The Third Sunday of Paschaltide (Dominica III in Paschalae) Mile Mark on Apostolic Marathon Training

Taking from Fr. Michael Sparough, S.J.'s Ash Wednesday homily, which juxtaposes Lenten journey to a marathon training,  I also applied a marathon metaphor to Paschaltide journey from Resurrection Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. Now, we have passed the mile mark of the Third Sunday of Paschaltide Quinquagesima, it is a good time to check how we are doing with our marathon training. Just as we need a good coach for our marathon training, we need Christ, the risen Christ, to coach us for the post-Resurrection phase of our Apostolic Marathon training. For this, we must personally meet him.  And, it's time for Boston Marathon. Just as runners for this elite marathon have spent months in training, we conitnue on our Apostolic Marathon training with the risen Christ. 

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Have you encountered the risen Christ personally?

Two full weeks have passed since Dominica Resurrectionis, as it is Dominica III in Paschalae.

The Sunday Gospel readings (Evangeliums quia Domicis in Paschalae) for the first three Sundays in Paschalae Quinquagesima (John 20:1-9; John 20:19-31; Luke 24:35-48 for Cycle B) describe how the disciples came to witness the risen Christ on the very Sunday of the Resurrection.

Evangelium quia Dominica Resurrectionis (Dominica I in Paschalae), John 20:1-9, paralleling to Mark 16:1-7, which is for Resurrection Vigil Mass, reminds that the witnessing the empty tomb of Jesus was the beginning of the disciple’s gradual realization of the Resurrection. None of the disciples could recognize the Resurrection through the empty tomb for sure – though John believed that the empty tomb could mean the Resurrection rather than burglary of the tomb (John 20:8-9). Then, Evangelium quia Dominica II in Paschalae (Dominica Divina Misericordia), John 20:19-31, and Evangelium quia Dominica III in Paschalae, Luke 24:35-48, describe how the disciples actually witnessed the risen Christ and how they came to recognize the Resurrection for sure. These narratives remind us that the disciples, though they had heard Jesus speaking of his death and resurrection, citing the scriptures, were rather slow to realize the Resurrection. It was because their faith in Christ was not yet firm, thus, leaving room for doubt, fear, anxiety, and confusion. The narrative of Luke 24:13-34 describes that Cleopas and the other disciples were also slow to recognize the risen Christ, while the passages in John 20:11-18 describe how slow Mary Magdalene’s eyes to open to the Resurrection.

Despite their uneasy initial encounter with the risen Christ, the disciples’ resentment for abandoning their master, confusion about the empty tomb, doubt about the resurrection, and fear of possible consequences of their master’s death, gave their ways to unparalleled joy once they recognize the Resurrection. For Mary Magdalene, Cleopas, and the other disciples, they ran to tell the good news of witnessing the Resurrection to the rest of the disciples. The joy of the Resurrection ignited their hearts and mobilized.

How about us? Are we still stuck in darkness of confusion and doubt between the death and resurrection of the Lord? Or, are we already rejoicing our encounter with the risen Lord, with our heart burning?

Because Evangeliums quia Domicis for the rest of Quinquagesima in Paschalae make a thematic shift form reflecting how the disciples witnessed the Resurrection, we must have a personal encounter with the risen Christ by the end of the third week of these 50 Paschaltide days until Pentecost.

On Pentecost, we will be commissioned by the powerful Holy Spirit to run our Apostolic Marathon. The fact that Mary Magdalene, Cleopas, and the other disciples, upon personally encountering the risen Christ, ran, is a blue print for us to run our personal Apostolic Marathon to share Evangelium of the risen Lord, in the spirit of ite missa est for the Lord’s command in Mark 16:15-18, as well as, Matthew 28:18-20.

Now, we are on the second phase of our Apostolic Marathon training with our heart burning with resurrection joy.  After all, as Pope Francis, in his apostolic exaltation, citing Matthew 5:12, inspires us, “Gaudete et Exsultate” for our Apostolic Marathon!