Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
It is one of the most soul-stirring moments in film, the point in 1962’s The Miracle Worker when the young Helen Keller, played by Patty Duke, blind and deaf since infancy, understands that the finger manipulations that have been pounded into her hand by Anne Sullivan, played by Anne Bancroft, have meaning and can release her from the prison that has been her life. We call it the “water” moment, but even more profound a couple minutes later is when Helen, having found the words that mean “pump,” “tree,” “ground,” “step,” “bell,” “mother,” and “papa,” turns back to Sullivan, questioning. “Teacher,” Sullivan spells and says.
Consider the case of Mary Magdalene. Her world has been lacking its light since Friday. It is Sunday morning. She, much like Helen Keller, cannot see or hear what is in front of her, the risen Jesus, believing him to be the gardener. It is when Jesus calls her not “woman,” but by her name, Mary, that she recognizes the greatest Teacher of them all.
Whether our vision and hearing are clouded by physical defects, fear, pride, or any other factors, may we open our hearts and souls to the Good News in all the ways in which It manifests Itself to us. Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!
