Do not cling to me

Do not cling to me

by Sr. Sheila Campbell, MMM     Ireland        17.04.2022
sunrise resizedToday we celebrate the Risen Christ. Alleluia! But do we really understand the full meaning of the Risen Christ? The older I get in years, the more I realize that I am only at the beginning of my understanding.

One of the post-resurrection phrases that I think about a lot is the one where Jesus says to Mary Magdalene “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father”. Do not cling to me. I am someone different. I have changed. How often do I cling to a person, to an idea, to be ‘my’ kind of person instead of freeing them to be themselves? Accepting Easter is accepting radical change. Things are different now. I can remain trapped in old ways, or I can open myself to the excitement and thrill of developing a new relationship. It is a little scary to move outside of our comfort zone but deep down we know it is where we are called to, to find new life.

And then there is the second part, “I have not yet ascended to my Father”. That brings me to a second pondering. So much of our religion focuses on God as being directly concerned with this earth, with humanity. And maybe rightly so, because this is where we are. If we believe in the Incarnation of Jesus, we have to take our humanness seriously. But God is much bigger than anything we can think of or put into human language. There is the universe with its billions and billions of stars and galaxies. Are there other worlds out there where God is equally involved? And the universe itself is only the part we can fathom with our human understanding and science. Are there other ‘realities’? The more you think about it, the wider the concept becomes.

Maybe it all come down to “Do not cling to me”. Let God be God, not trying to keep God within my comfortable God image. Yes, I believe in the Resurrection, in hope, in the future. Do I understand it? Only a fraction! So today I say “Alleluia!” and keep up the pondering.


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