July 1998
16th Week Yr
JO 20:11-18
SAM 6:30AM
FROM THE FIRST READING today - Canticles 1:1-16...we hear the Song of Solomon….also called the Song of Songs…because of the spiritual heights & beauty of cries & sighs of the human soul thirsting for the Living God. The soul longs for Him…”whom my heart seeks and loves.” This longing of the soul for God…..is what filled the heart of Mary Magdalene who became a SAINT because of her great love for Christ.
SHE IS PERHAPS ONE OF HISTORY’S greatest examples of a heart on fire with love for God She is the great SINNER who became a great SAINT. She was filled with great SELF-DISGUST of her own sinfulness & her heart was filled filled with SORROW. She was the first one to whom Our Lord appeared after rising from the dead….perhaps so all mankind…all sinners would remember WHY He suffered & died for us on the Cross….to save & redeem us from our sins.
SHE WAS LIFTED UP by Christ. Her sorrow propelled her heart towards God with an almost boundless Love ennobled by sincerity, sorrow and amendment of mind & will. It seems as though Our Lord couldn’t have asked much more of Mary Magdalene. He was so pleased at her sorrow & sincerity.....which caused her to seek Him with all her heart. Her transformation was completed by Christ’s gaze….a Grace that was filled with Divine Grace….that stirred her very Soul & Being.
WE SHOULD REFLECT that Mary Magdalene...after her conversion did nothing to slow down.. or turn off God’s Grace in her soul….by turning her Heart, Mind & Will away or even to one side from what God was asking of her. This is what seems to happen with many Sinners. They seem to recognize the choice between good or evil….& that a choice is freely before them. People seem to know…or at least could be expected to know what is good…& what is sinful. Often it is Common sense…& yet the Sinner knowingly & freely chooses the Sin. WHY?
A QUICK PRAYER to St. Mary Magdalene may provide fast help...& the Grace needed to overcome the temptation to sin. We should remember too, it was Mary Magdalene....who stood by the Cross of Christ amid all the suffering & abandonment by all His Apostles & Disciples.
For her Fidelity, Sorrow & Love of Christ….Our Lord rewarded her. She was the first to whom He appeared after rising from the dead.
ALL OF US CAN & SHOULD STRIVE TO IMITATE HER GREAT SORROW FOR SIN…AND HER GREAT LOVE OF GOD.