Today’s reflection is from Joan Chittister, osb taken from the 1987 Lenten reflection booklet. Joan Chittister is one of the most influential religious and social leaders of our time. For 50 years she has passionately advocated on behalf of peace, human rights, women’s issues, and church renewal. She is also a best-selling author of more than 60 books, hundreds of articles, and an online column for the National Catholic Reporter. She was the recipient of the Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace Award in 1990.
reflection for EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 2021
by Joan Chittister, osb
Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace
Acts 10:34a, 37-43 | Colossians 3:1-4 | John 20:1-9
On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. (Jn 20:1)
Interesting. The day starts and ends at the tomb. No flash of light. No announcement. Simply the awareness that what has been is gone. Mary Magdalene, in the dark, notes that the stone has been moved. John, at the door, notes that the wrappings have been left behind. Peter, in the burial place, pronounces it empty of the Christ whose burial clothes have been left behind. And they are left to tell the others.
That’s about all the sight of Resurrection that anyone ever really gets, come to think of it. Darkness and an empty tomb. The notion that what has been taken is clearly alive. A burning memory and an unfinished truth. Even today, then, the Easter message to all of us is still the same as it was to Mary Magdalene and to Peter and to John. If the glory of God is to be revealed, then it is up to us to say so and to prove it by our beliefs.
The world is still in darkness and the wrapping clothes have been left behind for us to sort and show in our own lives the powerful presence of His. We must all, at the end of this Lent, live our lives now so that God is not put to the test, so that all the communities of the earth can find blessing in us, so that the expectation of the in-breaking of the spirit of Jesus is possible, so that Jesus can heal us of our own blindness, so that the dead of this world can be brought back to life, so that the Truth is made disarmingly clear in us, that the glory of God is revealed today. Alleluia.
This reflection appeared in The Glory of God Revealed: A Lenten Journal for Peacemakers, published by Pax Christi USA in 1987.
During this Lenten season when each day felt like we were living in the Garden of Gethsemane, struggling for our very existence, I found peace and optimism from reading your reflections. May the Risen Lord now bring us out of that time of darkness and walk with us into a better future.
Lent seemed more like a calendar year than the traditional season.
In terms of Lenten enlightenment this long season has shone the light of the Gospel on our personal, institutional and corporate sins.
I pray we will Rise with the Spirit of Christ and address racism, the Climate Crisis and political/corporate greed.
Pax Christi