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April 17, 2022I have never considered myself an avid gardener, but I have from time to time, exercised my green thumb with modest success. A year or so ago, I made an attempt to nurse back to life, a shriveled excuse of a cactus. Pushed into a corner along one of our priory walkways, its dry, thin stump was more pitiful than promising.
It looked all but dead and could had been so; after all, it had been neglected and forgotten for who knows how long. By the look of it, nature had already taken its course but I risked repotting it, watered it and moved it closer to the light of the courtyard. Over the months since then, it has shot up to a height of just shy of four feet and remains vibrantly green.
I walk by that minor miracle of nature daily and at times, it prompts a reflection on what’s possible when one has faith, even if only the size of a mustard seed or in this case, that of a shriveled cactus stalk.
We can only wonder what was left of the apostles and disciples’ faith during that longest of Sabbaths. Nature seemed to have run its course. Mary of Magdala was there at his place of burial on the first day of the week, still in grief and shock.
Certainly, she was there to pay her respects and so convince herself that indeed her beloved teacher was dead. She could only assume that, “they have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” At these words, Peter and the Beloved Disciple will run to the tomb only to find it empty.
Their faith in him will be restored. But it was to Mary, abiding at the empty tomb that the Lord will first appear. When she hears him call her name, her faith too comes back to life, like a green blade rising from buried grain.
With the trials of the pandemic leaving millions of dead in its wake and the terrible war in Ukraine, our faith in the promises of God is surely being tested. In spite of the many challenges, setbacks and losses of this past year, we dare hope on this day that the Lord has made.
By the light of Easter morning, God has planted in us the imperishable seeds of love and forgiveness sown by Christ himself, the Risen Lord who is alive among us now. Restored in faith, each of us have been called by name and given graces to nurture the discipleship of one another.
