Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have felt a tightness in my heart...not in my chest muscles...not like a squeeze or any pain...just tight...all the way to my throat. There is a sensation that if I were to feel alright again...to be balanced again..that tightness would cease. What is it that causes my heart to dwell in this place that feels overwhelmed, constricted, narrow? Is it there for a purpose? Is the God of the Universe that dwells in my heart putting some pressure on me to pay attention?

Have you ever taken a walk in the woods or in a park that has natural paths laid out for hikers? I used to walk and hike alone a lot in a place called Ivy Creek in Charlottesville. It was an easy, quick drive to get to and it felt like a wilderness in the middle of neighborhoods and roads. And it was!! There were paths marked by color codes and you could really get back into some isolated areas. Sometimes the paths were overgrown and it was more like a jungle! I had done these trails for many years and had always been cautious about who was around me. I recognized I was alone in the woods but, honestly, the good of the exercise and the space to talk it out with God outweighed the bad of the fear that someone would be menacing around out there. One day I went out onto the trails and got almost to the end...it had been a LONG hike and I was desperate to get back to the car for some water. It was then that I saw two dogs: a rottweiler and a doberman pinscher joyfully running parallel to me, towards my exit path. I remember standing so still that I felt like a deer stunned into silence. My heart was pounding. I became acutely aware of the danger. I watched the two dogs and recognized that they were buddies and probably had just gotten loose. However, I also knew that as soon as they spied my movements, I could end up in big trouble if they decided to gang up on me. There was no choice. I waited until they were just out of sight and then I turned tail and ran back the entire way I had come. I did not need to look at the maps. My path to my car and to safety was crystal clear. My heart was no longer pounding from running but adrenaline and my chest was tightened up out of fear. I thought of nothing else on my way back and I never stopped running. I was terrified to cross paths with those dogs so I stayed moving towards what I knew would be a place to finally rest and no longer have to worry.

On the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), Jesus explains the scriptures and eats with the travelers and they recognize him. Jesus vanishes and in verse 32 the two ask: Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us? The two were leaving Jerusalem in total disbelief and confusion. They started down this path to Emmaus to clear their heads and try to make some sense out of all that had happened. It wasn’t until they focused on God that they found they weren’t lost or broken, they were on the right path. Their purpose and their retelling of the account would open up the setting for our modern Mass. Here’s the thing...they had to run back to the apostles and that meant they had to run toward the danger of the city. This would be like me choosing to run towards the dogs. Can you imagine your path being so clear and your witness of Christ so powerful that you would choose to run towards danger just to let people know what you saw and heard?

When the path is narrow, the way seems clearer. It’s when we have multiple paths, multiple places, multiple people we put our faith and questions to that we lose clarity. We choose indifference over the possibility that there is not one path that everyone follows but there is a path set out in front of us...just for us. It is our path and we must tend to that path. If it requires us to move towards or away from danger, can we do so because we know the way we have come? If Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, will I believe that Jesus has set up the Way by placing all the color markers and providing a map for me on my path? Will I believe that Truth is discovered on the path? Is it possible that going out and taking a hike on our path can give us time and space to encounter Jesus and hear the Truth about ourselves? Will I believe that the Life I have been given is so precious and that God protects us?

I leave you with a favorite psalm. The hymn “On Eagle’s Wings” by Michael Joncas takes these words and places it into a musical setting that is heard most often at funerals. Read Psalm 91. Read it slowly. Savor each phrase and see if your heart burns to tell you what God has planned for your life.

Psalm 91

You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shade of the Almighty, say to the LORD, “My refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust.” He will rescue you from the fowler’s snare, from the destroying plague, he will shelter you with his pinions, and under his wings you may take refuge; his faithfulness is a protecting shield. You shall not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that roams in darkness, nor the plague that ravages at noon. Though a thousand fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, near you it shall not come. You need simply watch; the punishment of the wicked you will see. Because you have the LORD for your refuge and have made the Most High your stronghold, no evil shall befall you, no affliction come near your tent. For he commands his angels with regard to you, to guard you wherever you go. With their hands they shall support you, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You can tread upon the asp and the viper, trample the lion and the dragon. Because he clings to me I will deliver him;  because he knows my name I will set him on high. He will call upon me and I will answer. I will be with him in distress; I will deliver him and give him honor. With length of days I will satisfy him, and fill him with my saving power.