, will travel our own road to Emmaus. We will see that the callus-bearing stones strengthened our feet for journeys ahead, and that our parched souls will be renewed by the wellspring of life-giving hope. For Jesus, our steadfast companion, will strip away our burial clothes, roll away the stone of the tomb of darkness in our souls, break the chains that bind us, and make us new. It is Jesus who will take us by the hand, lifting our faces to the light of His glory, and filling our hearts anew with a joyful, abiding, life-sustaining hope.
Today is Easter Sunday, the day we have all been waiting for. It is a day to rejoice and celebrate, to remember that grace abounds even during darkest times, to celebrate the love of our steadfast companion by whom we will never be forsaken, and to taste the living waters from the source of renewed hope and everlasting joy!