THROUGH UNTRUE

Charles Kingsley once wrote: "We act as though comfort, security, power, position, and money were the chief requirements of life when what makes us happy is just something to be enthusiastic about."
Enthusiasm is the "fire within," the exuberant energy, the fervor that fuels our desire to pursue what is rewarding or fulfilling. Enthusiasm keeps us going despite failure, rejection, and the unexpected afflictions that beset us. Without it, we lose steam. We easily fall to pieces. We get discouraged, and even fall into despair.
The two disciples in our gospel reading today are a pitiful picture of the loss of enthusiasm. They must have been fervent followers of Jesus whom they thought would liberate them from the Romans and all their miseries. When they saw Him humiliated, tortured, and crucified, their expectations turned into disillusionment. They walked sadly away to Emmaus, a town located west of Jerusalem. What a fitting description of people who have lost their enthusiasm—they were walking toward the sunset!
Like the two disciples, when we experience an unwanted or unforeseen tragedy, we are frustrated and lose our enthusiasm to believe in God. But as the gospel reading today shows, our disappointment with God may actually give us an opportunity to de-familiarize what we know about Him and delve deeper into His unspeakable mystery. God often confounds our expectations. But when this happens, we should question, not our faith, but what we know and understand about Him.
This is what Jesus did to the two disciples. He walked with them and gradually fanned the dying embers of their enthusiasm until it became a blazing fire in their hearts. He patiently explained that His seemingly senseless suffering and death were actually veritable sources of joy because, without the cross, there would not have been a resurrection. He taught them that tragedy is not a faith-buster, but an enthusiasm booster because it impels us to pray.
  Prayerlessness snuffs out the fire of faith and enthusiasm. You may object: "I pray every day, but why am I so easily disappointed with God?"
I read a story about a little child who, unable to sleep, shouts at his father: "Papa I am thirsty. I cannot sleep.  Give me a glass of milk." The father gently replied: "You already had a glass of milk a while ago. Go to sleep." After a while, the child shouted again: "Papa, I said I am thirsty. Give me a glass of milk." Getting impatient, the father replied: "I said go to sleep. If you call again, I will go there and spank you." The child said: "Papa, when you come here to spank me, bring me a glass of milk ha?"
That is often how we manipulate God to get what we want. We don’t really pray. We just ask, plead, and beg for something. Real prayer comes from a personal relationship with God that allows us to see Him as someone who knows what is best for us.
Let this be our everyday prayer: "Dear God, when I am losing my enthusiasm to believe in You because of the unpleasant events that happen to me,  remind me that I am one person whom You do not regard simply as a sinner, but one for whom You are crazy enough to suffer and die, someone whom You forgive over and over because You are a God of second chances. Amen."