Today’s blog is a reflection written from the point of view of the disciple who was walking with Cleopas on the road to Emmaus. I pray it helps you to enter into the story.

Have you ever gone long distance walking? Most people have at some stage in their lives, and it was something I enjoyed doing, even though it was the primary means of travel anyway. Somehow it helped to clear my head, so I would go when I was worried, stressed, confused, sad. I would walk to all kinds of places, along clearly defined paths and through scrubland, through desert like places where the dust would coat my feet, and along the shore where the gentle waves would cool me after a long day, over rocks, up mountains, through tall grass, – you name it, and it is likely to be territory that I have traversed.

A beautiful resurrection story worth reflecting on during Eastertide is that of Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18). In this reflection, Mel shares what the experience of Jesus calling her by name could have been like. Have a read, and ponder with Jesus how he calls you to respond.

Do you remember what it was like to learn to share? That grudging allowing of someone else to have or use a toy that you wanted? Do you remember how excruciating it felt? Like it was killing you on the inside?

When I was sixteen, I participated in the local cathedral passion play. As there are never enough boys wanting to be part of such things, I was given the role of St Peter. At the second-last rehearsal, we were given our costumes, and I was somewhat disappointed to find that mine was a purple sheet folded in half with a slit for my head and two seams up the sides to create arm-holes. Surely St Peter deserved something better!

I’ve stopped counting the number of engaged couples who have moaned to me about the all-consuming nature of planning a wedding. Their desire is to commit their lives to one another, not to host a huge event! But for almost the entirety of their engagement, the relationship is subsumed by details that seem far away from the heart of what they are doing: invitations, menus, clothes, decorations…