Reflection - Easter Sunday

Reflection - Meeting the Risen One

Mary of Magdala was first to go to the tomb, before the dawn when it was still dark, and discovered it empty. Jesus was missing — the master who had understood her and cured her, the prophet she had followed faithfully until his death. Who would she follow now? So her lament to the disciples was: They’ve taken my Lord from the grave and we don’t know where they have put him. Her lament could express the experience that many Christians are living through today: What have they done with the Risen Jesus? Where have they put him — the Lord in whom we believe: is it a Christ full of the promise of life or a Jesus whose memory keeps fading little by little in our hearts?

We don’t need scientific proofs in order to believe more firmly. To experience the joy of Easter it’s not enough to turn to the magisterium of the Church, or to study theological books. In order to meet the Risen One we need above all to journey within. If we don’t meet him inside ourselves, we won’t meet him anywhere. Later, John describes Mary going about looking for information. But when she does see Jesus, she’s so blinded by grief and tears that she does not recognize him; she thinks he’s the gardener. Jesus just asks her a question: Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?

Maybe we too need to ask ourselves something similar: Why is our faith so sad and low-key? What are Christians today looking for? What do we yearn for? Are we going around looking for a Jesus that we need in order to feel full of life in our communities? When Mary doesn’t recognize Jesus, he calls her by her name, with the same tenderness in his voice as when they were walking through Galilee: Mary!. She turns around quickly: Rabbuni! Master!.

Mary meets the Risen One when she feels herself personally called by him. That’s the core of resurrection faith. Jesus shows himself full of life to us when we feel ourselves called by our own name and we hear the invitation that he makes to each one of us. That’s when our faith grows. Our faith in the living Christ won’t be revived only by the Easter accounts alone. We won’t properly meet him if we don’t seek a living, personal contact with him. A combination of the love of Jesus known through the Gospel and sought personally in the depths of our hearts, can best lead us to meet the Risen One. [José Antonio Pagola]

© Irish Association of Catholic Priests.