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Jesus in the Mysteries of the Rosary

  1. Glorious Mysteries
    1. The Resurrection of of Jesus Christ
      1. «They recognized him, but he vanished from their sight»

7th) «Now that very day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus (…) and they were conversing (…)» (Lk 24:13-14). There we have the fourth group, the one of the "hopeless". Their willingness is not bad, but they are not looking for where they have to, and they end up abandoning...

Again, the patience of God is inexhaustible ... Jesus reaches them along the way. They do not recognize him, but they establish an attentive conversation with him. They accept his company and listen to him. Attention!: «Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! (...) Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures» (Lk 24:25.27). Jesus Christ takes them to the "place" where they have to "see" Him. And, in fact, they will recognize later: «Were not our hearts burning while he spoke the scriptures to us?» (Lk 24:32) (Read more: The light of the Word softened their hearts and «their eyes were opened»).

 

8th) «He has been raised just as he said» (Mt 28:6); «Remember what he said to you (...).And they remembered his words» (Lk 24:6-8)... The angels refer their interlocutors to the Word of God. And so does Jesus: «These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures» (Lk 24:44-45). Jesus Christ - again and again - places us before the Word of God (Read more: «Look at my hands and feet and see that it is I myself»).

He could convince us with an evident and indisputable physical presence... But, no! He wanted to leave his trace "engraved" in his Word and he sends us to it insistently. We have to respect the new status of Jesus as Risen-Glorified (not as a mortal man): he wants us to trust in his Word to find him. But there is still one more step! ...

 

9th) «With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight» (Lk 24:31). That is amazing! The disciples of Emmaus invite him to dinner (good gesture!). And at dinner they recognize him and he immediately disappears from his presence as if Jesus Christ said them: - "You do not have to see me from outside, but recognize me from within" That is, he doesn’t want us to see him as the pre-paschal Man (hiding his divinity), but as the Resurrected Man who remains with us day after day but in a superior condition (glorified). Precisely, the Eucharist is his new way of being now among us ... (Read more: The Eucharist, Christian food).

 

10th) «-Mary! -Teacher!» (Jn 20:16). We go back in the sequence of events to recapitulate. As has already been said, the holy women are the ones who saw him (recognize) in the first place. Among them, Mary Magdalene was the one who had a very personal encounter with the Christ Resurrected. The same thing also happens to her: she knows him, she is seeing him, and yet she does not recognize him ... Until an intimate, familiar, endearing gesture takes place. She recognizes him when she hears the usual greeting between them: «Mary!» (Read more: «Jesus says to him: -Mary.‖ She turns and says: -'Master ').

One word is enough! : "Mary!" A gesture is enough! : «He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them» (Lk 24:30). Just one indication! : «Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something (...). It is the Lord!» (Jn 21:,6.7). Strange! Only that? Yes, just a word, just a gesture, just an indication. But here is the thing: These are intimate, familiar and endearing words, gestures, indications between Jesus and his disciples (consistent with a regular deal with Him).

Again: it is a "seeing" from within, from the deep friendship with Him born as the fruit of assiduity with Him (from Scripture and the Eucharist) and with the help that He dispenses us from heaven. He is not an actor, he is not a politician, he is not a referee: He is the Resurrected! How to find him? With faith. Where to find him? In Scripture, in the Eucharist, in ecclesial communion, in the Cross (pain) ... (do not look for it in any theater, on any stage, in any stadium!).

 

11th) «They went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted» (Mt 28:16-17). Note a significant detail: in Jerusalem, the Resurrected only appeared to a small group of followers (the closest). On the other hand, if there was a "massive" appearance (or, perhaps, more), it was far from the "centers of power" of the capital: in Galilee!

And there - as always and as everywhere - some adore him; others doubt. Strange! Did not everyone see the same Person? Yes, but the question is how we see him from within (what disposition, what assiduity ...). He does not impose his triumph !: he simply offers it to us (from there, everyone has the last word) (Read more: «I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth»).

 

12th) «Master, what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world (Jn 14:22), asked Judas Thaddaeus. Benedict XVI answers: «Yes, why have you manifested yourself only to a small group of disciples, whose testimony we have now to trust? Why not the powerful ones of the world? Why only to Israel and not in an unappealable way to all the peoples of the earth? Because it is proper to the mystery of God to act discreetly (Read more: God's style).

 

13th) "Queen of heaven, rejoice, Alleluia; For He whom thou didst deserve to bear, Alleluia; Is risen again as He said, Alleluia". Virgin Mary does not appear in all those comings and goings: her faith in God was complete and, therefore, she did not need to fear, or doubt, or run. She, simply, believes and is happy.