My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me.

I adore you with profound reverence.

I ask your pardon for my sins and the grace to make this time of prayer fruitful.

My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my Father and Lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

Behold two of them, of the disciples of the Lord, were going that very day to a village named

Emmaus, which is 60 stadia from Jerusalem.

And they were talking to each other about all these things that had happened,

all the events of the passion of our Lord.

And it came to pass while they were conversing and arguing together that Jesus himself also drew near and went along with them.

But their eyes were held that they should not recognize him.

And he said to them, what words are these that you are exchanging as you walk and are sad?

Well, we are on retreat today beginning a time of prayer with our Lord.

And we have to thank him for his presence here in the Blessed Sacrament,

which is such a privilege simply to have him so close in this kind of upper room, just like the apostles, perhaps, we can

think of ourselves as the nascent church in Jerusalem, which, you know, went together with Mary, waiting for the Holy Spirit as they, you know, were praying for a conversion.

And this is what a retreat is all about, a conversion of heart. And I have chosen this theme of the road going to Amas with these two disciples,

because right in the middle, they don't get to Amas.

They actually turn around.

There's a big turnaround moment, which literally is a sign of their conversion.

Because they were running away from the cross.

They were running away from the events that they had witnessed.

They had been let down in their eyes because Jesus was supposed to, in their opinion,

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