Gospel
Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping.
And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb
and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet
where the Body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “They have taken my Lord,
and I don’t know where they laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there,
but did not know it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?”
She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
“Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,”
which means Teacher.
Jesus said to her, “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 went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and then reported what he had told her.
She was seeking Jesus when she came that day.
Standing before angel’s is usually of itself an experience that brings men to their knees. But she was seeking Jesus and was brave enough to ask them where he was. For she knew him already as her Lord. Even though she had not yet seen the resurrection. She knew Jesus was the Messiah. The Son of God.
Then he spoke to her. There was a moment she didn’t recognize him.
But when Jesus called her name.. the name of the one seeking him, she was able to see who he was.
This is the same for us too. We seek God. All of us who read scripture and find places like this where others are writing about Jesus. It’s because we seek him. And we can know about him. We can even know he is the Son of God.
But there will be a moment when he speaks our name and it will change everything. For we will in that moment see a glimpse of the love he has for us, and all our doubts and hesitations, all our wondering and hoping comes to fruition. For we see and feel and know the love Jesus has for us… for us, as an individual. You and me.
And we will let go of all else we may have been holding on to.
The disciples had the same experience when he met them. The saints too heard their name coming from Jesus Christ and the course of their life was set.
We will all one day, if not already, hear that calling from Jesus and it will bring certainty and strengthen our conviction.
The message today is stay on course. Keeping giving over to Jesus more and more of our heart and life and actions. Read and study his word. Incorporate prayers like the rosary in the morning and evening. Clear away your life of anything tha lt gets in the way, so the spirit can attend to us and be present.
Literally making a way and place for God to be part of our life. Then he will come in a dream or meditation or when we are quiet enough and seeking him without limits. Then we too are called and we find he has always been what our life and purpose was about.
We are his and belong to him.
Others may not see the difference yet but our discipleship has truly begun in earnest. We now are living for Jesus Christ and have cast off the old life for a life in the kingdom of God.
Deacon Tony Pynes 
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