In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen, my Lord and my God,

I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, and 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.

The overall title of this prolonged conversation with Jesus, the resurrected Jesus during this Easter

season, is going to and from Emmaus.

This celebrated trek from Jerusalem to Emmaus is one of the main themes of our Lord's life after he's risen from the dead.

It is a prominent gospel narrative of the resurrection.

And like all the events of the Lord's life, their historic episodes, they also serve as allegories

that apply to my personal life, my present circumstances.

And I would say that walk to Amas and back again to Jerusalem

has a very special meaning in our lives because it's an allegory of our discipleship

of the Christian life, of conversion, of evangelization.

It condenses in allegorical form the tips and turns,

the ebbs and flows of the Christian's life.

And Amas, in a sense, has two meanings.

One meaning, it's a symbol of disenchantment, discouragement, if not despair itself.

Juxtaposed to that image, that meaning,

Amas is the locale of spiritual energizing, of conversion,

of transformation, and a zeal to proclaim the resurrection. Heading towards Amas, if you will, at least at the beginning, is a sign of defeat.

The return from Amas is a clear sign of interior and spiritual victory.

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