Newsletter Vol. 1 Issue 29

Read Ahead:  John 20:1-18

Easter Morning at the Tomb

As we engage the Fourth Week of the Exercises, we will enter into many of the Gospel passages focused on the Easter season. Like we have before, we invite you to imagine the following scene, firstly from the perspective of the Resurrection as it occurs in the text, and secondly in conversation with the contemporary experience of racism today.

Meditation: 20-30 minutes 

I enter into my prayer and imagine it is Easter Sunday. I take on the role of Mary Magdalene, and do not yet know that Christ has risen as I continue to lament the loss of Jesus. I approach the tomb and find it open. What is my first thought? Do I wonder who rolled the stone back? Do I think about going into the tomb?

What happens when I run back to Simon Peter and the other disciple? What do I tell them? What do they say? They run to the tomb and I follow. Do I return as quickly? What expression is most dominant on my heart? What do I think and feel as Simon goes into the tomb and brings out the
burial cloths?

Simon, Peter, and the others leave, and it is just me alone in the garden gazing at the empty tomb. What do I think and feel? What do I see as I sit alone wondering and pondering all that has occurred? Do I weep as the story suggests? What do I grieve?

A man approaches that I do not know and asks about my emotions, tenderly. What do I tell him? What kind of conversation do we have? Does something stir in me?

He says my name, recognizes me for who I am. How do I feel now? What do I tell him about my prayer, about the experience of his cross and death, about the painful time grieving his loss? Do I feel overjoyed, confused, surprised, or something else?

Jesus invites me to proclaim the good news. How do I respond? What does it elicit in me?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I reengage the scene recalling the weeks I have been praying for racial justice. I recall what I have learned about how racism operates, and the ways I’ve journeyed with Jesus as together we explore racial inequities in the nation. I recall the Passion – the sufferings of Christ and the sufferings of the various groups and wonder about the death of Jesus. Was it in vain, or was there a reason?

What do I make the woundedness created by racism? Have I experienced that woundedness directly or indirectly? How do I internalize it? Is it a hole, like the holes in Jesus’ hands and feet and side?

I recall how God does not will suffering, but instead, Jesus entered the world to be with us in our suffering. How does the racism experienced by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Latinos, African Americans, and Indigenous Peoples affect me? Does it leave me in front of an empty tomb? Do I weep or mourn? Be confused or uncertain?

I see a man, Jesus, who has suffered deeply. Do I recognize his suffering and who he is? I enter into conversation with him about all that I have learned, all that I have experienced, and the mix of emotions that emerge for me. What does he say in response? Do I recognize him?

How does he name what I have learned and my feelings that have emerged? What does he tell me about racism? How do I respond to him? Where does he ask me to go next? What desires does he elicit in me to act for racial justice? Do I feel any hesitancy? I express all these desires to me. What does he say in response?

Resource: “Roll Away the Stone”

This Easter song, “Roll Away the Stone,” by Tom Conry, invites us to reflect on how confusing the Resurrection is, especially when considering what appears like the status quo, power arrangements win out over God’s goodness. How does God break our expectations?

Click the video to listen
 

Questions for Reflection:

How do I encounter Jesus in this first meditation on his Resurrection? What feelings stay with me as I finish this meditation?

What are some initial desires as I discern concrete actions for racial justice? Consider journaling about these desires so as to track where God is present in the weeks to come.