Tuesday in the First Week of Easter

After the Resurrection St. John writes about an encounter between the Church in glory, the risen Christ, and the Church in tears, Mary Magdalene.  Four times St. John mentions her tears. 

The People of God continue to weep because of sins, like the sexual abuse of children by priests and the evil of abortion.  But this encounter between the Church in glory, Jesus, and the Church in tears, Mary Magdalene, foreshadows the time when every tear will be wiped away from our eyes, when sin and death will be no more.  “At night there are tears, but joy comes with dawn” (Ps 30).  

Some Catholics, however, are not waiting for a dawn to come.  One Gallup poll reports that the sexual abuse of children by priests has persuaded some Catholics to leave the Church.  But abandoning Catholicism because of its sinful members is like abandoning an exercise gym because of those in it who are overweight.  The Church is not the cause of sexual abuse and abortion.  It is the cure.