Where is he?
In today's Gospel reading, there is searching.
They expect to find him in one place; and, he is not there. A sense of panic fills Mary’s voice and there is an urgency that causes one apostle to “run” to try to make sense of where Christ may be.
Isn’t this one of our fundamental, daily concerns as well? Where is God; in my life, in my relationships, in my work? Often, when we ask this question, we may be experiencing a sense of panic similar to that which grips Mary Magdalene when she says “we do not know where they have put him.”
Platitudinous or stock theological answers to this question have often left me feeling empty. This is a matter of knowledge of the heart. When our relationships are soaring; when we connect with that student who has struggled; when our children, friends and members of our families are all well; duh? I don’t have to “run” or search too far to feel Christ’s spirit moving with me in my life.
But then there’s cancer, sickness, tragic and unexpected death, violence, homelessness, children held in cages or a sense that I am not enough; leading me only to the emptiness of the barren, cold, stone floor.
The lifelong and difficult challenge is to release the panic and the emptiness that can overtake us and to try to imagine the unceasing intimacy of The Christ who dwells within and with us; never abandoning us, even for one moment, to the panic and the darkness and the aloneness of the stone cold, empty cave.
They expect to find him in one place; and, he is not there. A sense of panic fills Mary’s voice and there is an urgency that causes one apostle to “run” to try to make sense of where Christ may be.
Isn’t this one of our fundamental, daily concerns as well? Where is God; in my life, in my relationships, in my work? Often, when we ask this question, we may be experiencing a sense of panic similar to that which grips Mary Magdalene when she says “we do not know where they have put him.”
Platitudinous or stock theological answers to this question have often left me feeling empty. This is a matter of knowledge of the heart. When our relationships are soaring; when we connect with that student who has struggled; when our children, friends and members of our families are all well; duh? I don’t have to “run” or search too far to feel Christ’s spirit moving with me in my life.
But then there’s cancer, sickness, tragic and unexpected death, violence, homelessness, children held in cages or a sense that I am not enough; leading me only to the emptiness of the barren, cold, stone floor.
The lifelong and difficult challenge is to release the panic and the emptiness that can overtake us and to try to imagine the unceasing intimacy of The Christ who dwells within and with us; never abandoning us, even for one moment, to the panic and the darkness and the aloneness of the stone cold, empty cave.
Author: John Sabine, Advancement
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