by Jose Kurian Puliyeril

Gospel Reading: St. Matthew 25:1-20

"Our Lord is risen! Yes we do believe." Let our Lord fill our hearts with His peace, love and all other blessings.

On the first day of the week before it was completely dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary rushed to the sepulcher. See the mention of the other Mary in St. Matthew 27:56. We have to appreciate their braveness, faith and desire to look for their Master. In fact those noble ladies must be the role models for all the faithful who might desire to follow Lord Jesus. They ignored all features that might resist or object them on their way; but their determination was superb.

They might have expected to see a closed Sepulcher; but they could witness a transformed one. Can we imagine their mental condition which they had then and there? They were consoled by the Angel of God who told them "Fear not, for I know you seek Jesus who was crucified". We are also not indifferent. Our trials and attempts are also aimed at the wrong directions in our attempts to find our Lord and to follow Him. Often we do not realize the reality and we satisfy ourselves with the half attempts. For example, we all might have spent this week attending the solemn and sacred prayers and worships including the Good Friday's long services. We were only interested to find fault with Jude Iscariot and the Jews, where as we failed to examine ourselves. Did we think whether our sins caused to make our Lord suffer in any way including the humiliations and finally the brutal crucifixion? Our attempts to see our Lord and Savior in His passions for us were incomplete. We must repent for our mistakes and wrong doings, when we are about to celebrate His blessed resurrection.

We must feel that the Angel of God is still talking to each and everyone of us that he knows that we are searching our good Lord and our way of approach is at least partially wrong. Could we give heed to him?

The angel convinced the ladies that our Lord is risen as he said in St. Matthew 12:40, 16:21, 17:23, and 20: 19. We should not forget our Lord's words about His second coming. Our Lord had taught the Apostles and the other disciples that he would resurrect on the third day. But none of them could wait for the resurrection and they remained in their secret places fearing the Jews. We should not have such an experience. We must be vigil about his second coming.

The angel only directed the ladies to convey the news to the disciples and to inform them that He has gone to Galilee. While they obeyed the angel, they were blessed with our Lord's audience. They could worship Him holding his feet. When the eleven Apostles got the news, they rushed to a mountain in Galilee, where Lord Jesus had appointed them. (Refer St. Matthew 26: 32)

Our Lord told them "all power is given unto me in heaven and earth, you go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit". Today the risen Lord has nothing else to tell each and everyone of us. He wants all of us to be his witnesses. Witnessing could be achieved through our lives in real Christian principles. We all must be real Christians for others in our deeds, words and thoughts.