There is an air of utter confusion and bewilderment about the reaction of His disciples to news that Jesus is Risen. Hearing that Someone who was well and truly dead was seen alive was earthshattering news indeed. When Jesus Himself appears it was equally overwhelming. Some were overcome with joy, while others were terrified out of their wits.
Is it any wonder! Whether Jesus appeared quietly in a garden, or suddenly came through a closed door, the Risen Jesus was different. In one way, He seemed to be the same familiar Jesus, the Teacher, the Friend, the Jesus of Nazareth Whom they thought they knew. Still, He was strange. He was not the same. There was an atmosphere of unreality about Him. He appeared out of nowhere and vanished suddenly from their sight. He was no longer homely, reachable. They were in awe of Him.
The Risen Jesus stayed with His disciples for “forty days” an undefined length of time. By appearing and disappearing, by His presence and absence, by explaining the scriptures to them, slowly, through the Gift of His Spirit, the doubting, hesitating disciples came to be utterly convinced of the Resurrection of Jesus. In this way, Jesus led them gradually to fully accept and believe in His Divinity. They were able to address the human Jesus of Nazareth as “ my Lord and my God”. They knew that now, Risen, Jesus was with them always and everywhere as He promised. They were ready to be witnesses of the Risen Christ, the Incarnate God, to the ends of the earth.
“Faith in the Mystery of the Incarnation is at the heart of our vocation. In Jesus we contemplate the Word of God Who became man”
“This contemplation transforms our way of looking at the realities of the world” (B.I.13)
“To make us more and more attentive to the many ways in which God is present in our lives, we will set aside a prolonged period of time daily for personal prayer” (B.I.15)
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