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Scripture:

Acts 2:36-41
John 20:11-18

Reflection:

“Woman, why are you weeping?”  She said to them, “They have taken my Lord,
and I don’t know where they laid him.”  When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus.  Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?  Whom are you looking for?”  She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

I have always enjoyed Easter Week and, for as long as I can remember, I have always loved this wonderful Gospel passage from the 20^th chapter of John’s Gospel.  Quite simply, these few verses evoke a sense of powerful loss followed by a compelling awareness of discovery and new life.  I hear in Mary Magdalene’s voice a plaintive cry from one who is still in such shock at the loss of her Lord that she is on the verge of panic and despair.  Yet, with only a word spoken from the mouth of Jesus, “Mary”, her eyes are opened and a whole new awareness begins in her life.  A simple calling out of her name by one who loved her so very much and her life is changed forever!  For me, this is almost like a second resurrection except that this time it is profoundly personal and intimate, almost as if Mary Magdalene was singled out to be another special bearer of the unbelievable news of the resurrection.

We are all invited to listen for that calling of our name by the Risen Lord and we must listen carefully or we may miss it.  But one thing I know, if we do hear the Lord call us by name, like Mary Magdalene, we will never be the same again!

Continued blessings for you all during this wonderful Easter Season and may the joy of the Resurrection fill your hearts with great peace.

Fr. Pat Brennan, C.P. is the director of Saint Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center, Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

1 Samuel 17:32-33, 37, 40-51
Mark 3:1-6

Reflection:

“Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” Mark 3:4

Today, the Church is asking all of us to pray for the legal protection of Unborn Children. And the Scripture for today gives us two very familiar Scripture images to help us reflect upon this request for prayer. The first one is David verse Goliath. The second one is Jesus curing a person on the Sabbath while the Pharisees looked on. Both of these accounts from the Scriptures are worthy of our meditation and reflection. Prayer, after all, is what allows us to come close to God and helps us to experience the grace we need to live a life worthy of our calling as disciples of Jesus, children of God.

There are so many examples of the “David versus Goliath” story that we apply to everyday life. It is the story of the inexperienced young person going up against the giant and seasoned warrior. It is the story of God’s chosen one from a small country village going against the destructive rule of gigantic power. Oh, how we love this story. We may love it so well that we may forget its underlying truth as found in verses 37 and 39 of the reading: that God would be with David and David did not take the sword with him, the instrument of war. If God is with us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31) So many times we rely on our own resources to overcome evils that surround us.

And the Gospel account builds upon this important instruction found in the first reading. It tells us how Jesus gave life, restored life and valued life over any human norm. We know that we do the good when new life emerges and healing takes place, regardless of the time and place. So, today, let us take a good look at how we value life and how we restore life, especially by how we live it and in what we say and do.

One of the surest ways that we can protect the Unborn Children is by creating a culture of justice and peace in our world, in other words, by creating a culture of life. For the vast majority of us, it is about being respectful of life and cultures and customs. It is about saying no to destructive instruments and behaviors. Every time we do something that dehumanizes another human being, young or old, we are failing to protect Unborn Children. This day is about doing something positive to bring about new life. And we begin with prayer.

There is an old saying that goes this way: “it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” Let us bring light and life and love into the world around us. Let us all pray for all that is yet to be born within us.

Fr. Clemente Barrón, C.P. is a member of Mater Dolorosa Community in Sierra Madre, California. 

Scripture:

1 John 2:29-3:6
John 1:29-34

Reflection:

What if our daily meditation began with the assumption and acceptance that we are “children of God?”

“That is what we are,” according to John. This mindfulness will wake us and shake us, because “the world of our making” doesn’t recognize this identity, nor from where it came. (1 Jn 3:2) Rather, in the eyes of those who buy into the powers that be, they see only children of profit, power, proficiency, popularity, and pleasure.

To bolster the power of this new creation that we are begotten by God, through His Son, we realize as did John the Baptist, that this is a totally inspired gift from God. “I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”

At a recent Mass before we made the penitential act of forgiveness, I asked the congregation to imagine that God wanted to forgive every single sin that separates us from Him. And, I asked the question, “Are we willing to do what is necessary to amend our lives?” As children of God, despite all fears of what it will take to amend our lives, this is our primary act of faith, and trust. He died for our sins and wants us, his brothers and sisters, to join him in the mission to redeem the world by removing all that taints our family’s communion with God.

Fr. Alex Steinmiller, C.P., is a member of the Passionist Community in Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

Isaiah 40:25-31
Matthew 11:28-30

Reflection:

Why is God often late?  Consider:

– Calamities took Job’s family and wiped out his possessions before God spoke with him. Late.

– Except for Joshua and Caleb, all the Israelites who left Egypt died before they could enter the Promised Land. Forty years too late for them.

– Martha, sister of Lazarus who died shortly before Jesus arrived, chided Jesus. “Lord, if you had been here…” she said. But now, too late.

– Jairus’ daughter died before Jesus arrived. Too late.

– Zechariah and Elizabeth fervently prayed for a child until they grew old. Thanks for the message from God, Gabriel, but it is several years too late.

The list goes on.  We can sympathize with the skepticism of Israelites who heard God’s message from the prophet Isaiah, “Give comfort to my people. Tell them the end of their exile is near.”  To that message, they responded that God doesn’t understand them — “My way is hidden from the Lord.”  And what kind of just God is it that punishes them with an empire far more evil and monstrous than his people had ever been — “My right is disregarded by my God.”  God was late the day the Babylonian Empire invaded their land and destroyed their temple.  Too late.  They were discouraged and disbelieving of any message of prophetic hope.  They were truly in exile, not only from the homeland, but from God.

No doubt we can add our own experiences of God arriving late in responding to our needs, subjecting us to exile of loneliness, grief, or broken relationships.   Perhaps that is why Advent is important for us.  This is the time of learning to wait and not merely waiting, but waiting in hope.  Hope is that virtue that calls us to trust God, even in our darkest exile of seeming hopelessness.  This is the time when we pray “O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel — and us — that mourn in lonely exile here.”

Advent is the time to embrace the message of Isaiah: “They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar and with eagles’ wings.”  The Advent message is unmistakable.  God does hear us, wants to lighten our burden and strengthen us.  Emmanuel will come for the Israelites and for us, if we will wait in hope.  God may not respond to our needs when we think he should and in the way we think best.  But he will respond as God always does, in the fullness of time.  God is late — but always on time.

Deacon Manuel Valencia is on the staff at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.