1. There was a man on the way.
They saw him and asked if
he would like to join them on
their journey. They would like
the company if for nothing
more than a distraction from
their grief at the death of their
loved one. And as they sat
breaking bread and hearing
familiar words and recalling
what their loved one said
about being with them again,
they looked at each other and
then at the fellow traveler
through their Jesus’ eyes of
enlightenment and their eyes
were opened to the presence
of their loved one among
them.

2. There was a man standing on
the shore. The fishers weren’t
having any luck. The man said
to put the net on the other side.
Maybe that was a hint. Jesus
had kept asking them to look
at things from a different per-
spective. A net full of fish follow-
ed. The man stood by the fire and
invited the fishers to join him for
breakfast. They broke the fast
of life without Jesus as with
grief-stricken eyes transformed
to the enlightened eyes of Jesus,
they saw Jesus in the man before
them.

3. The man sat in the silence,
breathing in slowly, breathing
out slowly — over and over
and over and when he looked up
he began to see life differently.
He saw the fearful, the angry,
those who were one step away
from violence and in the silence
he heard the words, “Lo, I am
with you always till the close
of the age,” and he thought
perhaps he was seeing Jesus in
all those he saw in his mind’s
eye, everyone. And then he
squinted and rubbed his eyes
and he just shook his head, “Not
quite there, yet,” and then he
heard, “Well, life’s a journey
and we are breaking the fast
of grief.”