Easter Sunday
Jn 20:1-9
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb.
He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Witnessing to the Foundational Mystery
I am still fascinated by Season One, Episode One of The Chosen (that you can watch online for free). In the last scene of this first episode, Jesus simply touches Mary Magdala’s hand, and she is transformed. Mary Magdala plays a central role in the Resurrection stories, especially in John’s Gospel where she is missioned to be the Apostle to the Apostles.
Can we let this same Risen Jesus touch us now on Easter Sunday? Let us pray that we can imagine entering the empty tomb and believing like the disciple John. Jesus is alive today in 2022 wherever we live. How can we witness to this foundational mystery of our faith in our concrete local context now?
He is Risen, Alleluia, Alleluia!
—Fr. Paul Macke, SJ, is the Jesuit Mission Coordinator at the Jesuit Spiritual Center in Milford, Ohio. He co-leads a Spiritual Direction Training Program for the Cincinnati Region.
Prayer
He heavens bespeak the glory of God.
The firmament ablaze, a text of his works.
Dawn whispers to sunset
Dark to dark the word passes; glory, glory.
— Beginning of Daniel Berrigan, SJ’s poem on Psalm 19