April 22, 2025

Today I see Jesus and the ranks and rows of angels and saints, archangels and apostles, standing shoulder to shoulder, in sadness but also welcoming Pope Francis to their midst. The welcoming is tender, but there is sadness that Pope Francis spoke the truth and much of the world chose not to listen to him. So much evil remains in the world, and in some quarters it is getting worse and worse.  Just as Jesus spoke the truth and the world did not listen, so too did Pope Francis.  It is blessed to try to speak truth, and try he did, but if the world will not listen even to Jesus or even to Pope Francis, what hope is there for those who suffer?  What hope is there for God’s beautiful and awesome but delicate creation?  That is all.

John 20:11-18

In today’s reading, Mary is weeping at the tomb of Jesus.  She looks inside, and sees two angels, one at the head and one at the foot of where Jesus had laid.  They asked why she was weeping, and she said that someone had taken the Lord and she did not know where they had laid him. Just then, Jesus was there. At first she didn’t recognize him, but when he called her name, she knew his voice and she replied “teacher.”  He told her not to cling onto him because he was not yet ascended to the Father, but go and tell his brothers, “I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”  She went and told them she had seen the Lord.

Mary, the first person to encounter the risen Lord, the first to hear his voice, the first to recognize him, and the first to bear the news to the others.  Mary, who was sad and weeping, and who saw the angels in the tomb and the empty space where Jesus had been.  She seeks the Lord with all her heart, with her sad heart of missing him, and she encounters him.  So too we miss Pope Francis, with his kindness and compassion for all, his good cheers and sharp remarks, his love of God’s creation, his courage to speak.  Our hearts may be very sad, but when we sincerely seek God, we find God. Amen.