The really striking point in the Gospel episode is the expression used for the first and only time, "My Father and your Father, my God and your God." Now that the Risen Christ has completed His saving work, His followers can become God's children and the words of the prologue are fulfilled, "They are given power to become children of God" (Jn. 1:12). Tremendous!

Another marvelous point is the real presence of Jesus in people and places where we never expect Him. He is risen, and He gazes at us out of the eyes of all those who form His body, particularly those in need (Mt. 25:35,36).

That means that Jesus is alive in me and for me, "I live now, not I but Christ lives in me." (Gal. 2:20). But not in me alone, obviously. Hubert Richards says that "the Resurrection means that Jesus lives on with such a fullness of life that He is able to animate a community of people; that I have seen Him return to life and appear in the least of His brothers and sisters. It means that He constantly comes into my life. To say that He appeared to His disciples, that He was present at the breaking of the bread, that He sent out His disciples to call others to faith, means that He works in many ways: in the call to faith, in the Eucharist, and in the missionary awareness of Christians" (The First Easter).