It's the exchange between Mary Magdalene and our Lord that I find so stirring. For a moment, place yourself in Magdalene's sandals. Someone who you have followed and loved , someone who is so dear to you, has been brutally taken from you. You bring spices for the body, which is not only a custom but also an act of grieving -- but the body is gone! How crushing this must have been for Magdalene!

They [the two angels] said to her "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Hebrew "Rab-bo'ni!" (which means Teacher). -John 20:13-16

Imagine the joy that filled Mary Magdalene's heart: to see her Saviour, to hear his voice! Imagine the excitement that Peter and John had in their hearts as they ran back to their friends to share the news of the empty tomb!As Kris Dmytrenko touched on in a previous blog -- and I can certainly attest to it -- it's so easy for us to become jaded and cynical. But let's wash away the cynicism and indifference in the fresh, life-giving waters of Easter! Let us pray -- not just think about it, but actually fall to our knees this Easter day and pray -- that we may approach our Lord and our Catholic faith with the the same wonder and excitement that Peter, John and Magdalene must have experienced on that joyous morning so many years ago.Dry your tears and rejoice, for Christ is risen, alleluia, alleluia! Truly He is risen, alleluia, alleluia!From all of us at Salt + Light, have a holy and blessed Easter!