On this Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, we are reminded that she went to the tomb early Easter Sunday morning. She was not able to recognize the Risen Jesus until He called her by name. Gradual recognition and understanding, or in some cases blindness and misunderstanding, are a stage on the path to belief and conviction. This stage occurs frequently in life itself and in the narratives of St. John’s Gospel. Examples which St. John gives us are: the conversations Jesus had with Nicodemus (ch. 3) and the Samaritan woman (ch. 4). In John 20, we find this stage once again: St. Mary thought at first that Jesus was the gardener!
Is it possible that St. Mary Magdalene failed to recognize Jesus because of her false assumption that Jesus’ dead body had been taken away from the tomb? Was her attention concentrated on the now-empty tomb? Is it possible that her tears of intense grief could also have blurred her vision? Nonetheless, once had recognized Jesus, He told her, “… go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” St. Mary Magdalene did so at once, telling the Apostles, “I have seen the Lord,” along with the message He had given her. What is remarkable is that what she said became the basis and essence of the later preaching of the Apostles and of all Christian testimony about the Risen One. Some of the ancient Fathers of the Church gave her the title “Apostle to the Apostles.”
Let us pray. “O God, give us an open mind and heart to experience the presence of the Risen Lord in our lives, especially through our prayer, our Sacramental life, and our attentive reading of the Bible. Help us to trust that all of these enable us to bear witness to your Son in our daily lives. In His name we pray. Amen.”
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We offer a special Holy Cross welcome to Archbishop Alexander sample today. Our “shepherd” and successor to the Apostles is making pastoral visits to North and Northeast Portland parishes this week. Area priests shared a dinner with the Archbishop Thursday evening and he is here at Holy Cross today to celebrate with us the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene. We are very much honored by his visit.
