Tuesday in the Octave of Easter
Spiritual Seepage

Readings: Acts 2:36-41; Psalm 33:4-5, 18-19, 20 and 22; John 20:11-18

If there’s one word that a homeowner probably dreads to hear, it’s seepage. We recently had some experience of this when the ceiling of one of our washrooms started dripping. It’s not such a good feeling to have some liquid of dubious origin dripping down onto you while you’re doing whatever needs to be done. The problem had probably started some time ago as a damp spot up above, something relatively easy to ignore. But whatever the source and nature of the dampness, it had since spread across the ceiling to such an extent that the plaster had become saturated and the presence of the liquid could no longer be ignored by those of us moving about obliviously below. Such is the nature – and the problem – of seepage. It’s only a matter of time before it makes its presence felt. There’s almost a certain inevitability to it. It tends to saturate and to spread, within and without.

Thankfully, it’s not just damaging dampness that has the tendency to spread in this way. Today, our readings invite us to reflect upon seepage of a different, more welcome and benign, nature. As we continue to meditate upon the Lord’s resurrection, we are confronted with its power to saturate and to spread. We see how the effect of the Lord’s rising first seeps into the hearts of the disciples and transforms them. Mary is called, by name, out of the arid anxiety of her grief, into the saturated intimacy of a personal encounter with the Risen Lord. She knew him then and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbuni’ – which means Master. And the grace of that poignant meeting doesn’t stop there. Invading her whole being, it even continues to seep outward beyond her. So Mary of Magdala went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord…

And we find the same thing happening to them too. In the first reading, the grace of the resurrection seeps into Peter. And he who was so talented at putting his foot in his mouth, begins to spout words that cut his listeners to the heart. As it was with Mary of Magdala, these people hear themselves called by name. They experience an irrefutable connection between Peter’s message and their respective situations. What must we do, brothers? they are moved to inquire. And, in this way, the seepage continues on, beyond Peter, such that that very day about three thousand were added to their number…

Spiritual seepage: a striking image of the almost irresistible power of the resurrection. But even though the effects of the resurrection bear such a striking similarity to the problem of seepage. We obviously need to respond to it in a very different, even opposite, manner. For, like our ceiling, the latter is a problem that we need to contain. But the resurrection, on the other hand, is a grace that we need to prepare our hearts to receive and to welcome, to savor and to share…

How are we continuing to do this today?