27 April 2019
Saturday in the Octave of Easter
An account of more appearances of the Resurrected One; in today’s Gospel, St. Mark sums up Jesus’ early apparitions to his friends. The women seem to have accepted the event, but not the apostles. They are still stupefied by the shock of his Passion and death.
Yet, it is to them that Jesus gives the mission to preach to the whole world the Good News that he has overcome sin and death, and that believers share in his victory. The weak will confound the strong.
Again, here the resurrection appearances show that faith grows slowly. It is a gift. If God has given me the full-blown faith of the women to whom the Resurrected Christ first appeared, I should thank him, but I should not expect this conviction to be present in all believers, particularly today’s young people, for whom I shall say special prayers.
And again, faith needs time to take root in the hearts of all, particularly if those hearts have been wounded by tragedy, sufferings and disappointments. But Jesus showed patience. It will be the function of the Holy Spirit later on to make the weak strong and the doubting true apostles.
Each of us has been given the mission to be an apostle – according to our own particular vocation – to spread by word and deed to others the truth that Christ has risen; Christ has truly risen. Alleluia