Tuesday Reflection

Daily Gospel Reflection – April 14^th 2020

Gospel                                                   JN 20:11-18

Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping.
And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb
and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet
where the Body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, “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!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,”
which means Teacher.
Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me,
for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
But go to my brothers and tell them,
‘I am going to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’”
Mary went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and then reported what he had told her.

Dear Friends and Family,

            I have always found it fascinating that after the resurrection, the Apostles of Jesus do not recognize him immediately. It has only been three days since they last encountered Jesus and now they do not know Him.   It is clear that the Resurrection has changed our Lord, or maybe the apostles are simply prevented from recognizing him for a short time.  So what happens next?  What allows them to recognize the Risen Jesus?  A simple answer might be that Jesus does something familiar that they are able to comprehend.  For Mary, Jesus calls her by name.  How many times had she heard Jesus call her name in the three years of his public ministry?  How many times had they conversed and Jesus spoke to her by name?  It’s the familiarity, built in an ongoing relationship that opens the eyes of the faithful.  Do we share that same kind of relationship with our God?  If he called up by name would we recognize who is speaking to us, would we hear the love he has for us?

            My Grandmother on my father’s side of the family had a very unique way of saying my name.  She was born in Romania and spoke with a pleasant German accent. I loved the way she would say my name and it always would put a smile on my face when she would use it.  When she died I thought I would never hear my name spoken like that again.  Then a chance encounter at the Paris airport, a German stewardess called out the name on my ticket and she said it just like my Nana.  All I could do was smile because it reminded me of the love of my grandma and the relationship we shared.  (In fact, I asked the flight attendant if she could say my name again, because it made me so happy). Each day we are given a chance to grow in our relationship with God, to become accustom to not only what he says but how he says it.  One day he will call us all by name, we will hear the love he has for us in the way he calls our name.  Let us pray that when our time comes we will recognize his voice and we too will turn to him and hold onto him and never let him go.