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Gail Godwin's 'Heart: A Natural History'

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In today’s Gospel reading we encounter two heart-broken disciples walking to a town called Emmaus. It’s like the psalmist writes, “The cords of death entangled me; the anguish of the grave came upon me; I came to grief and sorrow”(Psalm 116:3). Grief and sorrow. . .In Jesus’ death they lost more than just a friend. They lost their beloved teacher, master, and a whole host of hopes for a new future. For in the death of Jesus they thought their hopes for redemption were utterly lost. We have to remember that the disciples gave up everything for this man who they believed was the Messiah-the one who was going to user in the Kingdom of heaven. Was going to make the world right again...And so for them (and for us) more than a man died on that cross. However, like the disciples we encounter the resurrected Christ. Death did not have the last word. …show more content…

See within the biblical understanding the heart was seen as the core for all human experiences. The heart moved the body. So when the disciples say, “Did not our hearts burn within us?” It’s saying that they had a full body experience-an experience that transformed them from the inside out. As Gail Godwin writes in her book Heart: A Natural History of the Heart-Filled Life, “Could it be that our utmost experiences of darkness always engage the heart? If my heart, if the inmost sanctuary of my being, the taproot of its love and will . . . has not been touched, or broken, or altered, or shaken to the core . . . hasn’t it been just another head trip, a barren intellectual undertaking that bears no fruit?” (New York: HarperCollins, 2001, p. 197). In short, this journey with Christ is one that touches us deep within the heart. This isn’t just a journey of the mind but an all-in jump in with both feet way of life. When we encounter Jesus we are moved. And this most clearly happens in community and at the table with bread and

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