“He’s behind you!” That wonderful line, so well-known from Pantomimes, could well be the Easter refrain! Mary Magdalene’s focus is still on the tomb. So often we, too, can be determined in looking for God in the past or in the present or in dreams about the future which are not life-giving. We can hold onto ways of thinking or desiring which are all too familiar and which we want to control. We need to ‘turn around’ and see afresh where God is and where God is leading us.
We may not recognise God at first but if, as we have done throughout this week, we:
- Allow Jesus to take us by the hand and lead us in directions we may not naturally choose
- Open our hearts to his hospitality and listen to him, asking him to set us free
- Look into the eyes of those in need, wiping their faces and carrying their crosses with them
- Listen to his heart-beat in the people and places of our world
- Rejoice in his life-giving mercy and
- Turn around, to where God is, then,
Like Mary Magdalene, we, too, will hear God call us by our name.
We will find our heart’s desire.
El Greco
Quote
I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
John 11:25
Today’s Scripture
John 20: New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised, Catholic Edition
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13
They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’
She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ 14
When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there,
but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15
Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’
Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him,
‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ 16
Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). 17
Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.
But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’ 18
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples,
‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Thought for the Day
Turn to Jesus, the Consoler, and hear him say your name.
How will you speak of all that God has done for you and said to you this Lent?
Music
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