Tuesday, July 22, 2014
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 weeping?” 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, “Woman, 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 ends in today’s Gospel reading with angels appearing to another woman named Mary of Magdala – a woman commissioned by the Risen Lord himself to report the resurrection event to the disciples.
In today’s Gospel reading Mary of Magdala 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. Let’s learn from Mary of Magdala’s experience. Just as tears can blur our vision so grief can make us too narrow-minded to see the positive side of life. Consider what happens to Mary of Magdala in today’s Gospel story. She is right at the heart of the resurrection event, yet she is in grief held hostage by her previous knowledge and past experience.
We too are right at the heart of the resurrection event. Let not the past draw us back. But we can lessen the debilitating power of the past by giving up our sinful ways and live in the joy of Easter. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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