APPEARANCES

Maurice Denis- Holy Women at the Tomb

In today's gospel, Jesus meets Mary Magdalen and "the other Mary" and tells them not to be afraid.


Tomorrow we have that poignant (and one of our favorites) Gospel of  Jesus meeting Mary Magdalen in the garden- always so mind boggling that she did not recognize Him!
Was it because of her tears?

MM with Jesus- S. Watanabe

Rabbouni- Silvia Dimitrova

Road to Emmaus- Dr. He Qi

Wednesday is the story of the two travelers on the road to Emmaus.
"We are never told who the travelers to Emmaus were, but it is worth looking to their example and asking for a heart ready to respond to the Lord, in whatever form He chooses to come. We pray to see Him, not to pass Him by." Sister Wendy Beckett

Road to Emmaus- S. Watanabe

Road to Emmaus-Watanabe

Woodcut- Road to Emmaus

Thursday Jesus appears to the disciples, telling them again not to be afraid, then eats with them- He who no longer needed nourishment for His body.

Dr. He Qi

On Friday He appears to them as they are fishing and tells them where to throw their nets and after a great catch, again eats with them.

Early Christian Eucharistic practice often included the eating of fish (symbol of Christ himself -IXTHYS). The Resurrection has imploded into the busy world of the disciples (the contrast of the chaotic world on the sea and the calmness of the Christ figure) as the  restorative symbol of eating with the Risen master.

(love the birds in this painting!)

One of our favorite authors when we were in Novitiate was Caryll Houselander (wonderful British mystic, author and artist -d.1954). She sums up for us this week in words more profound than anything I can write:

"Without being under any necessity to do so in His glorified body, Christ did ordinary things.  He walked and talked and ate with men, built a little fire, and cooked for them, comforted them, and renewed their faith, but not by compelling them to be shocked into faith - even by the shock of joy - but by approaching each one individually through the individual's own mentality and temperament.

He used the same means as before - words, kindness, going on a journey, setting His pace to the pace of the others, accepting their invitations, preparing food for them with His own hands, and that most wonderful and simplest way of all, the breaking of bread, the giving of Himself sacramentally.

He was showing men how they were to go on living His Risen Life all through time. They were to give Him to one another, and as simply as He gave Himself, through words and kindness, through their work and friendship, through learning one another's mind and heart and approaching each one separately, through accepting and leavening the sorrow of the world by the interchange of their Christ-love.  Above all, by sacramental Communion with Him, in which they are made one."