The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
I moved to California in the midst of the loneliest season of my life. Armed with a suitcase, a backpack, and the promise of an apartment from a stranger I connected with in a Catholic women’s group. I arrived in a place where I knew no one, had nothing, and yet felt that perhaps this emptiness I had been experiencing was really the Lord making space to fulfill a promise.
In the midst of celebrating the risen Lord, it is easy to forget that the first Easter began with the shock of an empty tomb. Today’s Gospel finds a grieving Mary Magdalene who goes to Jesus’ burial place and is upset by this emptiness: “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” At the moment, “they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”
Can we take a moment and put ourselves in her place? Perhaps there are areas in your life that feel perpetually empty, where you are grieving, or experiencing your own season of loneliness.
Today is for you.
The Lord tells us through the prophet Isaiah, “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
The joy of Easter is the truth of life after death; of a God who turns even the most desolate places into fertile ground. We are reminded that ours is a God of resurrections. Not just life after death, but life in our current brokenness and woundedness.
This Easter season I invite you to reflect on the areas of your life that feel empty or in need of a resurrection, and how you might ask the Lord to breathe new life into them.
Regina Gray LPC works as a trauma therapist in Austin, TX. She has a deep love for her family, and enjoys making the faith come alive for her squishy children Ezra and Eloise. When not dreaming up new crafts, you can find Regina reading or finding an excuse to be outside in the sunshine