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Each year the celebration of Easter takes us beyond the Cross of Good Friday to the joy and hope that comes from knowing that the Risen Lord is truly present in the world and in the lives of believers. For Mary Magdalene and the other women, Peter and the beloved disciple, the experience of the empty tomb would soon be transformed into that of encountering the risen Christ.
The gospels each follow a similar pattern for those who would come to believe. Initially scripture tells us that they did not recognize him. This was to signify for each of them the need to let go of their knowing him in the flesh, of not finding the body in the tomb. A necessary step of becoming detached from recognizing him in his earthly body, in order that they would become attached to him in new ways and know him in his resurrected and glorified body which was no longer bound by time or space. This believing community of disciples became the first witnesses to know that God’s love and presence in and through Christ has the power to transform our lives, to move us beyond the experiences of the empty tomb to the hope of our Easter belief!
The stark images of those caught up in the current tragedy of war throughout the world were reminders to us this Good Friday of Jesus' passion, the carrying of the cross, the suffering and death he endured. His acceptance of the Father’s will would ultimately be the source of new life, a hope that is found in the resurrection. God moves us in faith to act with the same love that our Lord offers for the entire world. It is a love that restores dignity for those who have been exiled from their homes, transforming strangers into neighbours, and calling us to respond with compassion and care to those who are suffering and vulnerable.
Jesus revealed himself to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in the midst of their doubt and despair. At first the disciples were prevented from recognizing him until he began to share with them his presence in the living Word of scripture and then in the sacramental sign of his presence “in the breaking of the bread” – the Eucharist. He also commissioned Mary as the “apostle (the one sent) to the apostles”, to bring this good news of the resurrection to the world. In a similar way each Easter celebration invites us to come and see, to encounter like the two disciples the presence of the resurrected Lord in Word and Sacrament and then like Mary to go and proclaim this mystery which God has accomplished through Christ.
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