2 Cor 4: 16-18

Therefore, we are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.
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Christ, My Hope has Risen

Mary Magdalene experienced Jesus’ healing power and love when he freed her from seven demons (Luke: ) Nothing else is known about her until Christ’s Resurrection. She is the first to see the empty tomb and the risen Lord. She is also the first to bear witness to the Resurrection when Jesus sends her to tell the disciples.

At the tomb, she finds it open with two angels inside who ask, “Why are you weeping.” Jesus asks her the same question, though she thinks this person is the gardener. When He speaks her name she desperately clings to Him (John 20:17). Mary’s tears reveal the depth of her love for Jesus.


Pope Benedict XVI:

Every Christian relives the experience of Mary Magdalene. It involves an encounter which changes our lives: the encounter with a unique Man who lets us experience all God’s goodness and truth, who frees us from evil not in a superficial and fleeting way, but sets us free radically, heals us completely and restores our dignity. This is why Mary Magdalene calls Jesus “my hope”: he was the one who allowed her to be reborn, who gave her a new future, a life of goodness and freedom from evil. “Christ my hope” means that all my yearnings for goodness find in him a real possibility of fulfilment: with him I can hope for a life that is good, full and eternal, for God himself has drawn near to us, even sharing our humanity. (Easter Message April 8, 2012)

Jesus asks the same question to us. “Why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” We long for God, hunger for love, and suffer loss and pain. We are sometimes burdened by failures, wondering where Jesus is, and perhaps sometimes see only an empty tomb in our soul rather than a temple where the Holy Spirit lives.

Mary Magdalene’s Saviour dried her tears, and so will He dry ours. The Book of Sirach tells us: “Study the generations long past and understand; has anyone hoped in the Lord and been disappointed?”(Sir 2: 10)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church:

“The desire for God is written in the human heart because man is created by God and for God, and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for.” (CCC: 27)

We are driven to seek the living God. He is driven to seek us and persists. Let us persevere in seeking Him. All our yearnings for truth and happiness will find fulfillment in Him. He will come to us who are weak, tempted to wrongdoing, and constantly in need of help and love.

Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, told the Sanhedrin, “There is no salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name in the whole world given to men by which we are to be saved.” (Acts 4: 12)

Knowing him we will cling to him, and cry: “I love you, take my heart, I don’t ever want to lose you.” He will send us to others like he sent Mary Magdalene.


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