Suy niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba Phục Sinh

 Suy niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba Phục Sinh (John 20:11-18- )

Sự kiện Chúa Kitô Phục sinh theo như kinh nghiệm của cô Maria Magdalene rất quan trọng. Chúng ta có thể tưởng tượng nếu như cô Maria Magdalene  không ra mộ viếng Chúa? Chúng ta có thể hình dung nếu như sau khi không thấy Chúa trong mộ, Cô Maria không để ý đến những lời các thiên thần nói với cô ta? Hay chúng ta có thể mường tượng nếu cô ta không chạy đi tìm các tông đồ để nói với họ những gì đã xảy ra?  Sự phục sinh không chỉ là một sự kiện lịch sử, nhưng đó là một kinh nghiệm cần phải được rao giảng và phải được truyền đi từ thế hệ này sang thế hệ khác. Tất cả chúng ta đượcmời gọi để rao truyền những kinh nghiệm về cuộc sống lại của Chúa Kitô này cho những người khác. Chúng ta không thể gọi mình là Kitô hữu, nếu như chúng ta chưa trải nghiệm được sự phục sinh của Chúa Kitô trong cuộc sống của chúng ta.

            Trong những giây phút tuyệt vọng, hay trong những nỗi thất vọng, đau khổ nhất trong cuộc đời của chúng ta, có thể ngay cả trong cái chết của người thân yêu trong gia đình, là Kitô hữu chúng ta có những kinh nghiệm quen thuộc về sự can thiệp của Chúa Kitô và sự sống lại của Ngài đã mang chúng ta ra “ngôi mộ” của Chúa và biến đổi sự đau khổ của chúng ta thành những niềm tin và Hy vọng. Niềm tin này đem chúng ta đến sự vui mừng trong Chúa Kitô, Đấng mà thực sự đã sống lại.

            Chúng ta hãy tự kiểm tra cuộc sống của chúng ta, Chúng ta nhìn lại xem có khi nào chúng ta trải nghiệm được sự sống lại của Chúa Kitô trong chúng ta, Chúng ta đã thật sự tìm thấy Chúa Kitô? Chúng ta đã nhận ra Chúa khi đang hiện diện nơi chúng ta?

 

REFLECTION
The event of the resurrection as experienced by Mary Magdalene is very important. Can we imagine if she did not even go looking for the Lord? Can we imagine if after not finding the Lord, she would not pay heed to what the angels told her? Can we imagine if she would not have gone to the apostles to tell them what had happened? The resurrection is not only a historical event; it is an experience that needs to be transmitted from generation to generation. We are all invited to pass this experience of the resurrection to others. We cannot call ourselves Christian, if we have not experienced the resurrection of Christ in our own lives. In moments of despair, during our deepest frustrations, perhaps even during the  death of a loved one, we as Christians have experience Christ's intervention and resurrection which brings us out of the tomb and transforms our misery to a faith that enjoins us to Christ who is truly risen. Let us examine our lives, looking back, when did we experience the Lord's resurrection in us? Did we search for him? Did we recognize him?

 

Tuesday within Easter Octave

Opening Prayer: Jesus, I place myself quietly in your presence, ready to encounter you in a real and profound way, eager to experience you and the joy of your Resurrection as I make my way through this Easter Octave. So many years have passed since your Resurrection took place. And yet, your word is eternal. It is as powerful now as when you spoke it for the first time. You have the power to reach through time and say my name to me, as you exclaimed “Mary!” in the garden. And through the power of your Resurrection, as you are present everywhere and always, you can let me reach out and touch you. You can let me cling to you, here and now. And you can send me to announce to others what I have experienced. 

Encountering Christ:

Mary Wept: Here we have a woman with a dramatic and painful history who encountered Christ in a life-changing event—the expulsion of her seven demons. Mary had already been living a sort of “resurrected” life well before Jesus’ Passion, death, and Resurrection. Christ was her life. Her dependence on him seemed so absolute that his death must have nearly destroyed her. If we want to, we can see ourselves in Mary of Magdala. If we have the courage, we can imagine ourselves as desperate for Christ as she was, and very dependent on him. We can look at our baptism, our conversion, and our receiving of his grace as the only thing that gives us life. We can say with Mary, “My life depends totally on you, Lord. I have no hope, no joy outside of you. Without you, I am completely lost.” 

The Dialogue: The Scriptures always have something to teach us. What could Our Lord have been trying to share with us in this short, intense dialogue? First, it’s puzzling that Mary, who loved the Lord so passionately, didn’t recognize him at the tomb. This can prompt us to reflect on the moments we have failed to recognize his presence and appreciate that the Lord sometimes loves us in mysterious ways. When Jesus asked Mary whom she sought and why she wept, let it remind us that Jesus knows everything, and yet is always waiting for us to share our concerns and open our hearts more deeply to him. Mary’s desire to find his body and carry it away revealed the intensity of her love. Do we wonder if we love Christ as much as she does? When we grieve or worry, who do we look for? Mary was overwhelmed and overjoyed when Jesus said her name. She responded, “Rabonni.” What term of endearment do we use in prayer to call out to Jesus? 

She Went and Told the Disciples: At some point, Mary’s beautiful moment with Jesus had to end. In this most significant moment of Mary’s life, she was quickly told that she had a mission. She was sent by Christ to tell the Apostles, “I have seen the Lord.” In the great chain of friends telling friends about the news of the Resurrection, Mary was the first. The Apostles were number two. What number are we? If we have let ourselves really penetrate this encounter, we can share the news with the same intensity and conviction as Mary did.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I hear you say my name today. I want your voice to enter deep into my consciousness. I want to turn to you and see you before me, relieving me of all my fear, my doubts, my tears. You want to gently pull me away from solving my problems my way and direct me toward the one truth that really matters: that you are here. Help me to be your apostle and to share with others the truth of your presence with us.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will acknowledge your presence frequently throughout the day.

 

Tuesday within Easter Octave, Acts 2:36-41;  Ps. 33(32):4-5,18-19,20,22; Jn. 20:11-18 

Mary did not recognize Jesus, not because she was blinded by her tears or because it was still dark. Recognizing the Risen Jesus was not and never is a matter of mere physical sight: it always comes because of the prior gift of faith and love for Jesus in his humanity.

            In contemplating the risen Christ, we must note two guiding facts: the Resurrection as an event is not described in the Gospels. The Gospels present accounts of the appearances of the risen Jesus. Our prayer, then, is not oriented towards an event but towards the person of Jesus in order to increase our faith and hope in him and our love for him.  The second fact is that Jesus does not appear to those without faith or those who rejected him, such as Herod, the High Priest, Pilate. He appeared to those who believed in him and loved him, even if their faith was sometimes very fragile and their love still required strengthening by the coming of the Holy Spirit — people like ourselves. He appeared to those who were “his own” (Jn 13:1). He appeared to them to offer them — and to us — his love and acceptance and a new hope which would strengthen them.  May your kindness be upon us, O Lord, for we have put our hope in You.

 

Tuesday within Easter Octave Opening Prayer: 

Lord Jesus, I am overcome by your power, mercy, and goodness. You are truly Christ the Victor! You revealed yourself to Mary Magdalene after your Resurrection; please reveal yourself to me now in your word.

Encountering Christ:

Recognizing Christ: This Gospel reading is a continuation of the Gospel passage that was proclaimed on Easter morning: John 20:1-9. At the end of that passage, Peter and John had run to the empty tomb and found only Christ’s burial cloths. In this passage, we return to Mary Magdalene, who was waiting outside the tomb weeping. She believed that Jesus had been taken from the tomb, perhaps by the gardener or the Roman guards: “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him” (John 20:13). Then Jesus merely spoke her name, revealing himself to her. Mary Magdalene heard his voice and recognized it. Then Mary ran to cling to Jesus, overcome with joy at finding the Lord. We can ask ourselves if we have parts of our lives that we believe are lost or are broken. Jesus transforms those losses, hurts, and failures. His Resurrection is the greatest victory, able to overcome the greatest foes: sin and death. Christ surely has dominion over the smaller foes we must face. Let’s ask for that special Easter grace of transformation.

Eve and Mary Magdalene: There are some interesting points of comparison between our first mother Eve and Mary Magdalene. Archbishop Arthur Roche, secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, offered this comparison: “I would like to show the difference between the two women present in the garden of Paradise, and in the garden of the Resurrection. The first disseminates death where there was life, and the second proclaims Life from a tomb, the place of death.” Eve stood in the garden of life. She dwelled so near God that she could hear “the sound of the Lord God walking about in the garden.” But she gave up that closeness to God when she chose disobedience and sin, and then she hid from God, along with Adam (Genesis 3:8). Mary Magdalene knew God as well, but she saw him put to death for the sins of the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. There by his tomb, the garden of death, she thought he had been lost, that the gardener had hidden him from her, and she tearfully sought him. When she found him, she found Life itself. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26). Encountering Life, she obediently and joyfully shared her witness and proclaimed the salvation of all who would believe in him.

Encounter and Evangelize: This is the first appearance of the Risen Christ in John’s Gospel. He appeared to Mary Magdalene, the Apostle to the Apostles, apostolorum apostola, as St. Thomas Aquinas called her. She was the first to announce the good news of the Gospel to the disciples. Notice that she did not go on her own accord; Christ sent her: “go to my brothers and tell them…” (John 20:17). Like Mary Magdalene, we are called to be apostles to others. The Holy Spirit sends us forth to go and tell others the Gospel, the good news of our own lives. Mary Magdalene had genuine encounters with the Lord, and she shared those with those around her. This is the heart of the new evangelization: encountering Christ and sharing his love with others. The key is to share our encounters sincerely, from the heart, motivated with love and inspired by the promptings of the Holy Spirit. St. John Paul the Great wrote, “All who believe in Christ should feel, as an integral part of their faith, an apostolic concern to pass on to others its light and joy. This concern must become, as it were, a hunger and thirst to make the Lord known, given the vastness of the non-Christian world” (Redemptoris Missio). Let’s consider the ways that we encounter Christ–in the Eucharist, in Holy Scripture, in prayer, in the goodness of others, and in the beauty of creation–and ask God how he is calling us to bear witness to him.

Conversing with Christ: My Jesus, thank you for your word. Help me to encounter you deeply so that I can bring you to others. May I be filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit so that I can witness to you with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Most of all, light my heart aflame with love for you and for others so I ignite these sparks of love in others, whomever I meet.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will prayerfully consider how you are calling me to bear witness to you.