A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint John. Remember, as regard to the Saint Mary Magdalene, there's a great deal of confusion just who she was or how many there were. So you have to keep that in mind when you read these texts. Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away.
So, she ran off to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, that's Saint John, the writer, and said to them, the lord has been taken from the tomb, and we do not know where they have put him. Mary stood weeping beside the tomb. Even as she wept, she stooped to look inside, and there she saw two angels in dazzling robes. One was seated at the head and the other at the foot of the place where Jesus' body had been lain. Woman, they asked her, why are you weeping?
Mary answered, because the Lord has been taken away, and I don't know where they have put him. She had no sooner said this than she turned around and caught sight of Jesus himself standing there, but she did not know him. Woman, he asked her, why are you weeping? Who is it you are looking for? Mary Magdalene supposed he was the gardener, so she said to him, sir, if you are the one who carried him off, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him away.
Jesus then said to her, Mary. She turned to him and said in Hebrew, rabboni, meaning teacher. Jesus then said, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the father. Rather, go to my brothers and tell them, I am ascending to my father and to your father, to my god, and to your god. Mary Magdalene then went to the disciples and said, I have seen the lord.
Then, she reported what he had said to her and this is the gospel, the good news of the lord. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, amen. It's easy to see what the authors, by that, I mean, the editors or the creators of these texts that we read at the masses, what Magdalene they were thinking of. Notice they did not use the text of the Magdalene who came to Jesus taken in adultery or whatever. The text today emphasizes Mary Magdalene at the tomb of Jesus, the resurrection of our lord.
And let me tell you, it's very mysterious. Why didn't she recognize Jesus right off? Why did she recognize him only when he said Mary? What what did he what did he look like? He mustn't look like himself.
But she recognized him in his calling her by name. Now another thing where so that the emphasis here is upon the broken tomb, the risen Christ, and the mysterious way Christ appeared to Mary, the first one who came to the tomb. Now I just don't know what what they wanted us to get out of this because you can get many things out of it. Many things. Because first of all, who is this Mary Magdalene?
Is she the the woman that that Christ separated from, I don't know how many devils or what? Is she the woman who came and bathed his feet with ointment and and dried them with her hair? I I don't know. But the one of the most mysterious things about this, and I think we can take it to heart, is that she didn't recognize Jesus. And this happened, you see, again, after the resurrection on the road to Emma House.
The disciples didn't recognize Jesus except in the breaking of bread. What was so special about the way he broke bread? Here they walked along with him for hours. It's not a long walk, but it's a good walk from Emmaus to Jerusalem. They walked along with him for hours.
They heard him talking. He expound to them the whole idea of why Christ had to suffer and die and rise from the dead, and yet they didn't recognize him. They recognized him only in the breaking of the bread. Well, let me ask you. What is more common than the breaking of bread?
Remember, in those days and in still in many parts of Europe and maybe in The United States, we break bread. We don't cut it up. At fancy dinners, you know, you're served one of these little rolls that when you break it, the crust goes all over the heavens. So what's it was the commonest thing you could think of was the breaking of bread, and yet they recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread. What is more commonplace than for any of us to be called by our first first name?
That is by the people who have a certain amount of respect for us at the moment. What is more common than that? And yet of all things, Mary recognized Jesus when he said Mary. Now I think without being too farfetched, there's a real message here for us because if there's one thing I think we do not appreciate, by that I mean have a gut reaction to the presence of god in our lives through the presence in the Eucharist of Jesus Christ. I just read a little article, just a tiny little thing from I guess it was in New York Times of a an American, very recently, was on a train and and they crossed the Ganges River over there in India.
His seatmate, who was a very distinguished looking gentleman, as they were about to begin the crossing of the river, he folded his hands and went into into deep thought. You you know the get the place of the Ganges River in Hindu religion. But what the man would he asked him afterwards, and the man was saying that he was very much aware of the presence of god. You see, we today talk so much about religion and religious activities and all the confusion of morals and and all of these things, and you know God can be left out of it. God can be forgotten.
We get so immersed in all this talk about morality, immorality, and and all the things that captivate our interest today and even religion itself, and we can forget god. Yeah. We can do it. Now the point I wanna make is very simple. It's the recognition of god in the simplest things of life.
You know, you can't use this expression anywhere more, but it used to be that god was discovered in foxholes. Well, that word doesn't mean much to people anymore. But plenty of people think of god in crises situations. Plenty of people who never think of him any other time. They say, my god, get me out of this.
But the point of a religious man or woman is having a vital, profound, realistic conception and conviction about god in the simplest things of life. The simplest things of life. It and, of course, it's in the greatest things too. It is not easy to recognize Jesus Christ. It is not easy.
Apparently, it is not. Mary didn't recognize it. The apostles didn't recognize it. Plenty of people didn't recognize it. And some people never gave them a chance to reckon gave themselves a chance to recognize it.
And so I whatever you may take out of this, that's your privilege to take anything you want out of it. The thought that strikes me is the is the recognition of Jesus in the simplest things of life as well as in the most important things of life. What would god have me do? What does he want of me now? Am I am I do I try to avert from time to time about his presence?
Now I've mentioned this many times, and I'm not a laudatoire, tempurist, octave guy. But I went to a Christian Brothers School for about seven years. And the very the first thing that happened in our first meeting of a class was our teacher appointed a moderator. He picked out one of the boys and said, you are going to be the moderator. So he gave them a book and a bell, a little bell, kinda you use on your dinner table.
So we began the class with a prayer. The boy would ring the bell and we'd say the opening prayer. Every class, we had three classes a morning, and we began each class with a prayer. Halfway through the class and half hour, it was the monitor's duty to ring the bell. And he would say, let us recall the presence of god.
Notice, god is there. It's that we have to advert to it, so let us recall the presence of god. We're not creating it. We are simply acknowledging it. And then he would say a prayer in which we would join, and then quite happily or otherwise, we would continue that class.
The same thing happened for the next class. Every single class was that way. This is frankly important because when everything is said and done, when you've done all your reading, all your living, all your sacrificing, all all your praying, when all is said and done, what matters is your relationship to god almighty through his son, Jesus Christ. That's what matters. And let me tell you, in pursuing that, you can forget god and forget Jesus Christ.
You can do it. I can do it. It's very easily done. Some of us are inevitable, so don't be impatient with yourself. But on the other hand, make it a practice from time not only when the going is tough or when you're when you are in desperation.
And when there's nothing else to do, you say, oh, god, help me. Think that you live in the presence of god and that you dangle by a thin thread from his will. In the name of the father, of the son, and holy spirit. Amen.