The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite contemplation of how we are included in the Divine Conversation through our life experiences of Jesus Presence.
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| Our encounters with Christ |
The reading from the Book of Acts explains how the first converts responded to the preaching of Peter.
* [2:38] Repent and be baptized: repentance is a positive concept, a change of mind and heart toward God reflected in the actual goodness of one’s life. It is in accord with the apostolic teaching derived from Jesus (Acts 2:42) and ultimately recorded in the four gospels. Luke presents baptism in Acts as the expected response to the apostolic preaching about Jesus and associates it with the conferring of the Spirit (Acts 1:5; 10:44–48; 11:16).1
Psalm 33 proclaims the greatness of human beings consists in God’s choosing them as a special people and their faithful response.
* [Psalm 33] A hymn in which the just are invited (Ps 33:1–3) to praise God, who by a mere word (Ps 33:4–5) created the three-tiered universe of the heavens, the cosmic waters, and the earth (Ps 33:6–9). Human words, in contrast, effect nothing (Ps 33:10–11). The greatness of human beings consists in God’s choosing them as a special people and their faithful response (Ps 33:12–22).2
In the Gospel of John, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene.
* [20:17] Stop holding on to me: see Mt 28:9, where the women take hold of his feet. I have not yet ascended: for John and many of the New Testament writers, the ascension in the theological sense of going to the Father to be glorified took place with the resurrection as one action. This scene in John dramatizes such an understanding, for by Easter night Jesus is glorified and can give the Spirit. Therefore his ascension takes place immediately after he has talked to Mary. In such a view, the ascension after forty days described in Acts 1:1–11 would be simply a termination of earthly appearances or, perhaps better, an introduction to the conferral of the Spirit upon the early church, modeled on Elisha’s being able to have a (double) share in the spirit of Elijah if he saw him being taken up (same verb as ascending) into heaven (2 Kgs 2:9–12). To my Father and your Father, to my God and your God: this echoes Ru 1:16: “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” The Father of Jesus will now become the Father of the disciples because, once ascended, Jesus can give them the Spirit that comes from the Father and they can be reborn as God’s children (Jn 3:5). That is why he calls them my brothers.3
Colleen Chiacchere shares a “Cannonball moment” around the premature birth of her son as she poses some questions for us to reflect on as we enter this Easter season, this season of transformation, where we see with new eyes, where we broaden our understanding of what God is capable of…
When have we heard our names being called, like Mary Magdalene, in the midst of desolation, confusion and despair? When have we noticed grace, even in small ways, and then been tempted to dismiss it or downplay it as something else?When have we been tempted to run away? When have we been invited to witness God’s amazing work in our lives?How do I share the ways God is present to me, with others?Let us pray for each other, for our loved ones and community members, for our world. Be our inspiration, Mary Magdalene, as we seek to know Jesus more intimately, as we search for Jesus, and as we continue to be invited to love and accompany others in our suffering world, particularly in this pandemic crisis.4
Don Schwager quotes “The Easter Alleluia,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"Because there are these two periods of time - the one that now is, beset with the trials and troubles of this life, and the other yet to come, a life of everlasting serenity and joy - we are given two liturgical seasons, one before Easter and the other after. The season before Easter signifies the troubles in which we live here and now, while the time after Easter which we are celebrating at present signifies the happiness that will be ours in the future. What we commemorate before Easter is what we experience in this life; what we celebrate after Easter points to something we do not yet possess. This is why we keep the first season with fasting and prayer; but now the fast is over and we devote the present season to praise. Such is the meaning of the Alleluia we sing." (excerpt from commentary on Psalm 148, 1-2)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on John 20:11-18 comments that John’s Gospel, for example, takes a peek into Mary Magdalene’s mind and heart before and after the risen Lord appeared to her. That short period of time was filled with emotion, and her interior journey can be a wonderful road map for our prayer during this Easter week. So using the verses below, follow the movements of Mary’s heart and try to offer yourself to God as she did.
“I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18). Jesus, I know in my heart that you are here with me. I hope in you. I trust in you. Like Mary Magdalene, I accept your call to go to all your brothers and sisters and share the good news of your resurrection. Thank you for giving me purpose and sending me out as your messenger. I still don’t have all the answers, but my strength is renewed because I know you are with me.
“Jesus, you heard and responded to Mary Magdalene’s weeping. Hear and respond to the cries of my heart today.”6
Friar Jude Winkler connects Peter’s proclamation of Jesus as Lord to praying the Shema, the usual prayer of the Jewish audience. The encounter of Mary Magdalene with Jesus uses images of the Song of Songs and the Good Shepherd. Friar Jude reminds us that True Love is without possession or control.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, teaches that we are “saved” by being addressed and included in a cosmic conversation. We do not really need answers; we need only to be taken seriously as part of the dialogue. But we usually only know this in hindsight after the suffering and the struggle. It cannot be known beforehand, not theoretically or theologically. Our knowledge of God is participatory. God refuses to be intellectually “thought,” and is only known in the passion and pain of it all, when the issues become soul-sized and worthy of us.
Jesus says, “There’s only one sign I’m going to give you: the sign of the prophet Jonah” (see Luke 11:29, Matthew 12:39, 16:4). Sooner or later, life is going to lead us (as it did Jesus) into the belly of the beast, into a situation that we can’t fix, can’t control, and can’t explain or understand. That’s where transformation most easily happens. That’s when we’re uniquely in the hands of God. Right now, it seems the whole world is in the belly of the beast together. But we are also safely held in the loving hands of God, even if we do not yet fully realize it.
All of us experience the absurd, the tragic, the nonsensical, the unjust, but we do not all experience pain in the same way, so try not to judge others too harshly for their reactions. We don’t know what has brought them to this point. However, if we could see all our wounds as the way through to their transformative effect, as Jesus did, then they would become “sacred wounds” and not something to deny, disguise, or export to others.7
Our experience of relationship with Christ sustains our hope that our journey in life is guided by Providence.
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