Homily Easter (B) Easter Tuesday - Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles

Core Message:

FOR THE MIND: What do I want them to KNOW?

· Now that Christ has died and risen, there is a new way to commune with him: FAITH.

· Mary has tasted his Mercy and received his Love, and this Encounter with the Living Christ transfigures her into a credible witness who can effectively bear the Good News of Christ’s victory

FOR THE HEART: What do I want them to FEEL?

· JOY because my Jesus is risen from the dead

· JOY because he who conquered my sin wants to conquer my sorrow

Homily

Intro

· The beauty of this Gospel is exquisite.

· Pope Francis made July 22 the FEAST of St. Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene is called “the Apostle to the Apostles”

· Quintessential apostle: she announces the Resurrection. “I have seen him.”

Mary Magdalene moves from sorrow to ecstasy in short time

· In the depth of her sadness, joy is only a baby step away

· God can redeem our story too, in the same way.

Mary Magdalene had 7 demons (cf. Mark 16:9)

· Was she a prostitute?

· Some Fathers thought so, but we don’t know, and it’s probably unfair to make this association

· But seven demons … that’s a dark place. (cf. Gregory – 7 symbolizes universality)

In Luke 7, a sinful woman anoints the feet of Jesus

· She loved much BECAUSE her many sins had been forgiven.

· Sins aren’t an obstacle to sanctity so long as there is repentance.

· In fact, they are the occasion for an intimate encounter.

Mary has tasted his Mercy and received his Love, and this Encounter with the Living Christ transfigures her into a credible witness who can effectively bear the Good News of Christ’s victory

· She could shout I know that MY Redeemer lives (Job 19:25)

· Only love is credible.

She witnessed 1) death 2) resurrection.

· This made her qualified to bear witness to the resurrection.

Women weren’t accepted to bear testimony in the court of law.

· The account must be true, for no one would make this up.

Jesus chose Mary Magdalene to be Apostle to the Apostles

Fra Angelico shows Jesus giving Mary the stiff arm:

· Noli me tangere.

· Bad translation in iBreviary: Don’t touch me!

Translation of the liturgy

· Do not hold on to me (NRSV). Okay.

· Better: Don’t cling to me (ESV). Stop holding on to me (NAB).

Two kinds of imperative

· Aorist Imperative versus Present Imperative

· They did embrace, but she needed to learn to let go and reach Christ by faith.

Now, there is a new way of seeing me… through spiritual eyes.

· “Do not approach Me as you did before, for matters are not in the same state, nor shall I be with you in the same way from now on” (St. John Chrysostom).

The Eucharist king shows himself in glory

· May we have eyes to see him!

· May he bring us out of our sin, slavery, and sorrow … and into his joy.

I am going to my father and your father … My + Your = Our

· But God isn’t Jesus’ father in the same way that God is Mary’s father.

· Jesus is son by nature; We are sons by grace.

· Christ is the first fruits. We are the harvest.

· We follow after and share in his life. Mary shares too.

In this Eucharist

· may we have eyes to see him

· may we respond with faith and joy

· may we tell our brothers of the risen Jesus we have seen

Readings

Tuesday, April 3, 2018 | Easter

Easter Tuesday

Years ABC | Roman Missal | Lectionary

First Reading Acts 2:36–41

Response Psalm 33:5b

Psalm Psalm 33:4–5, 18–20, 22

Gospel Acclamation Psalm 118:24

Gospel John 20:11–18

Index of Readings

262. Tuesday

FIRST READING

Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ.

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles (2:36–41)

On the day of Pentecost, Peter said to the Jewish people,

“Let the whole house of Israel know for certain

that God has made him both Lord and Christ,

this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart,

and they asked Peter and the other Apostles,

“What are we to do, my brothers?”

Peter said to them,

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you,

in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins;

and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For the promise is made to you and to your children

and to all those far off,

whomever the Lord our God will call.”

He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them,

“Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”

Those who accepted his message were baptized,

and about three thousand persons were added that day.

The word of the Lord.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (33:4–5, 18–19, 20 and 22)

℟.(5b) The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

or:

℟.Alleluia.

Upright is the word of the Lord,

and all his works are trustworthy.

He loves justice and right;

of the kindness of the Lord the earth is full.

℟.The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

or:

℟.Alleluia.

See, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him,

upon those who hope for his kindness,

To deliver them from death

and preserve them in spite of famine.

℟.The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

or:

℟.Alleluia.

Our soul waits for the Lord,

who is our help and our shield.

May your kindness, O Lord, be upon us

who have put our hope in you.

℟.The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

or:

℟.Alleluia.

ALLELUIA (Psalm 118:24)

℟.Alleluia, alleluia.

This is the day the Lord has made;

let us be glad and rejoice in it.

℟.Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

I have seen the Lord, and he said these things to me.

+ A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (20:11–18)

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.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Roman Missal

TUESDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER

Entrance Antiphon [Cf. Sir 15:3–4]

He gave them the water of wisdom to drink;

it will be made strong in them and will not be moved;

it will raise them up for ever, alleluia.

The Gloria in excelsis (Glory to God in the highest) is said.

Collect

O God, who have bestowed on us paschal remedies,

endow your people with heavenly gifts,

so that, possessed of perfect freedom,

they may rejoice in heaven

over what gladdens them now on earth.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Prayer over the Offerings

Accept in compassion, Lord, we pray,

the offerings of your family,

that under your protective care

they may never lose what they have received,

but attain the gifts that are eternal.

Through Christ our Lord.

Preface I of Easter, p. 558.

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation,

at all times to acclaim you, O Lord,

but (on this night / on this day / in this time) above all

to laud you yet more gloriously,

when Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.

For he is the true Lamb

who has taken away the sins of the world;

by dying he has destroyed our death,

and by rising, restored our life.

Therefore, overcome with paschal joy,

every land, every people exults in your praise

and even the heavenly Powers, with the angelic hosts,

sing together the unending hymn of your glory,

as they acclaim:

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts …

When the Roman Canon is used, the proper forms of the Communicantes (In communion with those) and Hanc igitur (Therefore, Lord, we pray) are said.

Communion Antiphon [Col 3:1–2]

If you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above,

where Christ is seated at the right hand of God;

mind the things that are above, alleluia.

Prayer after Communion

Hear us, almighty God,

and, as you have bestowed on your family

the perfect grace of Baptism,

so prepare their hearts

for the reward of eternal happiness.

Through Christ our Lord.

CCC

641 Mary Magdalene and the holy women who came to finish anointing the body of Jesus, which had been buried in haste because the Sabbath began on the evening of Good Friday, were the first to encounter the Risen One. Thus the women were the first messengers of Christ’s Resurrection for the apostles themselves.499 They were the next to whom Jesus appears: first Peter, then the Twelve. Peter had been called to strengthen the faith of his brothers, and so sees the Risen One before them; it is on the basis of his testimony that the community exclaims: “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”

654 The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God’s grace, “so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace.527 It brings about filial adoption so that men become Christ’s brethren, as Jesus himself called his disciples after his Resurrection: “Go and tell my brethren.” We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection.

659 “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.” Christ’s body was glorified at the moment of his Resurrection, as proved by the new and supernatural properties it subsequently and permanently enjoys.533 But during the forty days when he eats and drinks familiarly with his disciples and teaches them about the kingdom, his glory remains veiled under the appearance of ordinary humanity. Jesus’ final apparition ends with the irreversible entry of his humanity into divine glory, symbolized by the cloud and by heaven, where he is seated from that time forward at God’s right hand.535 Only in a wholly exceptional and unique way would Jesus show himself to Paul “as to one untimely born,” in a last apparition that established him as an apostle.

660 The veiled character of the glory of the Risen One during this time is intimated in his mysterious words to Mary Magdalene: “I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” This indicates a difference in manifestation between the glory of the risen Christ and that of the Christ exalted to the Father’s right hand, a transition marked by the historical and transcendent event of the Ascension.

Mary Magdalene – Catholic Bible Dictionary

MARY MAGDALENE A follower of Christ, probably from Magdala, near Tiberias, on the west shore of Galilee. Mary Magdalene is identified as being among the women who accompanied Christ and ministered to him (Luke 8:2–3). Jesus had delivered her from the oppression of seven demons (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2). She was present at the foot of Christ’s Cross (Matt 27:56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25) and witnessed the placing of Christ in the tomb (Matt 27:61; Mark 15:47). Notably, she was the first recorded eyewitness of his Resurrection (Matt 28:1–10; Mark 16:1–8; Luke 24:10). John describes in some detail her remarkable experience at Christ’s tomb (John 20:1–18), where she met the risen Lord and carried from him a message to the disciples: “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17).

Tradition often identifies Mary Magdalene either with the sinful woman who anointed Christ’s feet in Luke 7:36–50 or with Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus and Martha mentioned in Luke 10:38–42 and John 11–12. By the sixth century a.d., figures such as Gregory the Great had begun to advance the notion that these two women mentioned in Scripture were one and the same person: Mary Magdalene, who hailed from Bethany and who had become a disciple of Jesus after leading a notoriously sinful life. This tradition explains why Mary Magdalene was revered for centuries as the “model penitent.” From a biblical standpoint, it is not impossible that Mary Magdalene could be identified with either one or both of these two women, but decisive evidence is lacking and so it must remain uncertain.

Mary Magdalene was the subject of many legends in the early Christian centuries and especially during the Middle Ages. Medieval stories about her were numerous, including a popular one, originating in the ninth century, that had her journeying to France with Martha and Lazarus. Her feast day is July 22.

ePriest (link)

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I come before you wanting to grow in my knowledge of you and wanting to grow in love for you. I want to show my love by truly loving others as you have loved me. My falls are many, yet I trust in your grace never to stay down and always to get up. I trust that your mercy will change my heart. So I stand before you, ready to listen to your words and ready to unite myself more perfectly to your most holy will.

Petition: Lord, grant me a love similar to Mary Magdalene’s passionate love for Christ.

1. The Lone Guard: How sad Mary Magdalene must have been as she sat and wept outside our Lord’s tomb! Our Lord had healed her soul; he had cast seven demons from her heart. She had stood at the foot of our Lord’s cross, along with the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John. She had washed our Lord’s feet with her tears; now her tears flow down her face. She’s alone. Or rather she experienced an existential loneliness in the face of the bitter events of Good Friday. But she wasn’t alone. We are never alone in our suffering. Do I suffer alone, or do I open my heart to Our Lord in all my trials?

2. “Mary!” - How Mary Magdalene must have endeared herself to our Lord. The other followers were locked up in their rooms. Yet here was this simple, humble woman, trying to accompany our Lord in the only way she knew. We have much to learn from this beautiful soul. How she moved the heart of Jesus! She’s the first one he appears to after his resurrection. What a gift. What a gift to have the Risen Lord say your name. Despite her anguish she wishes to honor her Lord who she is about to discover is God. In moments of trial and pain, do I remember to honor God with my thoughts, desires, intentions and actions? Does he remain number one for me no matter what I’m going through?

3. The Ultimate Message: As Mary Magdalene touched our Lord’s heart, he would now touch hers, and she would become the apostle to the apostles. She’s the first one to announce to the world that our Lord has risen from the dead. Jesus is the Lord of life. What was moving through her heart as she hurried towards the apostles? Let’s ask Christ for that gift – to have the same zeal as Mary Magdalene did as she went to proclaim that she had met the Risen Lord! Am I a witness to the saving message of Our Lord including, or especially, in the midst of great personal suffering?

Conversation with Christ: Jesus, I want to endear myself to you just as Mary Magdalene did at your tomb. Then, fill me with the joy you instilled in her heart on that first Easter morning.

Resolution: Today I will see how I can help at my parish, in imitation of Mary Magdalene’s assistance to our Church 2,000 years ago.