Daily Reflection – Mar 27, 2016
Sunday 27 March 2016
First Reading: Acts 10:34, 37-43
Responsorial Psalm:
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad
Psalm 117(118):1-2, 16-17, 22-23
Second Reading: Colossians 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
Gospel Reading: John 20:1-9
Today’s Note: The Resurrection of the Lord
The Mass of Easter Day
Gospel Reading:
On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture
that he had to rise from the dead.
Reflection:
An empty tomb.
When grief drove Mary Magdalene to the sepulchre, what anguish must have taken hold of her when even the body, the one thing that was left to her of him whom she loved so dearly, was replaced by emptiness! How easily could she and the disciples have let sorrow and despair drown what little faith still lingered! Yet they saw and they believed. They believed, even through their confusion and their heartache. Often we look at our own hardship and fail to see in it the workings of God. We drag ourselves down to the ruins of our failed plans and fail to see the divine shining bright amongst the wreckage. We insist on searching for the living amongst the dead, and weep through blind eyes so that we find only emptiness, whilst the light of Christ shines triumphant.
