Where do we meet Christ? We hear in the Acts of the Apostles the passionate proclamation of Peter. He tells the people that the Christ who was crucified has been raised by the Father. Three thousand persons came to be baptized that day. Peter gave them water of wisdom to drink. Some people encounter Christ through the proclamation of his life, death, and resurrection.

Others meet the Risen Lord in their grief. We hear the story of Mary Magdalene who stayed outside the tomb weeping. Filled in her grief, the angels asked her why she was weeping. Then she meets the stranger. She thinks he is the gardener. It is not only until he utters her name that she recognizes him.

Here is a fascinating detail. She wants to hold him, but the Risen Lord tells her not to hold him and tell his disciples that he is risen. I think that by holding on to him, we want to hold on to the Jesus we knew before his death, we want to cling to him so that we will not loose him to a second death. Jesus tells her not hold on, but give her heart to the power of the Resurrection and announce this joy to the world.

In reflecting on this scene, Father Roberto Pasolini, the Preacher of the Papal Household, said,

This is the definitive conversion that the Resurrection wants to lead us to … the uprising of a heart that refuses to remain locked in sadness and allows itself to be redefined by the heart of another.

This seems to be a stark contrast from what we will hear this upcoming Sunday. Jesus tells doubting Thomas to touch his wounded side.

Mary wanted to hold on to the human Jesus. She wanted to cling to him and forget the events of Good Friday. Thomas needed to touch Jesus to ignite his faith in the Resurrection.

Jesus meets us where we are at in life. He meets us in our grief, he meets us in our hearing of the proclamation of the Gospel. No matter where he meets us, he knows our name. He calls us to live in him, to cling to him in a new way, and to be his witnesses.