MONDAY IN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER: do not be afraid

Posted on April 10, 2023 by franksantucci

Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Matthew 28: 10

The Risen Jesus tells the disciples to go back to Galilee: “They will see me there.” Galilee is where it all began for the disciples, it was the place where they met Jesus, and he entered into their lives.

Today, the Risen Lord tells each of us: “Go back to Galilee – go back to that time when you realized that I was present in your life.”

The Risen Jesus is inviting us to enter into the Galilee of our hearts and lives.

Saint Eugene frequently did this, and he called it recollection. He wanted all those who followed his way of discipleship to do the same, as he wrote in his Rule of 1818:

The whole life of the members of our Society ought to be a life of continual recollection (Art. 1).

To attain this, they will first of all make every effort to walk always in the presence of God, and frequently try to utter short but fervent  spontaneous prayers. (Art.2,)

Eugene and Jesus shared a deep bond of friendship – and a friend always wants to be in the presence of a loved one. His days are filled with moments of recollection – of short bursts of prayer and expressions of love.

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One Response to MONDAY IN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER: do not be afraid

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate says:
    April 10, 2023 at 13:22

    From the 16th century medieval Latin and French denoting the action of gathering things together again – recollection. more than just a simple remembering of something from ‘back then’, but rather something that is alive, in the present moment.

    It is only in this sense that I am invited enter into Eugene’s 1818 Rule of Life: “…a life of continual recollection” and then to “make every effort to walk always in the presence of God…” The being giving birth and life to the doing.

    I dare to think and recall that which I am called to be a part of… “We are [people] ‘set apart for the Gospel’… The desire to cooperate with him draws us to know him more deeply, to identify with him, to let him live in us.” (C 2)

    My day begins with my heart singing:
    “… And once again the scene was changed
    New earth there seemed to be
    I saw the Holy City
    Beside the tideless sea
    The light of God was on its streets
    The gates were open wide
    And all who would might enter
    And no one was denied
    No need of moon or stars by night
    Or sun to shine by day
    It was the new Jerusalem
    That would not pass away
    “Jerusalem! Jerusalem
    Sing for the night is o’er
    Hosanna in the highest
    Hosanna for evermore!”

    May our days be “filled with moments of recollection – of short bursts of pray and expressions of love.”

    Reply

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