Recognition

When I pray for those who are sick with this virus and for those who have died and for their families and for all of us who are keeping to our homes, it seems too much.  How can my puny prayers affect something that has our whole earth in its grip?  Eventually I remind myself that all my prayers are puny; they get their worth from the Spirit praying in me. 
Like the two disciples in Luke's Emmaus story (24:13-35)  the communities for whom he is writing his Gospel suffer from not being able to recognize the Risen Christ in the midst of their difficulties and persecutions.  We, too, may be having a hard time recognizing the Risen Christ in the midst of this pandemic.  I think of the old Irish wisdom, "Often, often, often goes the Christ in the guise of the stranger."  The Emmaus story can inspire us to stay alert to however Christ may be approaching us and sharing food with us.