In today's Gospel, John 20, 11-18, Mary Magdalene looked 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." They ask her: "'Woman, why are you weeping?...'They have taken my Lord, and I don't know where they laid him.'" She turns around and sees Jesus but does not recognize Him. He also asks her why she is weeping and for whom is she looking. Thinking Jesus is the gardener, she says to Him: "Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him." Jesus calls her by name: "Mary!" Mary then recognizes Him as her Teacher. "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 obeys Jesus and goes off to let the apostles know that Jesus is risen!
Mary, at the moment, is made an Apostle to the Apostles! She is the first to proclaim the resurrection the Lord!
I suggest that we ask ourselves several questions: 1) For whom do I weep? Is it that I cannot find Jesus? Or am I weeping for other things that are God-substitutes? 2) For whom am I looking? Am I looking for Jesus? Do I take the time each day to look for Him or am I too busy, too preoccupied with other things that attract my attention more than the Lord? 3) Do I hear Jesus when He calls my name?4) Do I realize that the person I am looking at is actually Jesus disguised in the "gardeners" whom I encounter each day? 5) When I do encounter Jesus, do I share that with others, or do I bury my faith--the "coin", the "talent"-- until my Master returns for me? 6) Do I include women as proclaimers of the faith, as Jesus did, or do I shut women out of such a mission?
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