Gospel Reading: Jn 20:11-18
Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”
Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her.
REFLECTION
Go to my brothers and tell them
Mary Magdalene (from her village “Magdala” by the shore of the Sea of Galilee) is one of the most misunderstood and maligned saints. Western Christianity since the time of St. Gregory the Great has identified her with three women in the New Testament: the sinful woman who bathes Jesus’ feet with her tears and anoints them with ointment (cf Lk 7:38); the woman who pours costly perfumed oil on Jesus’ head in the house of Simon the leper in Bethany before the Passion (cf Mt 26:7); and Mary in Bethany who anoints Jesus’ feet with costly perfumed oil and dries them with her hair (cf Jn 12:3). She is none of these.
The most important narrative about Mary Magdalene is the appearance of the risen Christ. Jesus says, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” This command has given Mary the monicker “Apostle to the Apostles.”
Heeding the wish of Pope Francis, with a decree dated June 3, 2016, the Vatican has elevated the liturgical celebration honoring St. Mary Magdalene from a Memorial to a Feast, putting her on a par with the Apostles. The reason is that she “has the honor to be the first witness of the Lord’s resurrection.”
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2016,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
