What does it look like to reach out and touch the wounds of Jesus’ body in living out our Resurrection faith?
According to Fr. James McDermott, SJ, the answer lies in identity, disciple relationship and mission.
Identity
If Jesus transformed by the Resurrection is now wholly present without restriction, not even space or time can limit his reach to every created thing. This is boundless. This is Easter Joy. Our identity with and for the resurrected Christ allows us to experience Jesus in the Eucharist as a recipient of the gifts that overcame evil. We are now saved and forgiven sinners, consoled and having our identity in Jesus. There are parts of ourselves that must die to be reborn in Christ, but in doing so our identity becomes more alive to the truth of who we’ve been becoming all along. During the Passion of Christ we saw distraction, deception, deprivation and division, in their fullness, lured into the spiritual battle with the One who would win it all for us. In the Resurrection, we find our identity in the risen Lord. We need to be clear on this in our world today. We need to recognize the voice that we were meant to follow. Knowing who we are means knowing whose we are.
Disciple Relationship
The invitation to faith is the basis of the disciple relationship we are called to have with Jesus. To share the life of God is to share in Jesus’ salvation. However, we must first recognize this. We must first recognize Him. To know someone is to encounter them and spend time together in the other’s presence. He makes it possible. He makes all things possible. Ask for the grace to know Him.
“The truth of the resurrection is the truth of presence.” Rev. McDermott, SJ tells us in The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola.
I believe that to reach out and touch the wounds of Jesus’ body today is to see Him alive in every living thing. Just as Jesus was not immediately recognized by the disciples of his day, we, the disciples of today, don’t necessarily immediately recognize Him either. But why?
Our blindness, sin and fear can veil the splendor of acceptance and forgiveness. Jesus wishes peace. He is peace. He is the missing p-i-e-c-e/p-e-a-c-e in the life of each person. He is the one who takes the initiative to give each individual what they need in order to recognize Him. Accepting His forgiveness is His will. If we are in His will we have the grace to receive Him in whatever form he wishes to present Himself to us. Accepting all of this is the transformation we need in order to recognize Him. It is our response to this initiative that makes disciples of us. Remaining present to His presence is what helps us to recognize Him in the imprisoned, the poor, and the marginalized of our society. Where else can we find Jesus present and working? This is our gift as an Easter people; to search for and find Jesus in the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are the building blocks for the intimacy of discipleship that ushers in peace. This is where we recognize and find Jesus.
No matter where we encounter Jesus in the body of Christ, it is in these people that we touch the wounds of the bruised and battered Jesus. This is discipleship; following, observing, dying to self in imitation. In the Eucharist, we can take that Easter joy and “return to our crucified world and our crucifying world with new resolve, compassion, understanding and fidelity(-McDermott).” Jesus commissioned the disciples to go and teach everyone of all nations what He had commanded them. This becomes our mission as followers of Christ. Can we be love in a wounded world?
Mission
We are not alone in not recognizing Jesus in our world today. Remember the many Gospel accounts of Jesus’ friends not recognizing Him at first when He appeared to them? When we understand our identity in Jesus Christ and choose to follow Him in discipleship, we begin to recognize that His presence can be found in the relationships we cultivate in service to Him. He reveals Himself in new ways. To experience Him in another, bruised and broken, is to recognize Him. To stay with this, is to stay with Him, remaining present, and understanding our identity as disciples of Christ. All of this is made possible by the Eucharist. Remember how the disciples recognized Him in the breaking of the bread? Jesus makes Himself known to each of us through he grace of the Eucharist, the resurrected Jesus; the Jesus fully alive and present to us in every Communion. Whether this experience is simply a faith relationship or a real personal experience of Christ’s love, we are called to base decisions on this faith. Jesus invites this. Where some might feel that Christ was present to the first disciples in a tangible way that He is not available to us, this is simply not true. Our situation today, if anything, invites even more presence because Jesus is unrestrictedly present now in a transformative way to the entire universe. The fullness of joy goes beyond an earthy happiness and because it requires no conditions, it is boundless and pure grace. It’s our turn to go out and share this good news.
Be Not Afraid
When Jesus commissioned the disciples to go and teach everyone of all nations, His parting words were, “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” With Christ at our side, having had the final say over the power of evil, our fear gets knocked down a notch.
What exactly are we afraid of, anyway? Things unseen? Fear of the unknown? Outcomes? This is the great deception. The negative spirit is at work when fear and doubt deceive us and deprive of us living fully alive in the Resurrection of Christ. We must fear nothing. The promises of Christ are forever promises. Once we recognize fear for what it is, and acknowledge that Christ has destroyed its power, it’s up to us to simply renounce and rebuke fear in the holy name of Jesus when it surfaces. If you truly believe it has no power over you, it simply falls away; deflated. What does this require exactly to have that kind of faith? An element of trust certainly. A spiritual perspective for sure. Perhaps you understand this but don’t know how to get there. You will. With a well-intentioned heart, you will get there. Our affirmation of God’s will for us to not be afraid is very present in the Gospel accounts after Jesus’ Resurrection. Be not afraid. Jesus had a very clear message for the world from the very first moment of His Resurrection. When Mary Magdalen and Mary went to the tomb just after the sabbath, there was an earthquake and the stone was rolled back from the tomb. Weren’t the women just wondering how they would roll back the stone? Did God not provide by sending an earthquake and an angel? The angel’s first words to the women were “Be not afraid.” Following the angels directives, they went to tell all of this to the disciples. Jesus met them on the way. His greeting to them was “Do not be afraid.” These words of assurance appear 366 times in the Bible. One for every day of the year, including Leap Year! So, with confidence, remember His parting words, “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age,” as He sends us out to be missionaries of His love.
Some manifestations of fear may be excessive appetite, crying, bed-wetting, issues with boundary setting, difficulty making changes, nervousness, nightmares, trouble letting go, and stomach issues, to name a few. While there are many essential oil options, my favorite oils to support you in releasing your fear are: Green Mandarine, Brave, Juniper Berry, Cassia, Spikenard, Black Spruce, Yarrow/Pom and Adaptiv.
This is your fear formula: Jesus & oils.
Be not afraid.
