Recognizing Jesus

More often than not, we are blinded to the beauty  and benefit of the common, everyday wonders as crocuses blooming where until recently, there had been mountains of snow,  or to the ability to walk without limping, or to stand without back pain.  We are so pre-occupied with all that we have to do, or so caught up in routine, that we fail to notice what's right in front of us.   Mary Magdalene, in this morning's Gospel story was upset, to say the least, to find the tomb where Jesus had been laid, empty that she failed to recognize Jesus in the man who spoke to her, thinking he was the gardener. (Jn 20: 15).  Only when he called her name in his familiar voice and gentle tone, did she recognize him.  So too do we fail to see Jesus in the people we walk past every day, or with whom we even work or live.   Do we recall that Jesus loves them as much as he loves us?  Do we see or think that he is living and working in them as we sense that he's doing in us?  It takes a Mary Magdalene story such as this to remind us to look more carefully with eyes that see the presence of Jesus in others, as well as the beauty and purpose of all creation and events in our lives, even our aches and pains.
Bro. Rene