Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary raced from the tomb, shaken to their core by what they had
just encountered (Matthew 28:8-15). They
were carrying a message from an angel who rolled away the large stone at the
tomb’s entrance. The angel explained to
them that Jesus had risen from the tomb and they were to tell His disciples to
meet Him in Galilee. As they ran, they were
driven by fear and joy. The angel’s words
tumbled through their thoughts: “Do not be afraid.”
They wondered, even with such joyous news, how could they not feel
fearful?
Suddenly
they encountered Jesus Himself. They fell
to His feet breathless, elated, and shocked.
Just a few days before, they had witnessed His unspeakable suffering and
death. And now He stood before them
witnessing the truth of the message they carried, as He gently echoed the
angel’s words: “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and
there they will see me”. These two women, the first
evangelizers of our resurrected Jesus, had just had a transformative encounter
with Him and they were forever changed.
Their fear had vanished.
This year,
Easter and the days which follow will be different throughout the Christian
world. It will be different because the
world is different. We’re forever
changed. After a year of tremendous
suffering, loss, fear and sorrow due to the pandemic, Jesus invites us to
receive the gifts of His Resurrection in a new way. We’re invited to take slow, courageous steps
to emerge from our suffering and walk toward the light.
Easter, the
celebration of the Resurrection, extends comfort, solace, and peace to us in a
new way. Although some of us are not yet
attending Mass in churches, Easter invites all of us to allow the light, candles,
flowers, alleluias, joyful music, and the exhilaration of the Resurrection into
our hearts in a more pure and concentrated fashion than in the past because
like the two women, we are changed.
We notice
things now that we may not have noticed before.
We appreciate aspects of our lives we may not have appreciated. We carry deep sorrow for lives lost and
hardships endured because we’ve suffered ourselves and/or looked into the eyes
of others who suffer. Their pain has
become our pain and our pain theirs.
Easter and
our slow emergence from the pandemic invite us to push away the stones that
have blocked us in the past from fully hearing and embracing the Easter message
or for fully living our lives. Jesus
offers to help us roll away the stones in our hearts. Stones that have stopped us from extending forgiveness,
mercy, compassion, and love.
Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary raced from the tomb where the angel had rolled away the
stone. Both the angel and Jesus told
them not to be afraid. As we push away
the stones in our lives, may this message of Easter fill us with joy as we go
forward without fear and become forever changed.
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