“They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” No one saw the resurrection; they saw that the body of the Jesus they had known had disappeared. And then a new experience began to happen to the disciples. They began to experience appearances of Jesus in a body that seemed the same but also seemed very different. And not very long after that, even this body ascended into the clouds. It seems clear that our Easter-to-Pentecost Scriptures about the Risen Lord’s appearances are leading us to understand that our experience of being embodied is more than just the physical body we coax out of bed every day. The Epistles, which give us the beliefs of the first Christians before the Gospels came to be written, are quite clear that the body of Christ is expansive. This body of Christ is seated at “the right hand of God,” that is, at the end of time, while also at the same time being right here with us. Unfortunately, we sometimes get the impression that it is our time-bound bodies that will rise again. We don’t have good words to describe what our risen body experience will be like — except for that one word — unity. This risen body of ours is the union we have with one another and with Christ through the Spirit given to us. Somehow after death we will be united with, or embodied in, the very body of the risen Christ in the fullest way. And you know, this already is happening now at every Eucharist. When the risen Lord joins his very self with the bread and wine, and we receive it, our own cells are infused with the special sacramental presence of Christ; his very body lives in our bodies, and we in His. I think that is the experience that best helps us picture life after death. Happy Easter!
— Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia
The post April 20, Easter Sunday, Risen: A Sunday Scriptures blog first appeared on Sisters of the Precious Blood.