Saturday, July 22, 2017 Mary Magdalene 1st Reading: Song 3:1-4 Gospel: John 20:1-2, 11-18
On the first day after the Sabbath, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb(…) Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she bent down to look inside; she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, and the other at the feet. They said, “Woman, why are you weep ing?” She answered, “Because they have taken my Lord and I don’t know where they have put him.”
As she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not recognize him. Jesus said to her, “Wo man, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and answered him, “Lord, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him, “Rabboni” – which means, Master. Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me; you see I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them: I am ascending to my Father, who is your Father, to my God, who is your God.”
So Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord, and this is what he said to me.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
Central to today’s Gospel message are Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the angels (verse 12), and her mission to report the resurrection to the disciples (verse 17). Taken side by side with the story of the Annunciation this encounter takes the story of the incarnation to full circle. The Incarnation story began with an angel commissioning a woman named Mary. That story comes to full circle in today’s Gospel reading with angels appearing to a woman also named Mary. The Risen Lord commissioned her to report the resurrection event to the disciples. Who was this other Mary so privileged to close the Incarnation story? Her name is Mary of Magdala, one of the twelve women who had followed Jesus from the beginning of his ministry in Galilee.
In today’s Gospel she sees the empty tomb and assumes that Jesus’ body had been stolen. Grief blurs her senses so that she couldn’t recognize Jesus’ voice calling out on her. She is right at the heart of the resurrection event, yet she is in grief held hostage by her previous knowledge and past experience. Let’s learn from Mary of Magdala’s experience. Just as tears can blur our vision making it difficult for us to see what is unfolding before us, so grief can render our minds too dull to comprehend anything positive about challenging events in our lives.
We too are right at the heart of the resurrection event. Let not the past draw us back. –(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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