The WORD in other words (2022) by Fr Franz Gassner SVD – Macau
Tuesday in the Octave of Easter
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Many people are suffering from loneliness and isolation, especially during this time of pandemic. It is good to find ways to express such a situation, feeling of loneliness, failed expectations, lock-down, and barriers, etc. During the pandemic, many people lost close family members and friends, often before their time. Communicating and meeting people is crucial in a time of loss and bereavement according to counselors and psychologists. It is only then that a process of “turning around,” recovering, healing and hope can set in, and windows are opened for newlife and growth.
Mary Magdalene certainly experienced such a situation when Jesus was crucified. But she did not close up on herself but went out to face reality and people. She was willing to take the little steps possible for her, doing little signs that made some sense to her. She went out to the tomb, cried, asked around, and entered into conversations. All these steps opened avenues of hope. And the best was entering into dialogue with the Risen Lord, who was incognito as a gardener.
Encountering him, we are able to re-think (metanoia) many things in our life and world. His love urges us and makes us missionaries, as happened with Mary Magdalene, who becomes a model of faith, hope, and love for all. “In fact this woman, known as the one who loved Christ and who was greatly loved by Christ, and was called a ‘witness of Divine Mercy’ by Saint Gregory the Great and an ‘apostle of the apostles’ by Saint Thomas Aquinas, can now rightly be taken by the faithful as a model of women’s role in the Church.” (Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 3 June 2016, Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Prot. N. 257/16 DECREE).
