Easter Monday: Back to Our Why
BY ALYSSA PEREZ | April 5, 2021
Today’s Readings
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My partner has been going through RCIA (the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) to receive his Confirmation this spring. I am always a little thrown off when I meet people who didn’t receive the sacraments of initiation (Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation) when they were younger. At first, I thought it would be hard to go back to RCIA as an adult, but I actually realized what a great privilege it is. When we are older, we are more fully and intentionally saying yes to God. Not to take away from my own Confirmation experience as a teenager, but it has been a blessing to witness my partner, as an adult, reconnect with God in his faith and re-confirm his “yes I believe” and this is why.
This Lenten series has been focused on a steadfast spirit, rooted in love. What exactly is steadfast, though? It means, “dutifully firm, unwavering, determined.” How can we root ourselves more deeply in a steadfast love? The answer is in the “root”—where are your roots? It is easier, like a tree, to stand upright and unwavering when you have strong roots.
Today’s readings call us back to our roots, to our why. Jesus is calling us back to where it all began for us. When I first reflected on today’s readings, I was a little confused by Jesus’ actions in the Gospel. This amazing miracle had happened—Jesus had risen from the dead—and yet his one request to the disciples when he saw them was, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” But, why Galilee? They are just finally seeing him risen, why is he sending them off somewhere else?
I started to do a little more searching into the significance of Galilee. It dawned on me—that was the place where it all began for Jesus—his public ministry, his miracles, and the call of the disciples. He was essentially telling the disciples to go back to their hometown, where it all started for them, and revisit the place where they were first called by God. But why? I like to think that it was so that they could re-discover their call, to remember their “why” so that they could continue in their ministry with a renewed sense of their love in God.
Let us move forward in this Easter season by going backward. Go back—in prayer, in pilgrimage, in meditation—to your Galilee. Where did your faith journey begin? In order for us to remain steadfast in the love that we are called to, we need to remember why we chose to become followers of Christ in the first place.
So now I ask you, “What is your why? Where did it all begin for you?”
If you don’t remember, let this challenge stir in you for a while. Why don’t you recall your why? Are you so far from it you forgot? Did you never really know your why in the first place? May today’s readings be the call that we needed to go back to our God and re-confirm our faith in Her. God is waiting for us there, at our Galilee—so do not be afraid!
We are rooted in our faith through our why so “may we respond to the Gospel call with a steadfast spirit, deeply rooted in love and transcending injustice, renewing a commitment to care for both our fellow human beings and our common home.” Amen!
Alyssa Perez Marquez serves as a community organizer for LA Voice, a multiracial and multifaith organizing network in LA County. She was a Jesuit Volunteer in Belize City (’15-’17) and holds theology and political science degrees from Loyola Marymount University and a masters of nonprofit administration from the University of San Francisco. Having been Jesuit educated for 12 years, she is deeply committed to Ignatian spirituality and building the Beloved community.
Good morning, thank you all for the help that this daily readings have helped us in our life.
This is not a thought, bu a petition: would it be possible to obtain in a single file all yhe daily reflections published all along lenten sason?
Antonio, we do not have these available as a file, but you can access all of the reflections at igsol.net/steadfast
It all began in New York on Long Island, at the time of my First Communion. I had to walk past two busy streets to get to Church to be at Mass and I would think about the fact that I was able to receive Communion again. Walking to Church gave me time to think about what I was doing and where I was going. To tell you the truth, I feel the same way today. I walk to Church past two busy streets and I think about the Lord. I ask him to remain near me. On some snowy days, He did so in a special way, He would send a person, an angel, to guide my footing. I still was able to think about the readings of the day and what they will mean for me for the rest of the day as I serve others. I also think about the joy of communion with Him in the Eucharist as my day becomes through Him, With Him and In Him. As the psalmist says:”What can I return to the Lord for all He has given me…” My day is filled with an attitude of gratitude for Jesus and all He will bring to me today so I can serve both physically and spiritually all that happens throughout the day. I bring a happy heart ready to skip home to the promise He makes to be with me.
Thank you, Alyssa, for your reflection AND the question you pose. I am immediately transported to 2d and 3d grade – when, because of the Bishop’s availability, I received my First Communion, and a year later, was confirmed! (When my own children received the sacrament of Confirmation in high school I saw the folly, and wisdom, of confirming a third grader.)
Fast forward — your words cause me pause, as do Dr. Quinn Knight’s reflections. Thank you both — I shall pray, reflect, dwell and journal because of both of your insights. On some level, I almost wish I could experience RCIA now – in my 60s. Then again, this Lenten reflection series – and all the comments shared by other readers, in their deep honesty – has been a “booster shot” to my faith. (Hmmmm, a much needed shot, in addition to the vaccine?) A blessed Easter Monday!
Alyssa! It was so good to read your words and be reminded of your positive spirit today. I’m so glad you are doing the work you are doing with students at the CSA. Something about this year’s Easter season + the Groundhog’s Day feeling of pandemic feels like it’s calling us to return to what grounds us. I’ve taken a lot of consolation from nature this year–perennial cycles and patterns that continue without my say or direction. I loved your call to examine our ‘why.’ I will keep reflecting on that this week. Thank you for the invitation and abrazos to you & your partner!
Thanks Alyssa. Fear not, for I am with you till the end of time – whispers the silent voice.
My religious education was in Manhattan at Saint Bridget’s church under the tutelage of father Matthew Lynch and a variety of religious. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think God for giving me the Catholic faith, and for challenging me daily to see Christ in my life. 81 years of practice in the path toward God and her glory. Amen