My Thoughts 19/04/2022

One of the first people to encounter the risen Jesus was Mary of Magdala. Heartbroken, she wanted to be near the body of Jesus but had found the tomb empty. She alerted Peter and John who had come running to the empty tomb. Mary stayed after they left and when she stooped into the tomb all she saw were two angels who asked her why she was weeping. She then saw a man who she supposed was the gardener who asked the same question as the angels. “Why are you weeping?”. It was when Jesus said her name “Mary” she recognised him. Calling her by her name she replied with the familiar name.”Rabbuni”.

Fr Anselm Grun, a German Benedictine monk, says “Because she has been addressed by her name a new relationship is created. No longer is Jesus just the master of all people but her master, to whom she knows herself to be tied through her love. In those two words : “Mary” – “my Master” the mystery of Resurrection happens. He mourning is transformed, her eyes opened and she recognises the one who is the object of all her love, the one by whom she knows herself to be understood and loved in her deepest being`’

I am grateful to Fr Anselm for directing me to a reflection written by St Anselm of Canterbury about Mary of Magdala. Here is part of it.

“And so it is; for love’s sake
he cannot bear her grief for long or go on hiding himself.
For the sweetness of love he shows himself
who would not for the bitterness of tears.
The Lord calls his servant by the name she has often heard
and the servant knows the voice of her own Lord.
I think, or rather I am sure,
that she responded to the gentle tone
with which he was accustomed to call, ‘Mary’.
What joy filled that voice, so gentle and full of love.
He could not have put it more simply and clearly:
‘I know who you are and what you want;
behold me;
do not weep, behold me;
I am he whom you seek.’
At once the tears are changed;
I do not believe that they stopped at once,
but where once they were wrung
from a heart broken and self-tormenting
they flow now from a heart exulting.”

In our reflection today let us imagine Jesus saying our name. Jesus says our name with great tenderness and deep love. We need to search no more.