Word to the Wise
Monday, July 22, 2024 - July 22 - St. Mary Magdalene
[Cant 3:1-4b or 2 Cor 5:14-17 and John 20:1-2, 11-18]Consequently, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh; even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer. So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away' behold, new things have come. [2 Corinthians] "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 Magdalen went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and then reported what he told her. [John]
The story of Mary Magdalen's encounter with the Risen Lord at the tomb and St. Paul's reflection on the impact of the Lord's death and resurrection invites a kind of "before and after" reflection! Who/What was Mary Magdalen holding onto? If she had known Jesus in his ministry, why didn't she recognize his voice when he asked her: "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" The Jesus "before" was not the Jesus "after!" He was the "same" but "not the same." He was transformed and yet could be recognized. When Mary Magdalen proclaims, "I have SEEN the Lord!" one might recall the connection between seeing and believing that the post-resurrection encounter of the apostle Thomas presented.
St. Paul's reflection in 1 Corinthians 15:36-49 on the nature of the "resurrection body" and the words from 2 Corinthians 5 in today's (alternate) first scripture remind us that we cannot "know" Christ either in the same way as he was in his earthly ministry or in the way an unbelieving person might. Mary Magdalen proclaimed a "risen" Christ (after) and not an earthly Jesus (before). She was the bearer of the Good News of the resurrection, and is rightly known in tradition as "the apostle to the apostles." Perhaps our Church may better awaken to the voices of women making that same proclamation today. AMEN