Reflection: Along the Roads of Galilee

Prof. Dr. Pierre Devos s.j. 

Chaplain Belgian Medical Association Saint-Luke

The message of the Gospels is often expressed through parables, through stories. They give us the opportunity to reflect, to avoid being carried away by our impressions of the moment. Making, at a given time, an act of Faith, an act of trust, and at another moment seeking to understand what our Christian Faith means, are not opposed to one another. These two approaches are an integral part of our lives. Both are necessary. They complete each other.

The parables of the four Gospels come from the teaching of Jesus. The characters who appear in them are defined only by their role, by what they represent. We often see a progression in their attitude and in their way of perceiving things. Dialogue is central, and the message unfolds naturally through the action described. 

These stories help us understand our own story, made up of relationships expressed in words and in deeds. They give us the opportunity to look objectively at our behaviour and to strengthen our Faith.

They take place in a world where good and evil are intertwined, a world in which we are called each day to make choices, to be converted, to ask for and receive God’s forgiveness.

This world is the space in which the journey of our life unfolds. It is within this world that we seek to give meaning to our existence, to live in happiness.

The feast of Easter reminded us that God, who manifested Himself in Jesus, was crucified and is now alive in a way that surpasses space and time while still being present within them. He remains — yesterday, today, and tomorrow — in the hearts of all who welcome Him. The feast of Pentecost expresses this presence through the symbol of breath — unseen, yet essential to life. 

To His disciples, and to us who seek to encounter Him, He invites us to walk “along the roads of Galilee” — that is, along the places where we live today. It is precisely there that we will meet Him. God’s presence is not confined to extraordinary manifestations of a remote reality that, in the end, remains beyond our reach. We encounter God in the way each person expresses the love that dwells within him.

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