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A story is told of Felix Mendelssohn’s grandfather, Moses, a small, ugly, hunchback of humble means. A marriage was arranged with the wealthy and beautiful Fromet Guggenheim. When first seeing her would-be husband from a distance, she insisted on calling off the engagement.When informed of her decision, Moses requested and was granted the opportunity to speak to her. When alone he told her a story. “As you know, all marriages are made in heaven. Before I was born an angel was escorting me to earth. I asked if it was possible for me to see the woman God had selected for me. Though an unusual request, it was granted.“To my astonishment the woman had an ugly hump on her back. I pleaded with God. ‘It is not fair that the woman be a hunchback. She will be the object of scorn and contempt. I beg you, give me the hump and let her be well formed and beautiful.’ God heard my prayer. I am that boy; you are that girl.’”Fromet Guggenheim saw Moses Mendelssohn in a new light. She saw and later married a wonderfully attractive, warm and compassionate man. --Adapted from Stories for the Telling by William WhiteThe story had the power to change her heart.What Moses Mendelssohn taught his beloved Fromet was the lesson learned by the disciples after the resurrection. It is the same lesson offered to us as we bask in the glow of Easter joy. Remembering THE STORY of how Jesus embraced our frail human nature out of divine compassion, we are called to embrace each person as extensions of ourselves and to see our common destiny.This Second Sunday of Easter gives us the ramifications of the Easter experience. There is a transformation that takes place among the disciples of Jesus as they connect with the events of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. No longer frightened and reluctant, they are now seen embracing and imitating the image of the Risen Lord: Peter, by exercising Christ’s compassionate and healing power; John, by witnessing Christ’s penetrating vision on the isle of Patmos; the disciples in the upper room, by accepting the Risen Lord’s commission of reconciliation and peace. We, too, are called by the life changing experience of Easter to put aside self-interest and respond with Christ-like compassion in all our human interactions. The risen Christ challenges us and invites us to be peacemakers, to be “a channel of his peace.”The Easter story compels us to see the world in a new way. If we are to demonstrate the power of that story in our lives we would be less likely to judge those of different faiths, races or lifestyles. If we were to allow Easter to touch us as it touched the doubting Thomas, would we not be less confrontational in our personal relationships with family and friends? The life changing impact of the resurrection should allow us to see ourselves as earthquake ravaged Haitians. We would be more like the risen Christ if we Americans would see the immigrant’s desire for acceptance as an echo of our own ancestor’s struggles a century ago, rather than as a threat to our way of life. It would be more in keeping with the Easter experience for us Catholics to seek to identify with the pain of sex-abuse victims, rather than seeing their suffering as mere “petty gossip.”This Easter season is celebrated for fifty days for a very good reason. It seems from the Scriptures proclaimed today that the transformation of Jesus’ disciples was instantaneous. On the contrary, it took decades. So with us each Easter season. It will take time to assess just how the events of those Holy Days will begin to affect our ways of living and thinking.This Second Sunday of Easter challenges our imaginations to see our world in a new way. We need the imagination of a Moses Mendelssohn to help us see the potential of the transforming power of a story. For us there is no more powerful story than the Easter story--if we allow it to touch us. 