Mary Magdalen stayed beside the tomb, weeping...she stooped to peer inside and saw two angels in dazzling robes...she turned and caught sight of Jesus standing there, but did not recognize him...Jesus said to her, "Mary!" (John 20: 11-18)
Mary came to the tomb, looking for the body of the Lord. She found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty and ran to tell Peter and John. The Apostles came, saw, and believed, but then they returned home. It is Mary who stays outside the tomb, single-minded in her desire to see her Lord. She is looking for a corpse; she thinks that Jesus is dead and gone, but still she longs for him with ardent desire. Not even two angels in dazzling robes can catch her interest; she wants only the body of Jesus. When she turns and sees a man standing there, a living and breathing man, she thinks it must be the gardener. "Sir, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away." Jesus calls her by name. He says "Mary," and she realizes that it is he, that he is alive. Imagine her joy, her inexpressible delight. Jesus lives, and he has called her by name.
The Lord speaks to each of us too, calling our name in the depths of our heart. We have been through the darkness of Good Friday, the absence of Holy Saturday...we know pain and loss, emptiness and suffering. Now the Lord is risen, and he calls us by name. Are we looking for him? We too can say "I have seen the Lord!"
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| Christ Our Light: the Easter Vigil Mass |
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