Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene. Mary had at some point been possessed by seven spirits. Demons had repressed her freedom, and they had taken her life from her. Jesus came along and freed her from that. Is it any wonder that the language we hear in the readings today is the language of love? The language of passion?
Because of her love for him, we find her at the tomb. When everyone else has come and gone, she is still standing there weeping and looking for Him. Although she is blinded and has only one focus in her grief, she must find Jesus, even if it’s just his body. When we lose someone we love, someone who means the world to us, that’s often our response as well. We want just another moment with them, to see them one more time.
Then a miracle happens, something astounding. Jesus appears before her. Even then, she doesn’t recognize him in her distress. Only when He calls her by name does she open her eyes to the Lord right before her. Then He sends her. He sends her to inform the apostles. To become, in a sense, “the apostle to the apostles.” She arrives and says to them, “I have seen him.”
Her grief is wiped away by the knowledge she has been given. The knowledge that Jesus is still alive and that now death has no power over Him and no power over His followers. We, too, have been sent. We have seen Him. We have heard Him speaking directly to us in prayer and the proclamation of the Sacred Scriptures. We have received Him, body and soul, blood and divinity in the Eucharist at Holy Communion.
Today, the Church reminds us that, like Mary Magdalene, we too are sent to give the good news to those waiting for it. So that when the scripture says: “Go to my brothers and sisters and tell them,” it’s speaking to us! Reminding us of our baptismal calling, where he calls us by name to be a witness to Christ.
To sum up, I think there are two things we should think about today, two important things that the story of Saint Mary Magdalene remind us:
First, we should be seeking the Lord with the same kind of passion she had. An overwhelming sense of gratitude and love should drive us to find Jesus in every moment, in every person, and the Sacraments of the Church. As the Psalm says this morning: “O God, you are my God whom I seek; for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts ike the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.”
Second, we should want to share that with others. Love doesn’t hide the lover away; love takes them with them into the world. It longs for reunion and pines for fulfillment, all the while speaking with joy and praising the target of their affections. We believe as our faith teaches us that He has risen; he is here. How much more so should we desire to make the world aware of His presence?
A reflection on the readings for the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene: July 22nd, 2021