Daily reflection _ "stop holding on to Me"

"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!"