Tuesday in the Octave of Easter
(Acts
2:36-41; John 20:11-18)
In today’s
gospel Mary Magdalene is looking for Jesus – at least Jesus’ body. She is heartbroken that it is not in his tomb
where it was left two days before.
Suddenly she turns and sees Jesus in disguise. It turns out that Jesus has been looking for
her. Often it is the case. We think we have difficulty finding God. But God is the one who is chasing us.
A priest,
Fr. John Bartunek, grew up unchurched.
As a young man, he was attracted to evangelical Protestantism and then, in
the university, to Catholicism. Upon
graduation he felt called to the priesthood.
Fr. Bartunek’s own father was not pleased with the religious trajectory. He did not attend Fr. John’s ordination. However, with more years he accepted his son’s
vocation. At the end of his life, the
old man admitted that he had been raised a Catholic. He longed to receive the sacraments again
which Fr. John was happy to provide.
Soon afterwards his father died in grace, another example of God finding
someone.
We should not
worry when we feel frustrated in our quest for God. It is time for us to reconsider our
lives. We will probably find ourselves
blessed many times over. It is God who
has been pursuing us all along, like Jesus coming to Mary Magdalene. We must acknowledge his presence. Like Mary also, we should announce that
presence to others.
