Hello everyone! Heyo! Welcome back to Scattering Flowers with Elise and Miles, a podcast where you read the daily gospels and the saint of the day.
Let’s get started! Today is Tuesday, April 22nd, and we’ll be reading John 20, 11-18.
Follow along in your Bible if you have one.
Now let’s read John 20, 11-18.
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 I do not know where they have laid him.
Saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus, 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 had 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 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.
During the week of Palm Sunday to Easter, my family does this fun activity with these decorated nesting eggs.
Each day you open a new, smaller egg that is nested inside of what the day is.
When you get to Easter Sunday, you open this teeny tiny gray one that looks like a tomb or rock, and it’s empty.
Even though we know what each egg is because we’ve done it for Easter week since we were little kids, it’s still a fun surprise every year.
Today’s reading is similar to yesterday’s story.
Mary Magdalene found the tomb empty of Jesus' body and was told to share her faith and belief in Jesus with everyone she came across.
She must have been very surprised arriving to the tomb empty, even though she knew from the beginning, a follower of Christ, the truth of the story.
Heyo! Today’s saint is Saint Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad.
Now, let’s read her story.
Born in a large Lutheran family in Sweden, even as a child, Mary Elizabeth was troubled at the lack of unity among Christian churches.
One day as she walked alone in a quiet forest, she begged the Lord to show her the truth.
In 1888, at the age of 18, she emerged to New York City to work as a nurse.
She cared for many people who were Catholic and became interested in their faith.
On a trip to Brussels in 19, Mary Elizabeth witnessed a Corpus Christi Eucharistic procession.
She did not want to be a part of it, but while everybody around her knelt, she heard in her heart, I am the one whom you seek.
Mary Elizabeth responded to the call and within two years she became a Catholic and offered her life to God.
In Rome, she lived with a Carmelite community in her house where St.
Brigida Swinen has founded Brigantine.
Mary Elizabeth was inspired to receive that ancient order.
She began a new troop of Brigantines.
She gradually grew and spread around the world.
During World War II, Mary Elizabeth sheltered Jewish refugees and saved at least a dozen from death.
St.
Mary Elizabeth became a follower of Christ because she is the seeker of truth.
She lived her whole life with goodness and that helped her to live her life in truth.
And guess what?
The truth is Jesus.
I think truth and faith go hand to hand.
You have to have and know the truth in order to have faith in Jesus and things we cannot yet see.
Do you live your life in faith and believe in the truth?
When you believe, your faith grows.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, help us to believe and live out our faith.
And help us to be truth seekers like St.
Mary Elizabeth.
St.
Mary Elizabeth, pray for us.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Thank you so much for listening.
We’ll be back tomorrow scattering more flowers.
See ya!