Easter Monday, March 24, 2008

Scripture: Acts 2:36-41. Psalm 33:4-5.18-20.22. John 20:11-18. Lectionary #
262:

"I have seen the Lord!" Mary Magdalene announces this to the disciples thus
again confirming she is the apostle to the apostles. This resurrection
narrative appears in John's Gospel which is the only Gospel that has Jesus
as THE APOSTLE sent by God and now returning to God. Mary's love is
stronger than the bonds of death and in this resurrection appearance we
learn how we too must strive to have such love based on our deep personal
faith in the person of Jesus that leads us to deep love of the Lord. This
is our way of experiencing the Resurrection. Mary believed in Jesus with
the fullness of her trust; it was what some spiritual writers and saints
call "faith of the heart." She now experiences the meaning of this love in
Jesus who is fully alive before her. She tries to hold on to him, but
Jesus is calling her to a love that transcends the best of human love, the
gift of divine love for the Lord. We read in the story that "she did not
know him." She thought he may be the gardner. Jesus, however, opens her
eyes of faith and love when he calls her by name, "Mary." He had first
addressed her as "woman" just as he addressed his Mother Mary at Cana and
Calvary. Both of these Marys possess this gift of divine love and live in
it for all eternity because they believed beyond this life in a life that
is everlasting. Both women transcended the limits of human love by their
total selfgiving in love to Jesus, the Son of God. Mary Magdalene is then
listening again to the heart of Jesus that speaks out and tells her, "I am
ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and to your God." She is
becoming a member of God's family because of her love for the Son of God.
In this she echoes the love of Mary the Mother of Jesus with a love beyond
all telling. For both the Paschal Mystery is more than something to be
believed, it is experienced and lived out in love. We pray, "Jesus, you
call each one of us personally by name. Help us,Lord, to recognize your
love and to respond to it as did Mary of Magdala and Mary of Nazareth, your
mother. Amen.