Celebrating Jesus Risen-with Mary Magdalene
An interpretation from Maryknoll Lay Missioners.
Mary Magdalene was one of the group of women who followed Jesus and the apostles and looked after them.
Mary Magdalene was at the foot of the cross – unlike Peter who had denied three times that he knew Jesus and then fled and hid in the upper room.
On the third day, it was Mary who first ventured out, discovered Jesus’ body was missing, went in search, mistook Jesus for the gardener, not seeing him clearly. She expressed her concern, her worry and was rewarded by the first word of the risen Jesus, her name, “Mary”.
Delighted, she wanted to cling to Jesus but he said, “you have to let me go”.
From the 2019 film, Mary Magdalene, with Rooney Mara as Mary and Joaquin Phoenix as Jesus
Then, the first mission of announcing the resurrection of Jesus, Mary the first apostle of the resurrection, her immediate mission to give the good news to Peter and the apostles. Impetuous Peter, more than perhaps feelings of shame, ran to the tomb, deferred to by John, their discovering the resurrection for themselves.
In recent times, there has been a strong acknowledgement of Mary Magdalene as the apostle of the resurrection – before the Twelve, before Paul.
Since the 1970s, around the world there has been a growing awareness (taking a long, long time) of the status of women, female-male equality, though certainly not yet achieved.
From the Vatican
Mary Magdalene, the apostle, can be seen as an apostle of Jesus pre-eminent because of the Resurrection. She offers a pattern – initiative in looking for Jesus, rewarded by finding him, recognised by him, by name, and the commission to tell Peter (interesting and challenging for 21st-century women and successors of Peter!).
EASTER BLESSINGS TO ALL OUR VISITORS
