Go to Galilee

Posted On March 24, 2008

Monday in the Octave of Easter
Readings: Acts 2:14, 22-33; Mt 28:8-15

“They are to go to Galilee, where they will see me.” Mt 28: 10

A few days ago at the Vigil Mass, we heard an angel instruct the women at the tomb to tell the disciples, “He is going ahead of you to Galilee” (Mk 16:7) Then the Sequence for Easter Sunday announced, “He will go before his own into Galilee.” And in today’s Gospel, Jesus Himself repeats the angel’s message, “They are to go to Galilee where they will see me” (Mt 28:10).
“This ‘going before’ of Jesus,” explains Pope Benedict XVI, “implies a double direction. The first is, as we have heard, Galilee, … [which] was considered the gate to the pagan world.” And when the disciples follow Jesus there, He takes them to the mountain top and tells them to go and “make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19).
By His life and death, Jesus has “gone before” them in revealing the Father’s plan of mercy for all. Now, as they follow Him “to Galilee,” they receive their commission to spread the gospel throughout the world.
The second direction is shown to us in John’s account, where Jesus says to Mary Magdalene, “Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father” (Jn 20:17). Jesus “goes ahead” of us to the Father’s house, where He has promised to prepare a place for us (see Jn 14:2-3).
“These two directions,” explains Pope Benedict, “are not in contradiction, but together indicate the way to follow Christ. The real end of our journeying is communion with God. God himself is the house of many rooms (see Jn 14:2). But we can only ascend to this room by walking ‘to Galilee,’ …taking the gift of his love to the men of all times.”

Lord, Jesus, thank You for this reminder. Help me Lord to follow You to the Father by sharing the good news of His love with others.