hit the road
"I have been sent by the Lord Jesus Who appeared to you on the road." —Acts 9:17, our transl.
Saul went to Jerusalem and then to Damascus to arrest those who were "living according to the new way" (Acts 9:2). The exact translation is "those living according to the way" or, even more precisely, "those living according to the road." Ironically, Jesus appeared to Saul on the road (Acts 9:17) when Saul was about to arrest those "living according to the road."
Saul's conversion was not the only one to begin on the road. The Ethiopian eunuch took the gospel to the ends of the earth (see Acts 1:8) after he was converted on the road in his chariot (Acts 8:26ff). On the afternoon of Jesus' resurrection, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus "said to one another, 'Were not our hearts burning inside us as He talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?' " (Lk 24:32) "Then they recounted what had happened on the road and how they had come to know Him in the breaking of bread" (Lk 24:35). After Mary received the Holy Spirit and became the mother of God, she hit the road and brought Jesus and the Spirit to Elizabeth and her pre-born baby, John (Lk 1:39).
Jesus, Mary, and Paul were on the road. The early Church called herself "the road." The message is: Life is a road-trip, the Church is a road-house, and our job is road-work. Go out into the highways and byways and compel them to come to Jesus (Lk 14:23). Hit the road for the risen Jesus.
Prayer: Father, through the intercession of St. Joseph, I will take Your gospel to those I work with.
Promise: "For My flesh is real food and My blood real drink. The man who feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him." —Jn 6:55-56
Praise: Joseph willingly gave up his employment and security to take Jesus on the road as a refugee to Egypt (see Mt 2:13).
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, July 26, 1997
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July 29, 1997