Christ our Savior is Risen from the tomb! Happy Easter!
Reflections on the readings for Holy Saturday at the Easter Vigil (April 11, 2020): 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; PS 118:1-2,16-17,22-23; MT 28:1-10
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
On this most important celebration of the year, the Gospel describes the experience of the women who went to Christ’s tomb that Sunday morning after witnessing His death on Friday.
“An angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it.… Then the angel said to the women… ‘Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for He has been raised just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell the disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead’” (Matthew 28:2, 5-6). How swiftly those women must have changed from feeling sorrow to fear to joy and amazement. When Jesus was crucified, they must have been desperate to hang on to some sense of the hope He had put into their hearts during their encounters during His ministry. Now an angel told them that everything He had told them was true. Christ lives.
It should not surprise us that these faithful women heard the same words of reassurance from God’s messenger that the shepherds of Bethlehem heard from an angel at the birth of our Redeemer: “Do not be afraid!” Fear is our usual reaction to things we do not comprehend. But God always knows how to comfort us. He sends us His Son bearing the gift of perfect love in His hands. First, they were the tiny, precious hands of the newborn Holy Infant. Later, they were the generous, open hands of the Son of God made Man – bearing the marks of the nails that fastened Him to the cross of our salvation. For all who follow Christ, His love casts out fear if only we willingly entrust ourselves to His immeasurable mercy.
Suggested missionary action: Let us celebrate this holy night of Easter by praying that the light of the hope of the Lord's Resurrection will break through the darkness that is covering our world these days because of the global pandemic of Coronavirus.
