"Now that very same day … two
of his disciples were on their way
to a village called Emmaus,
seven miles from Jerusalem (…)
As they were talking together and
discussing, Jesus himself
came up and walked by their side"

The  image of the disciples who move away disappointed from Jerusalem on the day of Resurrection and who, just that moment, are approached by Jesus walking by their side, thus becoming the companion of their journey, is probably one of the most touching and moving icons of the New Testament. It has inspired artists and poets, it has been seen as an icon of the Christian journey and, in a particular way, as an icon of the Eucharistic celebration by generations of Christians and theologians. It is, therefore, not out of place to consider it also as a privileged image of the spiritual accompaniment, especially today when this ministry has lost a lot of its prevalently directive concept,  which characterised it in the past and which is ever more seen, and exercised, as a walking by the side of the brother, to help his discernment of the ways along which the Holy Spirit guides him.

This reading is not simply subjective, since it allows us to catch the extraordinary actuality of this charism in a historical period in which not only the far away ones, but also many believers feel unable to read the events with the eyes of God and to give them an answer in the light of faith;  it also allows us to see how this becomes a challenge for today's consecrated lfe, which is called "to join the not always easy and clear journey of God's People in this world, and to exercise a welcoming dialogue capable of discerning the actual humanity's utopia and wounds".

It is in this acceptance and, above all, in the capacity of listening to and assisting the brother and sister - who are ever more confused before the multiple interpretations of life offered to them, and ever more disappointed by them both in the heart and in the spirit - that we find a renewed understanding of the spiritual accompaniment, in which the consecrated life, above all that of women, can have an important and decisive role  for a re-launching of the ministry itself.

 We may say that each religious is called to side, together with Jesus, the brothers and sisters who are "seven miles away from Jerusalem", to listen to their reasons, to enlighten them and to guide them along "the way back to Jerusalem".

"Seven miles from Jerusalem … "

Who were the disciples of Emmaus? They were surely not unwary, but people within the faith, people who knew the Law, who had been in the school of Jesus, who had been with Him, had listened to his Word. Despite all this, challenged by the scandal of the death of their Master, they give in to discouragement and go back.

Who are, today, the two persons "who leave Jerusalem"? First of all we must make clear that the two are disciples in the true sense of the term, namely, people who attend our parishes and ecclesial communities, who try to make the journey of Christian life.  Most of them are the youths, but also adult people, all of them nourishing a sense of delusion before life and, by their inability to commit themselves thoroughly to a concrete life of faith, to give the right answers to their doubts and their grief.  At times this depends on the ignorance of the Scriptures and the Magisterium, more often by the influence of an expanding mentality which tends to diffuse a pessimistic vision of our human existence, putting systematically aside,  and even making fun of the fundamental values of our faith, first of all the value of hope. I think that the negative consequences of such a thinking and way of being can be synthesised into two fundamental attitudes mainly of the youths, directly contrasting the vision of faith: a low  self esteem and the consequent mistrust of divine mercy.

These characteristics are to be linked strictly with the myth of efficiency and success at any cost, typical of our society. This so acts as, even in the Christian environment, one seeks easy and immediate results of what concerns spiritual life, as well as apostolic life. Consequently, the unavoidable falls - due to the weak human nature, the unsuccessful apostolic results, often fruit not of the inability of acting, but of the human freedom of welcoming or not the grace of God -  are not accepted nor forgiven to oneself or to others.

This generates a deep sense of frustration in man, who can no longer see himself as a masterpiece of God and, instead of drawing strength from his own weakness by turning his eyes towards the divine mercy, tends to find himself guilty,  to lose his courage and the stimuli to go ahead. At the same time, the clinging on himself and the inability of entrusting himself and his misery to God, prevents him from making the fundamental experience of encountering the love and forgiveness of the Father. This, as we know, is the necessary and indispensable presupposition to become in his turn, an instrument of mercy for the neighbours. At this point he makes the decision, sometimes unconsciously but more often in perfect awareness, of going far from a journey of committed faith, for a quiet and less problematic existence, without every type of commitment in community.

Thus, there are Christians who are sincerely fascinated by the person and message of Jesus, whom they accept in theory, but who follow the behaviour of the mass, denying with their life what they practice in the liturgy. Even when they become aware of this dichotomy, they are unable to turn around, surrounded as they are by "masters" always ready to find a thousand of reasons to let them go along the same road.

It sounds strange, yet these modern disciples find it easier to meet among such people his journey companions, ready to listen to them and to walk with them. They don't find such companions among the Christians themselves, among the priests and religious who are always taken up by many commitments, to the point of never finding time for personal contacts with their brothers and sisters in faith. In fact these people are no longer able to understand their reasons and dramas: they are prone to judge, rather than to heal through a constant and discreet nearness.

It so happens, then, that the temptation of clinging on oneself, of giving in to discouragement, of going far from the goal of life and divine hope, becomes stronger and ever more deceiving. It happens also that they keep on "complaining" and sharing their doubts among themselves, without clearing them with the faith they have actually received and experienced.  This is how slowly, slowly the "we hoped" of the disciples of Emmaus replaces the Christian hope, the capacity of conversion to fulfil the mission which they are called to as Christians.

"Jesus …came up and walked by their side … "

A similar uneasy situation of spiritual infirmity can be cured only with a personal intervention, just as Jesus does with his disciples. It's really very beautiful to see how He, sharing their uneasiness caused by lack of faith and hope, takes the initiative not only of seeking and nearing them,  but also of walking at their side for a tract of road in the opposite direction of Jerusalem, listening to what they are saying.

It is not the first time that Jesus acts like this. To prevent, to look for, to welcome before being sought is specific of his style and pedagogy. However, in this case, we must underline particularly his delicacy in bringing the disciples to the awareness of their own interior state, starting from a dialogue full of attention for the persons and the concrete situations they live in.

From what Luke says we notice how, before starting to speak and to instruct them in the light of the Sacred Scriptures, Jesus listens to them patiently, though he already knows what they are going to tell him. The clamour of what had happened would have justified a different type of intervention, a more immediate one, since the two wayfarers wondered how the mysterious man knew nothing about the recent events. The Master prefers that they themselves expose the facts, giving them the possibility to tidy up their ideas, to look within themselves and to express their deep feelings.

It is only after this that he intervenes strongly, inviting them to interpret the events in the light of the Word of God. It is important to note that He does this without stopping, continuing to share their journey, until they invite him to stop with them, they ecognise him and finally take their way back to Jerusalem, deeply transformed and ready to fulfil their mission of witnessing to the risen Lord.

The Master leaves us a luminous example of how to behave, also in our context, and how to help our brothers and sisters in difficulty on the "way back to Jerusalem". It is a matter of re-discovering the ministry of spiritual accompaniment in its most genuine sense of a "journey" made together with a brother or sister in faith. A journey which may help to discern the action of the Spirit in the person  and to know how this can be a privileged means of apostolate, almost a challenge for today's consecrated life. In fact we need to recuperate the attention towards the person, typical of the fathers and mothers of the desert. They were always ready to welcome all, who went to them for counsels or spiritual help. They also preceded their requests through a daily testimony of fraternal nearness and attention paid to those who were close to them, making them understand the importance of a more committed journey of faith.

After the footprints of the Master … with a womanly heart

We thus understand how the spiritual accompaniment is a privileged area of action for the entire consecrated life, both male and female. I wish, however, to underline the specific contribution which the women religious can give to it. In fact, this is a field which, for a long time, was interdicted to women, at least officially. It was considered as exclusively linked to the sacramental confession, therefore, in strict correlation with the ministerial priesthood, letting us understand that the journey of spiritual life could be made only with the help of a priest.

The history of spirituality, instead, brings to evidence how, in many cases, the praxis proves this statement to be wrong. Today there is no problem, at least in theory, to recognise that this charism is not tied up, as such, either to sex or to the priestly ministry ⁶. However, there are still resistances in the practical field, not only externally, but, above all, among the women religious themselves. This is because it is not easy to see this service as a real work of apostolate and to pay to it the attention it deserves. Perhaps this is due, mainly, to a too limited understanding of the concept of "apostolate". This, very often, is understood as a doing something while, in reality, it is to be understood in the wider sense of "self donation".

In this sense, even  the offering of our time becomes an apostolate and, given the present situation, it is its most urgent form, towards which all other forms of action and commitment of women religious should tend. The women religious, in fact, are the most appropriate persons to fulfil this type of ministry, not only because of their particular nearness to the people in the various apostolic activities and their freedom of action,  being they not bound to the specific commitment of the priestly ministry, but also because of their feminine nature, which makes them particularly fit for a motherly welcoming and understanding.

The woman, whose body is predisposed to be a "welcoming space" for life, is the privileged custodian of its successive development. This allows her to develop, also in the spiritual field, an attitude of patience with the germination of life, and to follow the successive growth with love and hope. This leads her to privilege, in a particular way, the area of interpersonal relationships, rather than that of masses. This leads her also to nourish a particular sensitivity and respect for each one's spiritual journey, recognising it as unique and unrepeatable.

This specific aspect makes the feminine accompaniment particularly fit for people prone to  discouragement and to self-diffidence. In the natural plain a mother supports her children sweetly and firmly, encouraging them to go ahead in spite of difficulties; similarly in the spiritual plain the woman, who receives the leading charism from the Spirit, without indulging in compromises, knows how to encourage and to urge, without indulging in compromises,  the concrete person before her to go ahead trustfully along the way which she perceives as traced by God. It is not by chance that Luke notes down how,  in a period of time surely not easy for the disciples, the time preceding immediately Pentecost, Mary was habitually present with them in the cenacle, undoubtedly as a reference point and as a maternal, encouraging presence for each and everyone of them.

We understand how, in this perspective, it is particularly urgent to increase these peculiar characteristics in all the apostolic activities, putting them at the service of grace, above all through the empowering of interpersonal dialogue. Feeling looked for and welcomed in their daily journey, and perceiving our availability to listen to their problems, even if different from the problems of faith, our brothers and sisters in difficulty feel encouraged and open their heart. This is also because, today, it is more and more difficult to find people who spare their time and have the capacity of listening to others. Sure, initially people feel the need of pouring out their feelings, of asking counsel and help, without any intention of opening a relationship of spiritual accompaniment, just as it happened to the disciples of Emmaus. This could give the impression of wasting time, of walking with them towards the opposite direction from Jerusalem", rather than bringing them back to the right path. Yet, it is just on this initial phase which the future of the ministry is built.

If, like the Master, but with our own feminine sensitivity, we persevere in accompanying them maternally, listening patiently to their doubts and their reasons, they will finish by expressing their experience, by manifesting their wounds, finally becoming aware of them. Only at this point, with strong firmness , but also with respect for the work of the Spirit in the person, we can start the journey of a genuine accompaniment. This consists, above all, in leading them to the encounter with Christ, present in the Eucharist, through his Word, the only Light which can enlighten the life of the believer, who welcomes him with faith and love, thus giving an authentic answer to their doubts and fears.  This encounter will allow them to understand the importance of a spiritual guidance for a journey of faith, a journey which does not lose sight of the goal we are called to attain. It will lead them also to ask help explicitly, sure of finding the availability of the sister.

Naturally, to reach this point, the one who accompanies is called to a committed and authentic spiritual life, leading him day after them to a personal experience of God and his mercy, through prayer and the meditation of the Word of God. In fact, through our experience of God we actually experience a great love for the human being, particularly the least and weakest one; on meeting the poor and the wounded, our heart is touched and our eyes see God's image in them, though disfigured and despised".  Wherefore, without being aware of it, we become a transparency of God's maternal face, always ready to bend on the sick man, on his heart and spirit, to heal and raise him. All this witnesses to a love, which is stronger than all human weaknesses; a love which restores to hope anyone who is discouraged and in the temptation of letting things go.

This is why it is particularly urgent to be aware of the importance, for us women and religious, of our inborn power to exercise a ministry, which, like a few other forms of apostolate, answers the exigencies of our time. We need just a little courage to free ourselves from too much consolidated apostolic schemes and to go ahead in our journey, after the footprints of the Master, along the way to way to Emmaus, thus becoming pilgrims of love and hope for and with our brothers and sisters.