THE PRESENCE OF THE RESURRECTED LORD - 04/18/22 (Easter Monday)

Matthew 28:8-10,12-13

8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Hail!" And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me."

12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, "Tell people, `His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.'

For the full readings, click here: 

https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/daily-readings

Blessed Easter Monday! After hearing from the angel that Jesus rose from the dead as He promised, St. Mary Magdalene and the other women ran with fear and great joy. Why were they afraid? They were joyful because they would see the Lord, but they were afraid because they had not yet seen their Beloved Savior. As such, Jesus appeared to them and told them to not be afraid. It's true that even though there were times they could not physically see Him, in reality, Jesus was always present with them. 

The same is true for us. We are always in the presence of our resurrected Savior. Although we could not see His physical presence besides in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, He is not far from us. He is closer to us even more than we can even imagine. He is with us, and He dwells within us. When the women saw Jesus, they worshipped Him. This is the reason why we should not be discouraged to pray at many moments during the day. He sees us when we always choose to love Him. When we have troubles, we should not forget to surrender ourselves and our problems to Him. When we are becoming anxious, let's find strength in Him. Our continuous prayer and reminder of God's presence is what will give us great joy. 

But, what happens if we forget the presence of God in our lives? Jesus was not just present with His disciples, but He was also present with the Pharisees and the soldiers. The soldiers knew that our Lord truly rose from the dead. But, they chose to spread a lie for the sake of the money. One of the reasons why they committed a grave sin was because they were unaware that Jesus knew what they were doing. In short, they were unaware of the presence of God in them. The evil spirits tempt us by making us think that no one is watching us such as when people commit sinful thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, and many more. However, this can only be countered by a reminder of the truth that God sees us. When we are reminded of the reality of God's presence, at the moment of temptation, we can immediately reject it by seeking strength from God in prayer. 

We can find true joy and avoid sins by recognizing that Jesus is with us at every step of our journey. How can we remind ourselves of His presence more? When we pray, we can visualize in our mind our Lord Jesus which will help us to be detached from our earthly thoughts and seek heavenly things. We may also make an act of faith such as by saying, "My God, I believe that You are here present" or any other prayer that will help us be more aware of His presence. Or, we can simply be aware that God is with us and dwells within us when we speak to Him or do other things. May we discern what God is inspiring us to do because in His presence, our souls will be filled with joy, and we will be safe from the danger of sin.

Amen +

 

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death. Amen. +

 

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +  

Reflection by: Dominic