The gospel passage today presents a scene where Mary Magdalene becomes a witness to the resurrection. Through a special faith-experience, she "sees" Jesus as her Risen Lord. This faith-experience, however, is a gift from Jesus. Initially, Mary was distracted from recognising Jesus because she was overly concerned about the loss of his body. She only saw the empty tomb. However, Jesus calls her by name and leads her to recognise him in faith as her Risen Lord. When Mary tries to cling to him, Jesus stops her because the time is not right. He assures her that she will experience a more intimate communion with him when he has "ascended" to the Father, and sends the Holy Spirit. It is through the Holy Spirit that Christians enter into an intimate life-giving communion with Jesus and with God, the Father.

It is in and through such a communion with the Blessed Trinity that Peter, as described in the first reading, is able to proclaim boldly and convincingly the faith of the early Christians to the crowd in Jerusalem. Their faith was not distracted by the empty tomb but founded on their experiences with the Risen Lord. He had appeared to them and led them to recognise Him in faith. Just as He invited Mary Magdalene and Peter and the early Christians to have faith in Him, so too now, He invites and leads us to recognise Him as our Risen Lord. In doing so, He invites us to a more intimate and life-giving relationship with Him.