Reflection for Friday July 22, Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene: John 20:1-2, 11-18

Gospel: John 20:1-2, 11-18

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”  

Mary 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 Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he told her.

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Reflection:

How would feel if a very close friend or relative dies? Surely it would be very devastating as if your world has momentarily ended. This was the feeling of Mary Magdalene she was so devastated by the death of her beloved friend Jesus.  

Mary Magdalene was so consumed by the death of Jesus that she failed to recognize the resurrected Jesus who asked her why she was weeping (John 20:14-15). Then afterwards Jesus revealed Himself to her and Mary Magdalene recognized Jesus (John 20:16).    

Death is a certainty of life, it visits anyone of us at a time that it chooses. A time that often times we don’t like but death comes to us and nobody can prevent it for it’s the cycle of our life. 

But after death comes life, life that is very much different from the life that we have in this world.  Perhaps this was the reason why Mary Magdalene did not recognize the resurrected Jesus when He appeared to her. Mary Magdalene could not distinguish the image of the resurrected Jesus as opposed to Jesus before His death.  

The resurrected Jesus also manifests Himself to us yet we don’t pay attention to Him. He comes to us through the poor that we often see begging for whatever that we could give them.  Jesus also manifests Himself to us through a sick relative or friend who is longing for our visit. 

And there are many more manifestation of Jesus that comes to us but we often fail to recognize it because our vision of Jesus has already been blurred by our concern for ourselves. – Marino J. Dasmarinas