OPreach
Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
Go Tell My Brothers
I’m playing catch up today after being on a Holy Week retreat, and don’t want to miss posting this wonderful reflection by Sister Sally Brady. Fortunately we have a number
of weeks to continue to proclaim the joyous message of Easter.
Easter Sunday
April 8, 2012
Acts 10: 34a, 37-43; Colossians 3: 1-4; John 20: 1-9
She (Mary Magdalene) saw that the stone had been moved away, so she ran off to Simon Peter and the other disciple . . . And told them.
– John 20:1-2
As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to see k a ne w beginning . . . this r equire s a change of mind and heart . . . for we have much to learn from the ongoing collaborative search for truth and wisdom.
– “The Way Forward” Preamble to the Earth Charter
We have come to our 500th Anniversary of Dominican preaching in the Western Hemisphere! How perfect is our Dominican 800th jubilee theme of “Women and Preaching,
in 2012, with the words Jesus spoke to Mary Magdalene: “Go, tell my brothers.” The Order’s “Patroness of Preachers” was the first messenger of Easter joy, and she did not hesitate to bring the message. She ran! If only our feet would be as swift to “go quickly” and make know this Jesus who is waiting to offer forgiveness to the world. It was after the seeing and believing that Peter, Mary and all Jesus’ followers realized that they were being “ordered to proclaim the resurrection, and to invite all people to repentance.”
As a world Order of Pr ach rs, it becomes our responsibility to continue proclaiming the deeper meaning of the resurrectionof Jesus, and not only experience a conversion of our own, but to call others to conversion, so that Gods light of truth can better be seen in our world, searching for the way.
Why does God desire that all people be invited to conversion? It brings us back to John the Baptist, the voice of God warning the people of an impending disaster and calling for a change of heart. We are all called to make an about-face and take a new path. A conversion of heart helps us begin to see and understand “The Way Forward” as those actions we take, or have taken, for others:
- Advocating on behalf of immigrant rights
- Speaking the truth in order to heal and support victims of trafficking
- Respecting all life, rejecting all that is death
- Calling our government to lead the way for global abolition of all weapons of mass destruction
- Protecting the Earth’s vitality, diversity, and beauty “as sacred trust”
OPreach 