Dearest Goddaughter (LTR-92) - Holy Longing

Dearest Goddaughter,

Today is the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene was at the foot of the Cross when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died. In today's Gospel, she sits outside the empty tomb of our Lord and weeps. In these two beautiful moments in the life of Mary Magdalene, we see a woman is loves Jesus so much and is so devoted to him. She longs for his presence in her life. Our Lord fulfills this deep yearning in her heart, this holy desire when he not only appears to her, but he calls her by name: "Mary!"

In Mary Magdalene, we learn to persevere in faith even when things are seemingly hopeless. In those moments of difficulties and challenges in our lives, may we not give up on Jesus and lose heart so quickly, as Simon Peter and John did, but desire Jesus' loving presence in our lives even more than ever before. Like Mary Magdalene, let us sit and pray, perhaps even weep, for our holy desire for Christ.

Let us seek Jesus in the same way a lover seeks like one they love, as we read in today's first reading from Song of Songs:

Him whom my heart loves.

I sought him but I did not find him.

The watchmen came upon me,

as they made their rounds of the city:

Have you seen him whom my heart loves?

I had hardly left them

when I found him whom my heart loves.

If we do, then we will find that Jesus is there with us in the daily struggles of our lives, calling on us by name to himself so that we may have hope.

Love,

Bỏ Phúc

P.S. These are the readings for the day: SGS 3:1-4B (or 2 COR 5:14-17) and Jn 20:1-2, 11-18 (see below).

. . .

On the first day of the week,

Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning,

while it was still dark,

and saw the stone removed from the tomb.

So she ran and went to Simon Peter

and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,

"They have taken the Lord from the tomb,

and we don't know where they put him."

Mary 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 Magdalene went and announced to the disciples,

"I have seen the Lord,"

and then reported what he told her.