'I have seen the Lord!'

Mary Magdalene’s sadness was turned into joy when she recognised

Jesus and she immediately went to tell the disciples that she has seen him.

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊  

Song of Songs 3:1-4a (or 2Corinthians 5:14-17)

 On my bed at night     

I looked for the one I love, I sought him without finding him; I called him and he did not answer. I will rise and go about the city, through the streets and the squares; I will seek the love of my heart…

I sought him without finding him; the watchmen came upon me, those who patrol the city. “Have you seen the love of my heart?” As soon as I left them, I found the love of my heart.

 

Ps 63:2, 3-4,5-6, 8-9

My soul thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

 

   ＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊  

John 20:1-2, 11-18

 Now, on the first day after the Sabbath, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark and she saw that the stone blocking the tomb had been moved away.  She ran to Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved. And she said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don’t know where they have laid him.”

 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.”

 

 Gospel Reflection：

Loving Chastely

Some two decades ago, in the US Catholic, I read an interview of a woman who cared for his paralyzed husband for some three decades until he died, while also bringing up their children as the single active head of the family. Couldn’t she have placed the husband in a care home, got married again, and lived a normal life? Her answer went something like this: “It was his person that I married, not his body alone.”

The exchange between Mary Magdalene and Jesus points to such essence of love. Mary loved Jesus with every fiber of her being. Yet, when she met him in plain sight at the tomb, she did not recognize him. But, the moment he called her from the depth of his soul – “Mary” – she knew him instantly.

It wasn’t the external Jesus she loved, but the very person. It was when he called her by name that she recognized his body. Isn’t this what chastity is all about, be it in married life or in consecrated life?