COMMENT:
Easter Tuesday 2014.
The ‘Daily Gospel’, for this day, happens to
introduce again with St. Gregory Palamas.
This Reference is also very useful.
A question remains about the Apocryphal Gospel
of Gamaliel ... ?
Saint
John 20:11-18.
Mary Magdalene stayed outside
the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb...
Commentary
of the day :
Saint
Gregory Palamas (1296-1359), monk, Bishop and theologian
Homily
20, on the eight morning gospels according to Saint John ; PG 151, 265
"Go to my brothers"
Outside darkness still
reigned; it was not yet day; yet that cave was full of the light of the
resurrection. Mary saw this light through God's grace: her love for Christ had
been quickened and she had the strength to see the angels... Then they said to
her: “Woman, why are you weeping? What you are seeing in this cave is heaven,
or rather a heavenly temple in place of a tomb dug out to be a prison... Why
are you weeping?”...
Outside, day is still
unclear and the Lord does not make that divine brightness appear which would
have made him known at the heart of suffering. So Mary did not recognize him...
When he spoke and allowed himself to be recognized..., even then, as she saw
him alive, she had no idea of his divine greatness but addressed him as a mere man
of God... In the upsurge of her heart she now wants to throw her arms round his
knees, to touch his feet. But he said to her: “Do not touch me... for the body
with which I am now clothed is lighter and more mobile than fire; it is able to
rise up to heaven and even to my Father's side in the heights of heaven. I have
not yet risen to my Father because I have not as yet shown myself to my
disciples. Go and find them; they are my brothers for we are all children of
one Father” (cf. Gal 3,26)...
The church in which we
stand is the symbol of that cave. Indeed, it is more than a symbol: it is, as
it were, another Sepulchre. It is there we find the place where the Lord's body
has been laid, the holy table. So whoever runs with all their heart towards
this divine tomb, God's true dwelling... will there learn the words of the
inspired writings that will instruct him, like the angels, about the divinity
and humanity of the Word of God incarnate. And thus he will see the Lord
himself, without any possibility of error... For whoever looks with faith on
the mystic table and the bread of life laid on it will see in its reality the
Word of God who was made flesh for us and made his dwelling amongst us (Jn
1,14). And if he proves himself worthy of receiving it, he will not only see
but will share in its being; he will take it into himself that he may remain
there.