We can imitate St. Mary Magdalene by telling others about our encounters with the risen Lord
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Christ is risen!
Liturgically, the Church pushes the “pause” button on the normal flow of time this week. Every day is treated as Easter Sunday, and every day’s readings recount some appearance of the risen Jesus to His disciples.
A good theme for our reflection this week might be to imitate Mary Magdalene! In particular, the point I have in mind is summed up in this verse: “Mary went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’” (John 20:18).
In a similar vein, Peter says: “God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses” (Acts 2:32).
And, similarly, the risen Jesus tells the disciples: “You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:48).
The emphasis on giving witness to what we have seen raises important points for our consideration.
First, our capacity to imitate Mary Magdalene raises a searching question: How have I seen the risen Jesus? Unless we can give a clear answer to that question, we have no testimony to give! Yes, we see Him in the Eucharist. Yes, we meet Him in the Scriptures. Yes, we see Him in the poor. But we have to reflect on those truths, because it’s not the image of “meeting Jesus” we usually expect. But if we think carefully about those truths, then we can say with conviction: “I have seen the Lord.”
Second, as it did for the early apostles, the world gives us plenty of occasions for giving our testimony. We just have to be on the lookout for those occasions! The Sanhedrin asks Peter: “By what power or by what name have you done this?” Peter sees his opening and gives his testimony. We don’t need to beat people over the head with the truth! But we can get better at sensing when the world is giving us an opening and how to give a simple witness to what we have seen.
Third, remember that the goodness of giving witness does not depend on success in convincing people to follow Jesus! The closing Gospel for the week, from Mark 16, gives us an important lesson. Mary told the disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead, and they didn’t believe her. Likewise, the disciples on the road to Emmaus returned and told the others how they had met Jesus; the other disciples didn’t believe them. Finally, Jesus Himself appeared and rebuked the disciples for their unbelief.
What’s the lesson? That our task is not to win. Our task is to give testimony to what we have seen. Then we can let Jesus do the rest of the work. As St. Paul says: we can plant and water, but it’s God who gives the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6).
Happy Easter. He is risen, indeed!
