In the Gospel reading for the Easter Vigil (Mark 16: 1-7) Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome are on the way to the tomb where Jesus had been placed.

They want to anoint the dead body of the Lord, but wonder how they will be able to do it. They question one another: Who will roll back the stone for us to the entrance to the tomb? The stone was an obstacle, seemingly bigger than life.

And often that's the way it is in our own lives: our worries about children, concerns about our health, financial insecurities, the impact of others in our lives. These stones can be huge, and block the path to where we want to go, what we want to do, and how we want to live our lives.

But if we remain faithful in our trust in a living God, we might well be surprised when we reach our destination. The things that worry us most are those that many times never come to pass. Reality is far easier to accept and live with than what our fears and worries can conjure up.

Sometimes we have to think in a different way, breaking away from our well-worn, routine ways of thinking. What is beyond our own power can happen. Barriers are broken down. Possibilities open up. Walls collapse. Solutions to problems are found, or given. And the stones that were the obstacles too heavy for us --- immovable --- are rolled away.

Many of us find it an obstacle, like a huge boulder, to make room for those who are strangers or unknown to us. But, as in the Easter proclamation, a weight can be lifted, the stone rolled away --- the stone that blocks the coming of the glory of God into our world --- but not by our own efforts or energies, or by how we would strategize to roll away the stone.

In Mark's Gospel, once the boulder is rolled away, the women encounter a young man --- unnamed, unknown, a stranger. They were frightened by him. But rather than threatening them, he offers comfort and consolation. More importantly, he gives them a word of hope. He overturns their expectations.

This can happen with strangers in our own lives. Not only do we find obstacles --- like boulders --- that prevent us from encountering them. At times we create the obstacles that keep us from encountering the stranger, or construct soundproof walls that prevent us from hearing words of hope from those we might least likely expect. We remain sealed up in a tomb of fear and dread of the unknown instead of calling out in faith: Roll away the stone! And then allowing the encounter with the other --- the "unnamed" stranger --- to begin. Like the faithful women of the Gospel, we too might be amazed to find in the stranger's words of hope and comfort a foretaste of new life.

The women are told to go and tell the disciples and Peter that they will see Jesus in Galilee. Seeing him calls for deep faith. Not all will see him. Not everyone will recognize him. He comes in new and unexpected ways: as a stranger on the road to Emmaus; as one who dines with a wayfarer; as one who offers words of peace. But even those who claimed to be his followers did not always recognize him at first.

And so it is with us. Living now in the fullness of the Easter faith, it is our gift and our task to recognize this Jesus the Christ in the many guises, the many unknown faces, the many startling ways he comes and asks entry into our lives.

This Easter, join me in raising our voices in faith and in hope: "Who will roll back the stone for us?" And then let us be amazed at the gift being offered by those we might least likely expect. He is among us, gone ahead of us, waiting for us to recognize him "as he told you." What we have been told is that we are to see him in the least of our brothers and sisters, in those most in need. Roll away the stone!