“And for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays.  And you will go out and frolic like well=fed calves.” The Prophet Malachi

“That same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus . . . and Jesus himself came and walked with them.”  Luke 24

Last week I related the exchange I had with the man who had come to Iona in search of healing from his alcohol addiction.  If that had been the only divine encounter during my week it would’ve been enough, but a very similar thing happened the very next day.

For the second day in a row the sun was shining, a rare occurrence on this island. I had spent the morning for the most part writing, but by early afternoon I couldn’t resist the urge to step outside and enjoy the healing rays.  As I stepped out of the confines of the Abbey I was surprised to see quite a few people on the island, and by that I mean fifty or sixty.  Most of them were tourists, as they were taking photos of St. Martin’s cross and St. Oran’s chapel and milling around the hill of St. Columba and the cemetery.  As I began the walk down to the village, I noticed a woman ambling slowly by herself in front of me.  As I drew near I could hear her mumbling to herself, the words  barely audible.  But from what I could discern from her tone she sounded distraught.  “Are you OK?”, I asked, startlingly her a bit.  “I’m sorry, you caught me talking to myself.”  “That’s all right”, I replied, “At least you know someone is listening.”  “No, I’m not OK”, she answered.  “I have begun drinking again.” 

Imagine my surprise!  What were the odds of encountering another complete stranger who was struggling with their addiction to alcoholism two days in a row at Iona?  This was more than coincidence!  Rather, it was guided serendipity, an invitation not only from the woman to listen, but from God as well. 

She began to share with me, in words dripping with guilt and shame, of how she had been sober for years, but had returned to her old habit during Covid.  As we moved along the road, we came to the same picnic table I’d sat at less than twenty-four hours earlier.  We sat there together as she opened her heart, vulnerably sharing about her loneliness, her fear, her sadness.  She told of moving away from her family and as a result found herself horribly isolated.  She recounted broken relationships due not to Covid, but to her drinking.  She spoke of the dark spiral that her life had become, and the hopelessness that she felt.  She had come on this trip seeking peace and a new start.  Despite the questions that she had for God and about God, she had prayed in the Abbey that God would give her a new beginning and direction in her life.

We sat at the table for quite some time, and when she was finished, I reassured her that God loves her immensely even if she doesn’t believe it, and that Iona is the perfect place to begin life anew.  She wept.

She had to catch the ferry, and so we quickly said our goodbyes.  But before we did, I inquired as to who she had to talk to.  Her response was not surprising, “No one”, she said.  All the lonely people . . . 

We parted at the jetty, and I continued on my way past Martyr’s Bay to a sandy beach to eat my packed lunch.  Like the day before I was contemplating what all of this meant. It was too choreographed to be mere chance or coincidence.  On my previous pilgrimage I was the one who had been broken, looking for healing and new life.  On this one it was as if God had sent me proof in the form of two separate people that I had become, in the words of Henri Nouwen, a Wounded Healer, and would be used to help others gain healing and hope in their own lives.

One doesn’t need to be at Iona to meet people who are lonely and desperately in need of healing.  They live all around us.  Maybe we are one of them.  Are you?  If so, please reach out to someone.  And if you have no one, please reach out to me.  Or maybe you know someone who is broken and hurting and wounded, and needs a Wounded Healer.  You may just be that person that God is placing in their path.   That path is not limited to Iona.  The Emmaus Road is found everywhere!  The Emmaus Road is found anywhere that we walk.  I would invite you to be open to the people and the opportunities for healing that the Son of Righteousness places in your path.