We can unite our Easter joy with that of the first followers of Christ
Reflections on the readings for The Resurrection of the Lord at the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter (April 20, 2019): GN 1:1—2:2; PS 104:1-2,5-6,10,12,13-14,24,35; GN 22:1-18; PS 16:5,8,9-10,11; EX 14:15—15:1; EX 15:1-2,3-4,5-6,17-18; IS 54:5-14; PS 30:2,4,5-6,11-12,13; IS 55:1-11; IS 12:2-3,4,5-6; BAR 3:9-15,32—4:4; PS 19:8,9,10,11; EZ 36:16-17,18-28;PS 42:3,5; 43:3,4; ROM 6:3-11; LK 24:1-12
MISSIO offers “Mission In Scripture” to nurture a missionary heart, providing reflections on the missionary themes in the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days
Over the weeks of Lent, we prayed and fasted and offered charitable gifts in the tradition of the season.
We committed ourselves to additional penance by giving up something we enjoy doing or having, or by doing something we do not usually choose to do. We even thought a little more about our souls than our bodies, more about God’s mercy than on our preferences. And we meditated on the Passion of our Redeemer. Yet, unlike the grieving disciples of Jesus who thought He was lost to them on Good Friday, we know what happened next. We know what Mary Magdalene and the other women who stayed with Christ on Calvary and tended to Him in death, could not know during the long, terrible hours following His burial. Only in the light of dawn would they discover the truth, that our Lord's body, laid in a tomb and left in the dark with a stone pushed across its entrance, was not there.
Our Lord is risen – He lives. As soon as they realized this, they rushed to spread the news. “The women…told this to the apostles, but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone; then he went home amazed at what had happened” (Luke 24:10-12). It is hardly surprising that Peter and John could not believe what they were told. It was nonsense, if by that we mean it makes no sense to human reason. It was God’s own truth revealed in the Resurrection of His Son, and it meant the gift of life and salvation for all. May all God’s people embrace the indescribable joy that those earliest followers of Christ experienced on that first glorious Easter.
Suggested missionary action: We can share the wondrous beauty of Easter not only with family and friends, but also with neighbors in need by sharing a meal with them or offering an Easter basket to celebrate God’s bountiful mercy to us all. We can offer a virtual Easter basket of hope through donations to missionaries making a difference in some of the poorest communities of our world.
