#rsvce

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.  So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, 'They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.' ... But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look inside 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 I do not know where they had laid him.' Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know 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 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 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.

Without me, you can do nothing.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

The idea here is very clear: man's heart yearns for a treasure which will give him security and happiness.  However, every treasure in the form of earthly goods--wealth, property--becomes a constant source of worry, because there is always the risk we will lose it or because the effort to protect it is such a strain. Against this, Jesus teaches us here that our true treasure lies in good works and an upright life, which will be eternally rewarded by God in heaven.  That indeed is a treasure which one never loses, a treasure on which Christ's disciple should put his heart. Jesus closes the teaching contained in the preceding verses with a kind of refrain (verse 21).  He is not saying that people should be unconcerned about earthly things; what he does say is that no created thing can be 'the treasure', the ultimate aim, of man.  What man should do is make his way to God, sanctify himself and give all glory to God, by making right use of the noble things of the earth: 'Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God' (1 Corinthians 10:31; cf. Colossians 3:17).

St. John's account, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has as its purpose the strengthening of our faith in Jesus Christ through reflecting on what our Lord said and did.  Like the Fourth Gospel, we shall never be able to capture the full richness and depth of Our Lord's personality.  'Once one begins to be interested in Christ, one's interest can never cease.  There is always something more to be known, to be said--infinitely more.  St. John the Evangelist ends his Gospel making this very point (John 21:25).  Everything to do with Christ is so rich, there are such depths for us to explore; such light, strength, joy, desire have their source in him. [...] His coming to the world, his presence in history and culture and [...] his vital relationship with our conscience: everything suggests that it is unseemly, unscientific and irreverent ever to think that we need not and cannot advance further in contemplation of Jesus Christ' ([Pope St.] Paul VI, General Audience, 20 February 1974).

“Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will he opened.”

The eye is the lamp of the body.  So if your eye is sound your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your wold body will be full of darkness.  If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded upon rock.  And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it.