The Lord is truly Risen!
Every year, though, our Easter celebration brings – on this day – a passage where the Risen Jesus is nowhere to be seen. Let us just pause for a moment and reflect on the familiar passage of John 20: 1 – 9.
There are two powerful images in the text. The passage starts by saying: “very early ... and still dark”. Indeed. It is dark because of the time of the day but also it is also dark in the heart of Mary of Magdala and the rest of the disciples. The image of their Lord having been crucified is still fresh in their hearts. For some of them, the memory of their own weakness – having been unable to even say they were his disciples – is a heavy burden.
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I believe that is how some of us feel in this moment: it is still dark. It is an unusual time: - we still carry in our hearts the struggle of not being able to come together for our Holy Week celebrations;
- we are facing a virus that makes no distinctions among us: gender, financial situation, political power, colour, nationality, faith...;
- we see every government facing the biggest crisis in decades and health systems unable to cope;
- we are unable to do small important things like shaking hands, coming together and big ones like burying the ones we love as we used to do.
How long Lord...?
* * *
In John's passage Mary of Magdala finds the stone has been removed and without going in guesses that Jesus' body has been taken. She is confused. Having heard her Simon Peter and the other disciple run to the tomb, going in they do not find Jesus' body but they too are unable to make sense of what is happening. As the Gospel points out: “they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead.”
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Again, that might be us (this is the second image). We hear people preaching different things. Some talk about God's punishment (as they always do with sicknesses and natural disasters among other tragedies), some assuring Jesus is coming back (how many times we heard this in the last 20 – 25 years?!), some insisting governments should allow Christians to come together in Church and the virus will then be defeated.
We should thank the leadership of the “League of African Churches-Eswatini”, the “Eswatini Conference of Churches” and the “Council of Swaziland Churches” for giving a common word to the nation when they said:
the government of Eswatini has taken drastic and necessary measures to protect the lives of emaSwati from the effects of this pandemic. As much as these measures sound uncomfortable, we believe that they should be adhered to.The leadership understood the importance of speaking with one voice as Christians and of working together together with government.
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We, Catholics, are called to wait one week until we meet the Risen Lord on Sunday's gospel. Only on the Second Sunday of Easter we read (John 20: 19)
In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’That meeting would change their lives forever. Fear would be over and the light of his Resurrection would dispel the darkness in their hearts.
Remembering their call to be light of the world (Matthew 5: 14) and having been sent by Jesus (Mt 28: 19), they will go all over the world.
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During this our “extraordinary missionary year” we are constantly reminded we are “baptised and sent” sharing the light of the Risen Lord. The Spirit of the Lord certainly shows you how. I would like to share just a few ways we do that:
- let us entrust this time to Jesus in prayer. As we believe He conquered death, may he help us conquer also this virus and its consequences in our communities;
- let us pray for the sick and for everyone working in a hospital or clinic as they are giving the best of themselves for the sake of everyone;
- remember, therefore, our daily prayer at 12.00 midday followed by the “angelus”;
- let us pray God grants our government and every government the gift of wisdom in this present moment but also that we may be one with them by “listening” and “doing” as indicated and not as we please;
- in Pope Francis' words, we need to
take care of the now, for the sake of tomorrow. Always creatively, with a simple creativity, capable of inventing something new each day
- let us deepen our care for the poor, the hungry... On Palm Sunday our Cathedral saw a long queue of people asking for food. They are Jesus coming to us: “I was hungry... I was thirsty...”. We are aware of how much all this is hurting our families. Christians and Christian churches must make sure we open our eyes and hearts and we share with the poorest in the country.
Let us be led by love, by loving one another as Jesus did. This is the mark of every Christian.
Happy Easter!
+ José Luis IMC
Bishop of Manzini
Bishop of Manzini
"One minute Gospel"
Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday
