Tuesday in the Octave of Easter
RECOGNIZING THE RISEN LORD
Introduction
It is not always easy to recognize the risen Lord. This was the experience of Mary Magdalene. We too, are asked, “Whom are you seeking?” Are we really seeking the Lord Jesus? Do we recognize him not only in our prayers and during the reception of the Holy Eucharist, but also when he walks by our side in our sufferings and in our joys, in the people around us, and in the ordinary events and circumstances of life? Jesus is indeed our Lord and Messiah. Mary Magdalene recognized him when she heard his voice. Are we really in love with him and attuned to his Good News that we can say when hearing him: “It is you, Lord, speaking to me.”
Opening Prayer
Our God of life,
we profess our faith in Jesus
and recognize him as our Lord and Savior.
Make us listen to him,
when he speaks his Good News to us,
for it is a message of life.
May we also hear his voice,
when he cries out to us in people in need
or simply when he speaks to us
through the people who express to us
their joys and hopes, their love and their faith.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Reading 1: Acts 2:36-41
On the day of Pentecost, Peter said to the Jewish people,
“Let the whole house of Israel know for certain
that God has made him both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart,
and they asked Peter and the other Apostles,
“What are we to do, my brothers?”
Peter said to them,
“Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins;
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is made to you and to your children
and to all those far off,
whomever the Lord our God will call.”
He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them,
“Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
Those who accepted his message were baptized,
and about three thousand persons were added that day.
Responsorial Psalm: PS 33:4-5, 18-19, 20 and 22
or:
R. Alleluia.
Upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
R. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia: Ps 118:24
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
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.
Intercessions
– Lord, do not remain a stranger to us. Make the Church see your image, even in sinners, so that they will be raised up to a new life, we pray:
– Lord, do not remain a stranger to us. Make us see you and lift you up in the beggars in the streets and the fugitives from oppression, we pray:
– Lord, do not remain a stranger to us. Make us console you in those who weep and mourn, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord, our God,
in these signs of bread and wine,
we seek the Lord Jesus,
for we want to find him
and to become near to him
in our life of every day.
Let him become close to us
and raise us above the banality
of everyday life.
Let him make our life rich and beautiful
in goodness and deep faith,
for he is our Risen Lord, now and forever.
Prayer after Communion
Lord God,
bring to perfection in us
what you have let Jesus begin in us.
Let him show us what we have to do,
let him keep converting us to his ways
of patient service and deep love.
Let him nourish his new life in us,
when in the Eucharist, he sits at table with us,
his disciples today.
Grant us all this through Christ, our Lord.
Blessing
“Do not hold on to me,” says Jesus. Do not try to posses him for ourselves alone. Let us go to our brothers and sisters and share Jesus with them as the Lord of life who raises us above ourselves by making us with him people-for-others. May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Reflection:
Octave of Easter, Tuesday
2 April 2024
John 20:11-18
Turning one’s back on world views
We reflect on Mary Magdalene’s resurrection experience yet again. John narrates that she saw two angels at the place where Jesus’ body was placed. Although his body is absent, John says one of the angels was facing the head, and the other faced the feet of Jesus. Try to recall the image of the two angels guarding the “mercy seat” of the Holy of Holies in the Temple. The “mercy seat” represents God’s invisible presence in the Temple and God’s presence in the world. With the stone rolled back, the Holy of Holies is empty. God, in Jesus, had exited the tomb to be available to the whole world.
This image of the empty tomb as an emptied Holy of Holies is similar to the image of the tearing of the Temple veil recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
Mary turned away from the tomb and saw Jesus outside, in the garden, but mistook him to be the gardener. We are in the new garden of Eden. This garden is where new life is born. Mary’s turning around, and what she was about to see would turn upside-down everything the world had known so far. The movement to the Easter faith requires turning one’s back on all the previous assumptions and world views. As in the first garden, where there was a prohibition – “do not eat,” here in the new garden, there is an additional prohibition too – “Do not touch me…!” A Claretian Missionary, Fr. Paulson Velianoor, in his reflections on the passage, wrote: the new prohibition “corrects the temptation to grab divinity by force instead of receiving it in gratitude.”
Jesus sent Mary as the first apostle to the disciples to tell them about his ascent to the Father. His disciples deserted him at his passion, but now he calls them brothers. Despite them deserting him, he had not deserted them. During the Last Supper, Jesus said to his disciples, “No longer do I call you servants … I call you friends.” But now, he says: “I no longer call you friends … I call you brothers”. If Eve, the first parent, brought the disastrous news to Adam, Mary now brings the good news of redemption to the disciples.
Do we recognise our brother Jesus not only in our prayers and in the reception of the Holy Eucharist but also when he walks by our side in the lives of our brothers and sisters around us and in the ordinary events and circumstances of life?