Glimpses of God's Goodness are published for all Sundays and Feast Days at www.sndden.org, the international website of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
April 19, 2025
Luke 24: 1-12
Why seek the dead among the living?
In today’s Gospel, Saint Luke speaks to us of the first witnesses to the resurrection. The women who went to the tomb very early in the morning wanted to be the first to see the body of Jesus, but they did not expect the resurrection of Jesus. They were sad and busy, going to pour perfume on the body of Jesus. They were not looking for Jesus risen into a new life; they were looking for a body and they did not find it.
So, what a surprise! The rock was rolled away to the side and the tomb was empty! This was not enough to make them believe that Jesus had truly risen. But two men dressed in shining clothes said to them, “Why are you looking for the one who is alive among the dead?” With the witness of the angel, they left the tomb and went to find the apostles to bring the good news to them.
But alas! The apostles and the disciples refused to believe the word of the women. They wanted to meet Jesus themselves before believing. So, Peter, going to the tomb, looking for the living among the dead, found only linen cloths. Jesus had predicted his resurrection to his disciples, but they did not expect it because they had not understood his message.
God disrupts our way of seeing and thinking about things and events. Too often we think about the things of God in our own way and not according to God’s way. If the disciples did not believe the word of the women, it was because at that time, women did not have the stature of witnesses where her position was not seen as important, and her word was not valued. And these women were disciples who had followed Jesus from Galilee.
Yes, Jesus is alive, I am not seeking proof that I can control, but I have confidence in the witness which God gives me. Before his death, he was seen as a human, similar to others. After the resurrection, he was seen by faith.
What do I hope for from Jesus today? Humans may make promises, but Jesus alone is able to give life. And it is through faith that we can meet Jesus alive in the midst of us. New life with Jesus, the same new life as that of all his disciples. This is also the new life of all who through baptism hope to rise with Christ. To have no other value in this world, no other goal than that of Jesus. This goal is to witness to Jesus risen, to God’s vision, be servants, good shepherds who give life for their sheep, who do only the will of the one who has sent them.
Our world is in great disorder and in great need of witnesses of the resurrection – and promoters of the Good News. We need to be freed from fear of the truth, domination oppression. It is Jesus risen, the servant of truth and charity, Emmanuel – who shares his vision and his heart to all people of good will. Amen.
Luke 24:1-12
At daybreak on the first day of the week the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them. They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.” And they remembered his words. Then they returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others. The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles, but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone; then he went home amazed at what had happened.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Sister Antoinette Tombozi, SNDdeN was born on December 20, 1965, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She entered the Sisters of Notre-Dame de Namur in 1987. Sister Antoinette made her first Vows in 1990 and her final Vows in 1998 in Kimwenza. She spent several years as Directress of an SNDdeN boarding school. She worked also in development efforts for her province of Congo-Kinshasa. She was sent for study to prepare her to be in charge of initial formation in her province and served as Director of Postulants from 2010 – 2019. She has been moderator of the community from 2020 to the present.