"STOP HOLDING ON TO ME"
We also seek
and cling to the Lord for our own comfort, but are we willing to share our
experiences and faith with others?
Deacon John Ruscheinsky
In
today's responsorial psalm, we acclaim: "The earth is full of the goodness
of the Lord" (Ps 33). This is not about the way we humans make plans for
our lives and work, or how nations' government makes plans for the economy.
Rather, this is a much bigger view of who we are to be. It is God's plan, and
His will for us. We need to hunger more each day for Him, for God is our help,
our shield, and most importantly, He gives us our hope for eternal things to
come.
In
all four of the Gospels, Mary Magdalene is one of the first women to discover
the empty tomb. Mary did not at first recognize Jesus because her main focus
was on the empty tomb, and she was grieving as well. It took only one word from
the Lord, when He called her by name, for Mary to recognize Jesus Christ. Her
message to the disciples was, "I have seen the Lord," -- this is the
very essence of Christianity! The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of
our hope -- and this hope allows us to see God's ways and God's plans.
In
the Gospel of John, we hear the word of Jesus to Mary: "Stop holding on to
me." Jesus is God's big plan for us, and He cannot stay in the garden; He
has work to do before He returns to the Father. Mary cannot stay in the garden
either. Jesus sends her to return to the disciples, this time with the most important
message that she has seen. This experience teaches us our own responsibility.
We also seek and cling to the Lord for our own comfort, but are we willing to
share our experiences and faith with others?
With
trust and prayer, like Mary, may we hear Jesus' voice and His words, and come
to know that He is risen, with us, and even now overcoming sin and death in us.
"Stop
holding on to me." Now "I am going to My Father and your Father, to
My God and your God." "I will be with you always!"