MY daily reflection and prayer:
Friday, July 22, 2016
Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene
Dear my friends,
Here is the Gospel for us today according to St. John 20: 1-2; 11-18
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.
***
LET’S imagine that Jesus Christ is our soul loves as St. Mary Magdalene’s soul loves. She fulfilled the Song of Salomon “Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me” (Song of Salomon 3:4).
After Jesus’ death, how sad Mary Magdalene must have been as she sat and wept outside his tomb! She so loved him. About her we know, Jesus had healed her soul; he had cast seven demons from her heart. She had stood at the foot of Jesus’ cross, along with the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John. She had washed Jesus’ feet with her tears; now her tears flow down her face.
So when she found him alive after his death and resurrection, she found him whom her soul loves. She held him, and would not let him go. But Jesus Christ said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'” She’s the first one to announce to the world that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.
In the Perpetual Adoration of the Eucharist we adore Jesus Christ whom our soul loves like St. Mary Magdalene did. As Mary too, we are never alone in our suffering. Are we a witness to the saving message of Our Lord in the midst of our suffering?
Let’s pray: Lord Jesus Christ, St. Mary Magdalene found you for she went to seek you. She also went proclaim that she had met you, the Risen Lord! Grant us a love similar to Mary Magdalene’s passionate love for you now and forever. Amen.
Kredit foto: Ilustrasi (Ist)
