April, the month of the Eucharist, was allowed by God to be a month of fasting from His Precious Body and Blood. And now in May, the month of Mary, we seem to be close to the end of our Eucharistic fast. It is appropriate that in the month Our Mother is celebrated, she brings us to her Son. Her ever-standing mission, bringing us to God.
The timing of this all, beginning with Lent and now into the Easter season … the past weeks the readings of the Church have been Eucharistic: Jesus revealing himself at the breaking of the bread at Emmaus and John 6 … our world and our circumstances have been resting in the palm of His hand this entire time.
There is so much beauty in the trials we have been facing, so much beauty in the timing of our cross. Sickness, death, loneliness, loss of freedom, loss of security and loss of the Holy Sacraments. We have been rich in suffering. Of the greatest suffering comes the greatest growth, if we fully hand ourselves over to Him.
Even after that joyful Easter day, the past months have felt more like a perpetual Holy Saturday. Our Lord has been taken from us and all we can do is wait, with faith.
We join our prayers together in the midst of sadness, confusion, fear, and anxiety.
We don’t know what is to come, we don’t know when we will be physically reunited to Jesus again, but we fight back with our faith for peace.
But today, in the midst of this Easter season, we know exactly how this time of void ends, with a new beginning, a resurrection. Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to Mary Magdalene. Her heart is filled with unspeakable joy as she is united once again with her Savior. She hoped and prayed that this would all end well, and here He is, in front of her. What a glorious moment.
This year, we will be blessed with two Easter moments. Our first, when we celebrated along with the universal Church the Resurrection of Our Lord. The second, when our parish doors open completely and we sit next to each other again with the greatest anticipation our hearts have ever held for the moment of consecration.
The moment that in the past we have taken for granted, we have been distracted during, we might have even been looking down at our phones. Not this day.
When this day comes, may we be overjoyed and brought to our knees in total awe of the Truth in the living moment — we will once again be joined to Jesus in the Eucharist, His Body and His Blood, uniting with our own. What a glorious moment that will be. A true Magdalene Sunday morning.
Today, let us long for Him in a way we never have before. Let us have the strength of faith that Mary held throughout every moment. Let us allow moments of joyful anticipation in our souls for the day when we will be physically reunited to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
A Lent of all Lents can bring about only one thing: an Easter of all Easters.
Please, God, help us to not waste this.
Send us the grace we need to completely give ourselves to you, to truly trust in you and to fully believe in the Eucharist.
Grace us with abundant fruit from this period of trial.
Bring us more closer than ever to your Sacred Heart.
Mary, Our Beautiful Lady, pray for us.
