Daily Gospel Reflection
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April 9, 2023
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.
Our son, Danny, is now 41 but when he was about seven years old, he provided us with a pithy summary of the Easter message, which we remember fondly each year. It was morning. My wife Mary Pat and I went into his bedroom. He was sitting up on his pillow with his hands clasped behind the back of his head and exclaimed: “Well, dead on Friday, alive on Sunday!” As funny as the moment was, we realized it really is the core of our faith.
In today’s gospel, Mary Magdala goes to the tomb while many of the other disciples of Jesus have run away or are in hiding. When she finds the empty tomb she informs Simon Peter, but her words to him do not show complete faith in the resurrection as she says: “they have taken him away and we don’t know where they put him.”
Simon Peter and the disciple who loved Jesus ran to the tomb. More clues of the resurrection were discovered. The empty tomb, the burial clothes folded and put to the side, the heavy stone rolled away, and the cloth that had covered his head—this sort of circumstantial evidence gets a bad name in the law and judicial system as if it alone can not be persuasive. However, as the gospel reading concludes, the disciple who came to the tomb with Simon Peter “saw and believed.”
I pray that today on this blessed Easter Sunday, we may have the faith of the disciple, who having seen, believed. Jesus has assured us of all that we have hoped for, so we here now today, who do not see, can still believe. Alleluia!
Prayer
Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus
Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of
everlasting life. Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the
day of the Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death
of sin by your life-giving Spirit. We ask this through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Saint of the Day
After Saturday evening, when the Easter vigil is celebrated in anticipation of the Lord’s resurrection, the Church rejoices in the gift of new life with this feast, the high point of the Church year.
Saturday night and Sunday, the Church marks the central moment of our salvation from death—the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Those who have been preparing to enter the Church are baptized at the Easter Vigil because the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is the very mystery that they are entering—it is the mystery that marks the life of anyone who has been baptized.
Sunday begins the Easter octave—a period of eight days, Sunday to Sunday—during which we celebrate the saving event of Jesus’ resurrection. According to the Church year, this whole week collapses into one single day, and the liturgy on each day of this week is a full-hearted, joyful celebration of Easter all over again. After the Easter octave, we will begin the Easter season, which lasts 50 days and culminates in Pentecost.
For the first time since Lent began, the Church proclaims “Alleluia!” The Easter proclamation begins in this way:
Rejoice heavenly powers!
Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes forever!Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!
The reliquary chapel in the Basilica holds relics from the burial shroud that was left behind when the women and Jesus’ disciples found the empty tomb and first learned of his resurrection. The Siegfried Hall chapel contains a final station of the cross that depicts the resurrection (shown below), and the image of Jesus emerging from the tomb above comes from the tabernacle upon the altar in the Lady Chapel of the Basilica.
On this joyous feast of Easter, let us proclaim that Jesus is risen! He is truly risen! Alleluia!