Easter Day 2024
I have never been a morning man, but I can make an exception and get up early when something important happens. Therefore, I can understand this woman who goes to the tomb of Jesus early. In her previous existence, Mary Magdalen had been a woman of the night. But she had been forgiven; she had been loved as never before; she loved in a way she could not have dreamed possible. She woke up in the mornings with the joy of love. She woke up for a face, for a voice, for a unique friend, who was for her all at once a father, a brother, and a master. Even on that morning, the second after Jesus’ death, love woke her up; love urged her to go to the place where His body had been laid.
It was still dark, and her heart was heavy. Hers was an aching love, made more vehement by the loss. She came with gratitude in need of expressing itself. She came with an immense desire to be close to Him once more. Now the stone had been taken away from the tomb. It was a shock, but not quite a surprise. With Jesus, there had so often been surprises. He was never exactly where you thought He was. He was fully with you; and at the same time, He seemed to be with someone else, the One He called His Father and whom she called her God. This open tomb was like a new surprise of His, like a sign or a friendly game from beyond death.
Mary Magdalen did not begin her own inquiry. Rather, she ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She went to the house of faith and love which we call the Church. The Spirit who guided her unawares knew that if Jesus was to be found, it could only be with the Church, in His Church. As for her, although she went to the right place – true love always finds the right place – she did not know what had happened: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him”. She loved and did not know where He was, but her love knew. And her faith confessed unawares that the one she was looking for was “the Lord”. In the Bible, Lord and death do not go together. ‘The Lord’ is on the side of God, on the side of life. Lord is a divine name. Lord says the Resurrection.
To us, too, on this Easter morning, Mary Magdalen announces “the Lord”. She proclaims Jesus in the fullness of life of His resurrection. She does not know it yet, but her love has already understood. Love sees and believes, as the beloved disciple saw and believed when he entered the empty tomb after Peter. “Love, says St Paul, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor 13:7). Love alone meets with the Risen Christ, in the darkness of faith, yes, but in the light of hope and in unshakable trust.
I have never been a morning man, but I can make an exception and get up early when something important happens. In fact, I make an exception every morning. My brother monks and I get up early enough. We go to Jesus. We seek His face. We run to meet Him who is coming to us in the strength of His resurrection. We get up early because the loving Church watches in the night and gets up early, awaiting the coming of the Lord. We get up early, but He always beats us at it. He has already risen. He finds us in His word and in the Sacrament of His love. And He sends us to one another to share with Him in the struggles and in the victories of love.
It is not always easy but certainly worth getting up early, dear Brethren, for we are loved by ‘the Lord’ and, morning by morning, He gently teaches to love. That is the life of the Resurrection, the true, childlike, and joyful Christian life. Amen. Alleluia.