He Calls You by Name: An Easter Reflection

In this Easter reflection, Christina Sabo meditates on the resurrection account in the Gospel of John—exploring what it means to hear Christ call us by name and step into new life. With guest Fr. Tom Dillon unable to join due to illness, Christina leads listeners through a prayerful reflection on Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb and what Easter truly invites us to live.

Chapters:

• 00:00: Welcome and Introduction
• 02:20: Scripture Reading—John 20:11–18
• 05:45: Reflection on Mary at the Tomb
• 07:42: Easter's Invitation to Listen
• 08:24: St. John Paul II—We Are an Easter People
• 10:26: Living the Easter Season
• 11:31: Closing Prayer

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Resources Mentioned:

• The Great Adventure Catholic Bible
• Paloma&Fig

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Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Thank you for joining us for Resounding Yes Podcast. Resounding Yes is a show centered around Mary's fiat and reflects upon how we say yes to the Lord. We are podcast by Creative Agency Plum and Fake. Visit PlumandFake.com to learn more about our Creative Agency, including lots of engaging creative content all through Catholic and artistic lens. We made it through Lent, the Trituum, and here we are starting Easter. As you guys know, Easter isn't just Sunday, it begins on Easter Sunday. And I felt it was appropriate for us to have this episode within the podcast, kind of kicking off the Easter season together in reflection. Unfortunately, my guest, Father Tom Dylan, felt sick. So please keep him in your prayers. He wasn't able to join us today. And we'll bring him back on and we'll get to speak to him and hear from his heart, and I'll get to share with all of you how much he means to me. And we'll get to just, yeah, dive into everything Father Tom and him. He is just such an amazing priest and an amazing man. So I'm very excited about that. But today, what I felt was appropriate for this Easter reflection, um, just to kind of weave in Father Tom into this episode too, is the uh focusing on the Gospel of John. So I know Father has a devotion to St. John the Evangelist, and um I felt this was this uh passage that we will kind of go into leading into this reflection is appropriate for the start of Easter. So I encourage you, if you're in the car, don't do this. But if you are near your near your Bible, or um if you're able to go grab it really quick, you can pause the episode and come back. You can read along with us uh this passage from John chapter 20. And um if not, if you would would prefer to just visualize and just kind of have meditative uh prayer and close your eyes, that's um always encouraged as well. I enjoy doing that. I'm being a visual person, I love to just kind of sit and and listen. So however you choose, um, I will go ahead and get started. So this comes from chapter, so John chapter 20, and I'm gonna read from this um here, my Bible right here, the Great Adventure Bible um by ascension. And um I'll read from this um John chapter 20, verse 11. We'll start there. So but Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and you do not know where they have laid him. Saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have lain him, laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabboni, which means teacher. Jesus said to her, Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, I have seen the Lord. And she told them that he had said these things to her. I love that passage. I love that those verses from the Gospel of John. Just because I feel like it's such an appropriate, like I said, just such an appropriate um passage for the Easter season. Um I encourage you to dive into the your Bible. I know there's so much here, and just looking in the Gospel of John 2, um, prior to this passage, um, you know, the burial of Jesus, resurrection, um, it's just such a beautiful, it's just beautiful to reflect and read scripture. So there's really, there's so, there's just something so striking about the resurrection account in the Gospel of John. So as you go through, you know, chapter 20 and you read on through the resurrection, and then moving on to, you know, Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene, there's just something so striking to me about it. I encourage you um again to read it over and over again. But um, as we reflect on this specific passage, uh, let's let's think about this together. So uh this this passage, it doesn't start with celebration like we think of in the Easter season, right? It begins with weeping. Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. She had not, she'd she had come expecting death, right? Expecting loss, expecting the ending. And even when the stone is rolled away, even when the tomb is empty, she does not yet understand. She's asked twice. She's asked, Why are you weeping? And then the second question, whom are you looking for? It's almost as if our beloved father in heaven is gently trying to awaken her to help her see what she is searching for and see that you know, essentially what she's searching for is no longer where she last placed it. Jesus isn't there. But she doesn't, she still doesn't recognize him. Um, she sees him and thinks he's the gardener. And in a way, it's not really entirely wrong because the resurrection, Christ is not simply restoring what he was, he is making all things new. A creation has begun, and still she does not recognize him until he speaks her name and he says, Mary. It's so beautiful, right? I love that part. I love rereading it over and over again, and I'm looking down here at this, it's just the part where he says her name. Um, and it's just yeah, it's so beautiful. One word and everything changes because the resurrection is not first understood with the mind, it's received in relationship. She is known, and this is the best part. She is called. And in being called, she sees. She turns and responds, Raboni, teacher, this is Easter, right? This is the Easter season. It's not just that the tomb is empty, but that Christ is alive and still calling, calling each of us by name. And yet, how often do we remain like Mary at the tomb? Right? Faithful but grieving, searching but not seeing, standing in front of the miracle and missing it. We look for God where he used to be. We expect him to move the way he once did. We hold on to what we understand and miss what he's doing right now. But Easter invites something different. It invites us to listen. Because the same voice that spoke into the darkness that morning still speaks today. It speaks quietly, it speaks personally, calling your name. Each person listening to this podcast calling each of your names. And maybe the question for us this Easter isn't, do I believe in the resurrection? But rather, have I allowed the risen Christ to call me personally into new life? Reflecting further, incorporating one of my, well, my favorite saint, let's be honest, Saint John Paul II. So, and I refer to him often, and uh many do as JP2, so we'll I'll use his name in this way for this uh this episode. So JP2 reminds us that we are an Easter people and Allelujah is our song. Have you heard that before? I feel like this verse, or I'm sorry, this quote from JP2 is one that comes up not just in the Easter season. We do hear it a lot in the Easter season, um, just within our faith. And it it's uh it's used on social media, it's used on um various you know, overlays for things for just reflect reflective um prayer and on uh just reflecting on the lives of the saints, especially um the beautiful Saint Jean Paul II. But we see this all year long, liturgically in different seasons. Um, it's relatable. It comes up for me anytime I feel like it needs to. It's just it's a it's a relatable quote for me and just helps to bring me back to the renewal and the Easter season in my heart. So we are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our song. Um He reminds us of this not because life is easy, not because suffering disappears, but because death does not have the final word, because we are we have been called out of darkness, out of grief, out of the tomb, and into new life. And so, my friends, today, where is he calling your name? Where is he inviting you to turn, to recognize him, to let go of what was and step into what is being made new. Because Easter is not just something we celebrate, it is something we are invited to live, isn't it? I'm gonna say that again. Because Easter is not something, or sorry, is not just something to celebrate. It is something we are invited to live. Hallelujah. I'd like to close in prayer and invite you to the inner room with me quietly to pray um to our Lord and Lord and um beloved Father. Um, and you can do so in silence if you'd like, um, following this episode or right now if you'd like to turn the volume down as we pray. Um, but I invite you to come into prayer with me and uh reflect and I uh and pray just from the heart. So in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of the resurrection, for the victory of life over death, light over darkness, and hope over despair. You call each of us by name, just as you called Mary. Give us the grace to hear your voice in the quiet, in the uncertainty, in the places where we are we are still searching. Lord Jesus, open our eyes to recognize you, especially when you appear in unexpected ways, when we are tempted to remain in grief. Draw us into the joy of the resurrection. When we struggle to see, teach us to listen. And when you call us, give us the courage to turn toward you. Holy Spirit, fill our hearts with the living hope of Easter. Help us to live as an Easter people, not just in word, but in the way we love, the way we trust, and the way we witness the world. We place all of this in your hands through Christ our Lord, and through the loving intercession of our blessed Mother. May we learn to say yes every day. Saint Mary Magdalene, witness to the resurrection, pray for us. Saint John Paul II, who reminded us that we are an Easter people, pray for us. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. From all of us that are resounding yes, we pray that each of you have a joyful day and week ahead full of miracles. We ask that you please prayerfully share these episodes with family, friends, your community, and parish to continue to spread Christ's light to the world. I'd like to mention that following us is easy and free. Just click follow on your favorite listening platform to receive alerts when we publish new episodes, or you can subscribe to us at Paloma and Fig through our email bulletins at PalomaandFig.com for even more faith-filled content and creative evangelization of the faith. You can also drop us fan mail or a text by clicking at the very bottom of our show notes. So you scroll all the way down, there's a little link there, to show us some love or let us know what you think. We will start incorporating our listeners within the show and look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your continued support as we could not do this without each of you and your prayers. God bless you, my friends, and God bless your families, and happy Easter.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

The Lord is with you, bless you. Amen.