This morning I woke up at about four plus to go for a jog. As I was jogging and listening to praise and worship songs, the thought of St John and St Peter came to mind. Jn 20:3-4 it says in scripture that after hearing from Mary of Magdala that the body of Jesus was missing from the tomb they ran together to see for themselves. It occurred to me that the tomb where Jesus had been laid could not have been within walking distance. So they must have ran quite a fair bit, easily a few kilometers. I pictured myself as St Peter tryimg to keep up with the much younger St John with crazy thoughts running through my mind. Did the Jewish authorities take my Lord? Did they have the audacity to desecrate his body? Was it grave robbers? What did they expect to steal? Definitely not his body? Or did they? And planned to sell it to the Jewish authorities for whatever their intentions?
When I finally arrived and saw John waiting for me to enter first I felt His love and respect for me. No wonder our Lord showed great affection for him. He may be young but was not only loving and matured, he possessed wisdom way beyond his years. In fact it was through him that I began to understand more clearly that it was foretold that our Lord would rise from the dead!
How many times in this day and age have I frantically ran in search of my Lord? Desperate to find evidence of his presence once again in my life. When the truth is that He never left my side. Had I remained steadfast, focused on Him, His Word and His Will for me then I would always bask in His love and friendship. Nothing would be able to rob on blind me from seeing Him and living in the joy of His Resurrection.
Then early this afternoon a dear brother in Christ sent me this WhatsApp message 🥰
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bit late – but isnt this a beautiful reflection and sharing ?
A LIGHT UNTO MY PATH
2nd Sunday of Easter
Bishop Robert BARRON
How beautifully Saint John remembers the details of Easter Sunday morning. He recalls that the linen which had covered the head of the Lord was rolled up in a separate place from the other burial cloths. He recollects that he himself came to faith the minute he saw the empty tomb. And he remembers the curious detail that though both he and Peter were running to the tomb, he, John got there first. We might conclude, reasonably enough, that this disparity was due t the fact that John was the younger man.
But the Fathers of the Church – some of the most perceptive biblical commentators in the great tradition – saw something mystical in John’s earlier arrival. The Beloved Disciple stands, they taught, for the contemplative, prayerful, deeply intuitive dimension of the Church; and Peter, the bearer of the keys, stands for the Church in its formal, official capacity. The mystics and poets always seem to get to the truth first; they sprint ahead, prompted by their fiery hearts. The teachers and officers of the Church go more slowly, since their job is to verify, to sort through, to decide.
How wonderful, the Fathers said, the young John the mystic, though he got to the tomb first, waited patiently for Peter – and indeed allowed Peter to enter the sepulchre first. This is mysticism waiting, with reverence, for office to verify what mysticism has intuited. When the Johannine and Petrine energies are operative in a mutually respectful way, the Church flourishes.
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Praise the Lord Alleluia!
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