THE DANGER OF MISSING
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST
It
is so easy to miss the Lord because we often focus on ourselves and our
own problems instead of on Christ. A good example is Mary Magdalene,
whose encounter with the Risen Lord is narrated in today’s Gospel. She
focused on the empty tomb and on her own grief, and so did not recognize
the Lord who stood in front of her. But it took only one word to make
her focus on what is essential in life: the Risen Lord.
According to John’s Gospel, the first word spoken by the Risen Lord was
“Mary,” the name of a woman who loved Him with her whole heart. She was
one of the few who had followed Him and served Him and His disciples on
their journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. She also stood by Him near the
cross and witnessed His death. She openly associated herself with Jesus when He was deserted by all except for a few. And yet, at first she did not recognize Him.
There
are always moments in life when our faith is shaken, when problems
weigh us down and we forget that the solution is so close — in Christ
who is always close to us.
A
second point is important: Once she had recognized the Lord, she is sent
to bring the news of the resurrection to the Apostles. That’s why Mary
Magdalene was sometimes called “the Apostle to the Apostles,” the
Apostle of the resurrection. It was to her that the Lord chose to
announce the Good News first of all, and to sow seeds of hope in the hearts of the Apostles. “I have seen the Lord” is the very essence of our Christian faith. To announce that Jesus is alive is the very mission of every baptized Christian. To fulfill this
mission, it is not enough to know about
the Lord, but that we know Him personally. It is not enough to argue
about Him, but to meet Him. And we do that every time we open the New
Testament and especially when we receive the Lord in Holy Communion. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD
REFLECTION
QUESTIONS: Do you focus enough on the constant presence of Christ in
your life? Do you share Him with your family, friends and neighbors?
Lord, may I never fail to recognize Your voice or lose sight of Your presence in Your Word proclaimed daily in the Gospel.
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