Saw and Believed

April 8, 2012

The Resurrection of the Lord
The Mass of Easter Sunday 2012 B

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

"This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name." Acts 10:40-43

Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:2-4

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. John 20:6-8

Piety

Piety is having the Lord and searching for the Lord at the same time. The Lord is like the sun. On a good day, our piety sees the Lord in the clarity of a sunny day. On a bad day, the Lord is like the sun hidden behind a cloudy day. When the Lord comes to us in his fullness, he will be so much more than the moon on a dark night or the sun during the day. Piety is the truth of the Lord in our lives more or less present to our awareness by the quality of how we have searched for him and how we have found him. Joy is an infallible sign of the presence of the Lord in our lives. If we could protract our consolations, we would. Being unable to prolong a consolation teaches us that we are not the cause of such joy. God gives us the gift of awareness of his presence in our lives. Our piety celebrates our awareness of the Lord present in our lives. We learn from the excitement of his presence that joy is a good sign of how close the Lord is. The sadness of his being gone sends us out looking for him. When we return to where we last found the Lord and discover that he is gone we run to those who love the Lord. Like Mary of Magdala in our gospel story we too go to those who love the Lord to see what they can do for us. It is the joy of the Resurrection that our souls are searching. The Resurrection is the final victory of the Lord in our lives.

Study

We study the darkness of our lives to discover the truth of what we believe. Peter went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths. John came after him and saw and believed. They did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. After Christ appears to the disciples, they believed. They were given the chance to see for our sakes. Those that ate and drank with him were commissioned by him to preach to the people the saving love of God in Christ. They challenge us to live our lives hidden with Christ in God. We believe not because we see, but because they have told us. Seeing is believing for some. Faith is believing for us who listen to the apostles.

Action

We preach the good news of the risen Christ by our good works. We can preach always by our lives showing forth the goodness of Christ. We go forth with confidence in our apostolic lives with the hope that Christ has been loved by us in the best way possible. We are the victory of Christ. He lives on in our love and our goodness to others. Our lives give him hands and feet here on earth. We reach out in his name. We address the problems of our world by his peace and justice. Our lives are his humanness here. His humanness lives in us by our Sacramental life. We live in him even as he lives in us. Christ in his humanness is safe in heaven. We are his hands and feet here on earth even as he is the best part of ourselves in heaven. Our Sacramental life expresses the heart pierced on the cross. We give his humanness meaning here on earth. His resurrection gives our lives a destination in heaven. He is our resurrection waiting for us in heaven.