Hidden Marvels

On that mournful day of Good Friday, there was a particular moment in time when the Heart of Jesus stopped beating. It’s painful to think of this moment. This happened, of course, only after Jesus freely surrendered His spirit into the hands of the Father.

“It is finished…Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit.”

Jesus had just shown the greatest love ever known. By His Passion, He had revealed the infinite love of God for us.

And then came the morning of the third day. And that morning, in the secret of the tomb just outside Jerusalem, another moment…hidden from the eyes of the world, hidden even from those who were closest to Him on earth…the Heart of Jesus began to beat again.

What a moment of profound joy, of wonder, the moment that He triumphed over death itself! Scientists who have studied the Shroud of Turin, the cloth that the Body of Jesus was buried in, have said that the image of Christ (that remains on the cloth) was caused by a brilliant explosion of light. Who was there to witness this magnificent scene?

Only the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

This is worth pondering. Why didn’t the Resurrection occur in front of crowds of people? It certainly would have brought many to believe in Christ. Clearly, the moment of the Resurrection was meant to remain a mystery, known only to the Trinity. The Annunciation, the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life, was also a moment wrapped in mystery. Only the Trinity, Mary, and the angel Gabriel were present.

Sometimes God works marvels of grace invisible ways, and it leads many people to deeper faith. But other times He prefers to work in hidden ways, casting a veil of love over things, perhaps because the moment is so precious.

The same is true in each of our lives.

At times, both we and others can perceive the good things He’s doing in us. At other times, His purposes are hidden. But He is working marvels all the same.

Although the moment of the Resurrection was hidden from our eyes, the reality of it is meant to flood our hearts and souls with the light of the Risen Christ. See Him standing before you now, victorious and radiant, offering His hand to you. He has risen, for you!

Are we allowing ourselves to receive what He wants to give us?

We are children of the Father, meant to live in the radiance of Jesus. We do not belong to darkness or to the night. May we let Him into our hearts more deeply on this glorious day of Easter, taking His hand, allowing His love to give us a hope that will never disappoint.

Christ is risen; indeed, He is risen! Alleluia!

“He came so that none of us would ever again be alone, because now we can forever share his very life, his very joys, sufferings, hopes, and triumphs. Everything that is his as both God and man is now ours as well. He wants his life to become the exclusive source of our life, and his life consists purely of joy in the Father and the bliss of never-ending trinitarian love. His Resurrection is also ours because his death is ours, and his death is ours because he first took our death and made it his own.”(Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, “Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word”, Vol. III, p. 35))

-Sr. Thérèse, CFR