Monday, April 1, 2013

Tuesday within Octave of Easter, 02-04-13

Acts 2:36-41 / John 20:11-18

Three thousand is certainly not a small number. Whether the unit is in things, or money or people, it is a number that calls for attention.

If there are three thousand people coming to this church for Mass today, we would be stunned and overwhelmed.

If there were three thousand people coming to this church asking to be baptised, we may have to call the bishop over to see what is the matter.

Yet as we heard in the 1st reading, on the day of Pentecost, and after Peter spoke to the Jew, three thousand of them asked for baptism.

What seemed to be like a miracle is actually very personal. It is found in that phrase: Hearing this (what Peter said), they were cut to the heart.

Something happened in the hearts of the three thousand people that made them desire for baptism.

What happened to each of those three thousand was similar to what happened to Mary of Magdala in the gospel.

When Jesus called her name, she knew Him then. Not really a miracle, but certainly something very personal. Something happened to her heart.

And off she went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that He had said these things to her.

Maybe nothing spectacular or miraculous is going to happen to us today, or for that matter, for all our life.

Yet something personal is always happening to our hearts. The Risen Christ is calling us by name. May our hearts be moved like those three thousand people in the 1st reading.