SPEAKER_00: Today the church celebrates the feast of Saint Mary Magdalene.
SPEAKER_00: There's only a handful of people in history whose names were spoken by Jesus with such tenderness that they changed the course of their lives forever.
SPEAKER_00: Today's gospel gives us one of those moments.
SPEAKER_00: One word, Mary.
SPEAKER_00: And that is all Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: He does not give a long explanation, he does not perform another miracle, he simply calls her by her name.
SPEAKER_00: And immediately everything changes.
SPEAKER_00: She recognizes him.
SPEAKER_00: The tears become joy, the despair becomes hope.
SPEAKER_00: Death gives way to life.
SPEAKER_00: There's something profoundly beautiful here.
SPEAKER_00: The first person to proclaim the resurrection did not recognize Jesus by seeing him.
SPEAKER_00: She recognized him when she heard his voice speaking her name.
SPEAKER_00: That tells us something very important about the spiritual life.
SPEAKER_00: Christianity is not first about knowing ideas, it is about knowing a person.
SPEAKER_00: It is about hearing the good shepherd call each one of us by name.
SPEAKER_00: So who is this remarkable woman?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the gospels tell us that Jesus had delivered Mary Magdalene from seven demons.
SPEAKER_00: We're not told exactly what that means, only that her life had once been marked by deep spiritual bondage, and that Jesus completely transformed her.
SPEAKER_00: From that moment forward she became one of his most faithful disciples.
SPEAKER_00: She followed him throughout his public ministry.
SPEAKER_00: She helped support his mission.
SPEAKER_00: When many disciples walked away, she remained firm.
SPEAKER_00: When the crowds disappeared, there she was.
SPEAKER_00: When almost everyone fled at Calvary, she remained there at the foot of the cross with his mother.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Peter denied Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The other apostles scattered behind closed doors.
SPEAKER_00: But Mary Magdalene stayed.
SPEAKER_00: Love gave her the courage to stand where others could not.
SPEAKER_00: Then, before sunrise on Easter morning, while it was still dark, she returns to the tomb.
SPEAKER_00: John includes that detail for a reason was still dark outside.
SPEAKER_00: It was also dark inside her heart.
SPEAKER_00: She had lost everything.
SPEAKER_00: The one who had changed her life was now dead.
SPEAKER_00: She comes carrying spices because she expected to find a corpse.
SPEAKER_00: She's looking for someone to mourn.
SPEAKER_00: Instead she encounters the risen Lord.
SPEAKER_00: She becomes the very first witness of the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: And this is why the church honors her so highly.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the late Pope Francis raised today's memorial to the rank of a feast, the same liturgical rank we celebrate for the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: The church has long called Apostola Apostolum the Apostles of the Apostles, because the risen Christ entrusted her with the first announcement of Easter.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Think about God's sense of humor.
SPEAKER_00: The apostles who would become the first bishops of the church learned that the greatest news in human history comes from a woman who had once been possessed by seven demons.
SPEAKER_00: Only God writes stories like that.
SPEAKER_00: Reminds us that our past never has the final word.
SPEAKER_00: Our failures do not define us, our sins do not define us, our wounds do not define us.
SPEAKER_00: Christ does.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another detail I love.
SPEAKER_00: Mary mistakes Jesus for the gardener.
SPEAKER_00: At first it seems like an innocent mistake.
SPEAKER_00: But perhaps John wants us to notice something deeper.
SPEAKER_00: Where did the first creation begin?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it began in a garden.
SPEAKER_00: Where does the new creation begin?
SPEAKER_00: In another garden.
SPEAKER_00: The first Adam brought death into the world.
SPEAKER_00: The new Adam rises from the dead in a garden and begins making all things new.
SPEAKER_00: And Mary Magdalene is the first witness of that new creation.
SPEAKER_00: And finally, Jesus says something surprising.
SPEAKER_00: Stop holding on to me.
SPEAKER_00: Now he's not rejecting her affection, he's teaching her that their relationship is about to change.
SPEAKER_00: She can no longer cling to Jesus as she had known him before.
SPEAKER_00: She must now become his missionary.
SPEAKER_00: She is sent to announce the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: Every authentic encounter with Christ leads to mission.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot truly meet the risen Lord and keep him to ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: And perhaps that's the most beautiful lesson Mary Magdalene teaches us.
SPEAKER_00: She sought Jesus when it was still dark.
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what we heard in the first reading from the Song of Songs.
SPEAKER_00: I sought him whom my heart loves.
SPEAKER_00: That longing runs through both readings.
SPEAKER_00: Mary sought him through tears.
SPEAKER_00: She sought him through confusion.
SPEAKER_00: She sought him when she did not understand what God was doing.
SPEAKER_00: And because she kept seeking him over and over, she found him.
SPEAKER_00: Or perhaps it's better to say he found her.
SPEAKER_00: There are moments when our own lives feel like that Easter morning.
SPEAKER_00: We pray, but God seems silent.
SPEAKER_00: We search, but we can't find him.
SPEAKER_00: We stand before the tomb of disappointment, of grief, illness, or uncertainty, and the temptation is to walk away.
SPEAKER_00: Mary Magdalene teaches us to stay.
SPEAKER_00: Stay near the Lord, stay in prayer, stay at the foot of the cross, stay even when it's still dark, because the Lord who called Mary by name is still calling each and every one of us.
SPEAKER_00: And when we learn to recognize his voice, we too will be able to say with complete conviction the greatest sentence a Christian has ever spoken I have seen the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.