In the Gospel proclamation for this Easter Vigil (Luke 24: 1-12), Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and the other women are terrified by what they behold at the tomb and "bow their faces to the ground."

On hearing the words, "Why do you seek the living one among the dead?" the women got up, left the tomb and "announced all these things." Their story seemed like nonsense to those who heard them. But, on hearing their words, Peter got up, ran to the tomb and bent down, saw, and was amazed at what had happened.

There is a boldness to bending, to stooping, to bowing. It takes courage to do this because it means giving a higher place to the other. On the night before he died, Jesus stood up from the table and washed the feet of his disciples. To do so, he bowed down, stooped low, bent over, washed their feet and then commanded his followers: "As I have done for you, you should do also" (John 13: 14).

The Word is made flesh by bending down, stooping low so that God becomes one of us in Jesus Christ. In his ministry of proclaiming the Good News, Jesus walks, and sits, among the poor, the outcast, the widow, the foreigner --- the lowly of the earth. It is likely that when he let the little children come to him, he bent low to pick them up and hold them close, stooping down, scooping them up and gathering them in his arms.

And, at the end of his life, he is laid in a tomb, and then bending down further still, he descends among the dead, harrowing the gates of hell. God bows down to the earth and pours out divine love among the lowly of the earth, even among the dead.

On hearing the word of the women, Peter knows that to find his Lord, he must do as his Lord has done: Bend down, stoop down. He is drawn to the mystery, allured by the story of dazzling garments, hopeful that he would see the Lord who "has been raised." To see the one raised on high, he "bent down." Perhaps he knew that he could not stand in familiar ways, could not behold the Lord face to face, standing on the strength of his own two feet.

Like Peter, we must surrender, bend down to the lowly, earthen, sometimes empty spaces and places where the traces of God's presence linger and amaze.

Most of us prefer to stand on our own two feet, independent of the help of others. There is often a hesitation to bow before anyone or anything. When we bow we lower ourselves, demonstrating respect, indeed reverence and honor before the other. When we bend toward the other our bodies incline toward the ground, toward the earth.

Wherever we stand, however we stand, we are part of the earth. From it we have come and to it we will return. Bowing, however slightly or profoundly, reminds us that we are all part of this earth. Creation has been embraced in the Incarnation --- the becoming flesh, becoming earthen --- of God, by bending down, by bowing toward us so that all the living might become the new creation ushered in on the First Day of the Week, this Easter Sunday.

Bending down, stooping low, even as a habit of the heart or an attitude, reminds us that we are not above, are not to lord power over others, but that we, like Peter, are to gaze on the mystery of Christ in each person by bending low. Like Peter, we only behold the mystery of the Christ who has been raised on high by first bending down, stooping low, as he did while he was with us.

And there his presence remains. For those who are bold enough to bend and --- behold!