APRIL 18, 2017
Tuesday in the
Octave of Easter
1st Reading: Acts 2:36–41
Gospel: Jn 20:11–18
Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she bent down to look inside; she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, and the other at the feet. They said, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She answered, “Because they have taken my Lord and I don’t know where they have put him.”
As she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not recognize him. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and answered him, “Lord, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him, “Rabboni”—which means, Master. (…)
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Faith is both a privilege and a responsibility. It is a privilege because the Lord freely gives it to people regardless of merit. But faith is a responsibility because a person called to faith is obliged to nourish it and keep it alive through a life of witnessing.
A person of faith therefore is necessarily a missionary tasked to spread the faith. We find this operative in the experience of Mary of Magdala. After Jesus told her not to cling to him for he has yet to ascend to the Father, he sent her on a mission with the following instructions: “Go to my brothers and say to them: I am ascending to my Father, who is your Father, to my God, who is your God.” Mary of Magdala’s experience followed this predictable pattern: after an experience of faith came the task of witnessing by way of spreading the good news.
We are called to the same pattern of spreading the faith. We have just gone through the grace-filled experience of the Holy Week that culminated in the celebration of Easter. Jesus is risen, and we are all witnesses whereof (Acts 2:32). Let us be mindful of our responsibility to spread the faith by making resolve to ‘walk in the newness of life’ (Romans 6:4) and to serve God and neighbor in the newness of spirit (see Rom. 7:6). To walk in the newness of life means to abandon those old ways that often lead one to commit sin. The benefit is two pronged: we become new persons and at the same time we inspire others by our newness of life.
To spread the faith is a solemn duty because we cannot just enjoy faith to the exclusion of others. We must inspire others so that they too may believe and be saved. As St. Paul wrote, “To everyone that believes, salvation is at hand” (Romans 1:16). Like Mary of Magdala, let us be bearers of the Easter joy! – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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