April 26, 2014

Mark 16: 9-15

Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved. http://www.usccb.org/bible/approved-translations

Go Into the Whole World

The hectic pace of our daily living pushes the calendar forward. How quickly we come to the end of Easter week...and perhaps personal and family, parish and community celebrations get lost in the blur of time. This Saturday of Easter week offers the chance to look back to our experiences of Holy Week and Easter: what stands out for me? Which persons, which conversations, what events marked Easter 2014 as key moments of life and grace for me?

Today’s gospel brings us to familiar words of Jesus: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation.” Well, if not to the whole world, then at least to some corner

of the world I know -- mending a relationship, engaging a long-delayed conversation, offering Jesus’ Easter words of peacefulness and hope.

Ours is a missionary Church, sparked by the challenge of the gospel. Each of us engages that corner of the world where we live. Jesus’ words are clear: first, we have to “go out.” Then we are invited to “proclaim.” Figuring out the “how” and “when” and “what” in each situation draws on our best God-given talents and gifts. Go for it!

—The Jesuit Prayer Team

Prayer

It is not you who shapes God; it is God who shapes you. If then you are God’s handiwork, await the hand of the Artist who does all things in due season. Offer the pottery of your heart, soft and tractable, and keep well the form in which the Artist has fashioned you. Let your clay be moist, lest you grow hard and lose the imprint of the Potter’s fingers.

—St. Irenaeus (2nd century)