Welcoming & Embracing the Stranger: Lenten Reflections with the Artwork of James Tissot

April 5, 2026 - Easter Sunday

One cannot help but be drawn into the image for today’s reflection, entitled Mary Magdalene and the Holy Women at the Tomb by James Tissot. At the center is the empty tomb, illuminated by the presence of divine light and life. The guards, scattered and separated, lie on the ground lifeless, almost without individual form. Powerless before God’s almighty power, they are motionless in their defeat. The lights they had relied upon are strewn to the side as insufficient. 

The bright, beckoning light from the tomb draws the attention of the women, who are together and tall. All three are standing upright and leaning in. Mary Magdalene is characteristically focused with longing, gazing into the tomb with desire and deep love. God knows where welcome waits. God found in Mary a welcome heart.  

What about you and me? What would God find in our hearts this Easter morning? Uncertainty and anxiety? Disappointment and discouragement? Doubt and disbelief? Or like Mary Magdalene, perhaps welcome and wonder? Or maybe even resilience and readiness to walk with the Risen Lord? 

The theme for our Lenten journey has been hospitality, fostering a sense of acceptance, friendliness, and comfort – a feeling of being at home, of community and welcome. Saint John reminds us: “If you make my Word your home, you will indeed be my disciples” (John 8:31).  

The entrance antiphon for Mass on Easter Sunday is:  

“I have risen, and I am with you still, alleluia.” 

The hospitality that the Risen Christ offers us and invites us into is personal (offered to us where we are, as we are), present (not remote or distant from us, but right before us and deep within us), and permanent (His love and tender mercy endure forever).  

Heartfelt thanks for journeying with us during the Lenten Season. May God grant you a blessed, peaceful, and joy-filled Easter! And may the Risen Christ be with you, now and always! 

O God, who on this day, through your Only Begotten Son, have conquered death and unlocked for us the path to eternity, grant, we pray, that we who keep the solemnity of the Lord's Resurrection may, through the renewal brought by your Spirit, rise up in the light of life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. (Roman Missal)

Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly, S.T.L, Ph.D., President, Seton Hall University

Thank you so much for journeying through this Lenten season with us! We hope you enjoyed these reflections.

Happy Easter from the Preaching Grant Team!

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