These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (Lk 24:35-48)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042122.cfm
To be a witness . . . to speak of what we have seen and heard—that’s the mission the Risen Lord has given us.
Then the women went out and fled from the tomb, seized with trembling and bewilderment. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. (Mark 16:8)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/16
The Gospel of Mark actually ends with the above verse, 16:8. The gospel writer puts the burden of telling the Good News of the Resurrection on the READERS (or rather the HEARERS) of the gospel. The women say nothing to anyone for fear . . . so the disciples and Peter won’t know what has happened unless WE tell them. The gospel writer’s intention was misunderstood by the church and so there were several attempts to write “endings” to the gospel. See the footnotes to the chapter in your Bibles or click on this link https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/16. The gospel writer simply wants us to be responsible for spreading the good news! We pray for Ukraine.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the Eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. (Lk 24:13-35)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042022.cfm
The Lord still walks with us on the way and reveals himself to us in the words he speaks and in the breaking of the bread.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce the news to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” (Mt 28:8-15)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041822.cfm
How important are the Myrrh-bearing women! They are the first ones to receive the good news and to have an encounter with the Risen Lord. Pope Francis, in his homily at the Easter Vigil Mass, spoke about the Myrrh-bearing women. He said that we should “allow the women of the Gospel to lead us by the hand” so that, “with them, we may glimpse the first rays of the dawn of God’s life rising in the darkness of our world.” The women, he said, are distinguished by three verbs: They saw, they heard, they proclaimed.
Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he had told her. (Jn 20:11-18)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041922.cfm
Mary Magdalene, unlike the Twelve (now the Eleven) who were hiding for fear, goes to the Tomb. It is there she receives the NEWS . . . and then runs to tell Peter and the Beloved Disciple, which is the gospel story for Easter Sunday. Peter and the Beloved Disciple leave, but Mary Magdalene stays at the Tomb and has the encounter first with the angel, and then with the Risen Lord. And the Lord gives her the apostolic mission to Go and Tell, which she does. And ever since, Mary Magdalene has been known as “the apostle to the apostles.”
