Running Toward the Tomb

"Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, he saw, and he believed." John 20:8-9

Unlike Mary Magdala, who would see Christ, neither Peter nor John, "the other disciple who had reached the tomb first" actually saw the risen Christ at that time. Yet they believed. They believed. They came running to the tomb, they saw it was empty, they saw the linens, including the one that was rolled-up. John writes that they understood scripture and they believed. They believed without completely seeing.

Aren't we running to the tomb? And when we get there, what do we see? What do we believe? Why do we run to the tomb in the first place?

We will be running to the tomb until the day we get there. Once we emerge, we will see Christ, perhaps as great as Mary Magdala did, perhaps much much greater. But we need to have the faith of Peter and John and we need to keep running toward the Tomb.

Alleluia, He is Risen!!!!
May the blessings and grace of faith rain upon you as run to the tomb!

How Could They Say That?

Does anyone who consistently spends time with the Gospel have any doubt that Martha and Mary both had a good understanding of who Jesus was by the time he was summoned to Lazarus' death bed? If that is so, would you or I have the courage to address him as they did? "If you'd been here on time, he wouldn't be dead." Now, that's a ton to lay on anyone, let alone the one you call Lord. It says a lot about the intimacy of the love that the two sisters have for Christ, that they could speak so openly with him.
The good news here is that you and I can have that same intimate love of the Lord.
Twelve years ago I heard this Gospel just two days after we had buried our children.
"So you raised Lazarus. What about my kids?" And with that, a close loving intimacy began to grow between us. This gospel is all about the resurrection, but part of our sharing in this new life is having this intimacy with Christ. The Mass is all about this intimacy if we take the time to let it happen. In fact, all our "prayer tools" are means to achieve this intimacy. And quiet listening is a part of it as well. Without this intimacy, I have learned, it is quite difficult to separate "my will" from "thy will." Martha and Mary had it, John had it, Peter got there as well and Paul certainly had it. It's there for us as well.