Easter Women

Mary Magdalene and a small group of women were the earliest witnesses to the Resurrection of Christ.  Although the Apostles treated their message as ‘nonsense’, Peter is curious enough to ‘run’ to the tomb to see what’s going on. 

Did you know that the word ‘apostle’ literally means ‘one who is sent’?  So, in that sense, Mary Magdalene and those women were apostles. Why were they sent to the other apostles?

I assume they were sent to the men because the men were scared and hidden in a locked room.  It’s interesting that the women weren’t so afraid to go to the tomb. Women were didn’t count for much in that era, so they could move about more freely.  Nonetheless the women were still very courageous to do what they did. 

Obviously those women were very close to Jesus.  Unlike most rabbis, Jesus traveled with women followers, in addition to the men.  We read about that in Luke’s Gospel.  So women heard His stories, witnessed miracles, and walked with Him to the cross and tomb.

Today I think of women who first shared faith with me.  My mom and my favorite teacher, Sr. Rosaire, were my early teachers of faith. Along with others, they are my ‘Easter’ women. 

Name women who first shared faith with you as a child.  Name women who continue to share faith with you now. Be grateful for them.

Dismantling the Table

                                                      (Holy Thursday)

Lots of changes are afoot in my life. Among other things I’m selling my condo.  So imagine the mess…cleaning out cupboards and the attic and the garage.  The good news is that I have given lots of things away.  For the most part it hasn’t been hard to let these things go.   

Except for my dining room table and chairs.  I gave it to my sister and her husband. The day after Christmas they measured the table. And they put the chairs in their hatchback and started to unscrew the table top from its base.  As they dismantled the table, my heart was in my mouth. I couldn’t talk.  If I had said anything, I would have sobbed. 

I have always thought of that table as a kind of ‘household altar’…a place to gather loved ones for a meal and a kind of communion. That table has dreams and people attached to it. 

The dismantling of the table is a symbol of the dismantling of my life right now.  (Retirement is also on the horizon.). These are dying moments.  In the midst of them, sometimes I cry.

Tears dried, I remembered why I gave my table to my sister and brother-in-law.  They’ll use it on Friday mornings when a group of their friends always come for coffee and donuts. They’ll sit around that table and enjoy each other’s company.  So my dream for that table lives on.  That is such a comfort.

Jesus had dreams too.  His best dream lives on in the Eucharist.  His table.

Have you ever thought of your table as a ‘household altar?  What dreams do you hope will live on when your life is dismantled?

                              Reading Hearts

When someone pushes me into something that I don’t want to do, I sometimes say: “Here’s where I draw a line in the sand.”  It means: Stop it! End of discussion!

My sense is that Jesus was at that point in his relationship with the Scribes and Pharisees. They dragged an adulterous woman to Jesus wanting to stone her and to trap Jesus.  He bends down, using his finger to write on the ground, drawing his own lines in the sand.

Those religious leaders didn’t care about the woman and they didn’t care about Jesus either.  As far as they were concerned, the world would be better off without either of them.  

But they didn’t realize that Jesus had a unique gift.  He reads hearts. He sees what’s inside us.

So He knew exactly what was in the hearts of those Scribes and Pharisees.  And He knew exactly what each of them was guilty of.  So He saved that woman and gave her another chance.  In fact, He gave those Scribes and Pharisees another chance as well. 

The good news and the bad news is that Jesus reads our hearts too. 

What does Jesus see in your heart today?  From what does Jesus want to save you?  When was the last time He gave you another chance?

*Read the story of the Adulterous John 8:1-11

                                                         Dinner Party

St. Luke says that Jesus told the Prodigal Son story because some Jewish authorities criticized Him for eating with sinners.*

In that light, the most striking thing about this story are the two meals.  The first meal is with the pigs, where the younger son feels the depth of his loneliness and isolation.  That pigsty meal is in sharp contrast to the warm welcome and joyful roast beef dinner prepared for that younger son’s homecoming. 

The older brother refuses to join the party.  The father overlooks his bitterness.  He begs him to enjoy the same lavish meal as the younger son. Will the older one join the feast with his sinful brother? Or will he be like those Jewish authorities who refuse to eat with sinners…thinking, of course, that they themselves aren’t sinners at all! 

 So, why does Jesus eat with sinners?  Because nothing they/we do stops Him from loving us.  His love for us is unconditional, freely given and unearned.  Jesus is like the father in the story, who goes overboard in loving his children. It seems too good to be true!  

Remember: Although we are sinners Jesus breaks bread with us every time we come to mass.  He invites us all of us sinners to eat with Him.

Take a moment to name other people who know you are a sinner and eat with you anyway.    

 *Luke 15:1-3 (Introduction to Prodigal Son Story.)  Luke 15:11-32 (The story.)

            When Bad Things Happen to Good People*

During January’s huge winter storm, there was a story about a mother and her young daughter who sought warmth in their car when their furnace shut down.  Snow blocked the car’s exhaust pipe and they both died of carbon monoxide poisoning. What a tragedy!

Why did that happen?  Why didn’t God intervene and save them?  Was God punishing them for something?  Most people don’t jump to that conclusion.  But sometimes we think that way.   

Periodically someone asks me why God is angry with them.  They pray every day and go to church and obey God’s commands. But in spite of that, they face a divorce or have a health crisis or difficult family dispute.  Their think their religious practices should inoculate them from set-backs in life.  

Over time I’ve come to see that God is with us no matter what happens. When my dad suddenly died of a heart attack, it was the worst thing that could have happened then. But in hindsight I see that God was with us in that crisis.  It was a merciful death for dad and my family got closer together than it had been for some time.   

God does not punish us with suffering.  God is with us in the middle of the mess.

Look back at your life.  Can you see that God is with you in the middle of the struggles and messes of your life?   

 

*When Bad Things Happen to Good People is the title of a wonderful book written in 1978 by Rabbi Harold Kushner. (ISBN 1-4000-3472-8)