22 April 2014
Tuesday of the Octave of Easter
Unlike Matthew’s Gospel we read yesterday, John recounts that the Resurrected Jesus’ first apparition was to Mary Magdalene. She thought she was seeing the gardener and it took her a bit of time to recognize him. If that might strike one as strange – like something, maybe, out of a Wodehouse novel? – it is quite appropriate. To see Jesus in everyone we encounter, no matter who, isn’t that a consequence of the Resurrection? Isn’t he present in every person – present there to save him?
Mary certainly knew for whom she was searching and she did not hesitate to ask for help in her search. Isn’t asking others to aid us in our search for the Lord in our life disposing us to find him?
She recognized him when he called her by name. Ever since our baptism he calls each of us by name, and sends us out to others to be witnesses to his Resurrection. Pray for the grace to hear and answer his call.