Hearts burning like fire - the need for a constant renewal of faith.

In this week's Sunday Gospel, we read the infamous story of Jesus suddenly appearing to Cleophas and another disciple when they were walking to Emmaus. Now this story only appears in St. Luke's Gospel. This account proves an interesting relationship that Jesus has with his followers. Even when He has risen, He still shows that He is still among His people.

In some scholars' opinion when one walks away from Jerusalem as the two disciples did; the theological significance is that their hearts is away from God, or rather drifting away, because Jerusalem is the center of God's presence, being the temple and all. So metaphorically speaking, when one were to look at our own lives, how far are we drifting from Jerusalem?

Now in this Gospel account, the one obvious phrase that catches my attention the most is when the two said to themselves that their "hearts were like on fire!" when our Blessed Lord spoke to them. You know for many of us, especially those after attending a formation or camp, it is usually like this - we would be invigorated, and determined to go and spread the Gospel to (almost) everyone. Camps and formations and even simple gatherings among the faithful can provide this "heart-burning" experience; the challenge then arises later on when after being "burnt" for awhile, little that we know we start "walking away from Jerusalem" again. You see, this is what happens to the most of us, this "fire" in our hearts after awhile goes dim and though still there is like ember, hot yet just glowing; then we go back to our ordinary - to be straight - sinful lives again.

The need for - as some people say, "put oil" - is important because without the reigniting of our heart's flame, we will drift further from God. I don't mean that we don't believe in Him, but we tend to become complacent about our faith. Just like the apostles break bread and shared their time together, it is important that we too do the same. We may never be as privileged as the apostles, these two disciples nor the Saints to whom our Blessed Lord appeared to, but He appears in the persons around us, sometimes in the most unlikely manner. All we need is to open our eyes, and of course, don't be afraid of continuing to go for formations, camps, gatherings and daily Mass.

Never let the fire die in your heart. Make it burn, you see, after their conversation with Jesus, the both despite it being night which is obviously dangerous, ran back and went to find the Apostles. So we too must be like them, when our hearts are reignited, we too must run back to God, run back to our friends and family and continue to proclaim the Gospel.