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.
-John 20:1-2, 11-18
Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene. In the Gospel of Luke (8:2) Mary is freed from demonic posession. She has an incredible conversion to Christ and becomes the Apostle to the Apostles as the one sent by Jesus Christ at the time of the Resurrection. We too are called to proclaim the good news that Christ has defeated death and has brought us to new life!
Mary Magdalene within art is depicted with a skull as a symbol of meditation on death. Throughout the Christian life we often have to contemplate our own mortality. “Momento Mori”, remember your death. Mary had a deep and real conversion to our Lord. Sin brings death, but Christ brings us freedom. Yet as she is the first mentioned to encounter the risen Lord, she symbolizes hope. This world is not the end but rather a time of preparation to be with God forever in Heaven. How can we continue to find the light of Christ within our life?
