“I have seen the Lord!”
July 22, 2024
St. Mary Magdalene
Dear Family of Mary!
I love St. Mary Magdalene! She represents all of us who have suffered and sinned in our lives, and who really need a Savior!! Jesus had looked at her with love, and accepted her, so purely and with such compassion. She wept at His tomb because He was all to her. We can stand there with her, completely understanding her grief at His terrible death. Let St. John tell us the story again!!
John 20: 1-2, 11-18
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” … But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rab-boni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for 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.”
Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:1-2 and 11-18, RSV-CE)
Having encountered the Risen Jesus, Mary went immediately to tell the disciples “I have seen the Lord!” She who was so desolate, became the carrier of the Good News! Jesus is alive! I have seen Him! This is what it means to be a witness! We must witness this very same Good News to all we meet!
Our Lady has asked us to be just such witnesses in her messages. Let her words sink into your hearts and become witnesses like Mary Magdalene:
April 25, 2019 “Dear children! This is a time of grace, a time of mercy for each of you. Little children, do not permit that the wind of hatred and peacelessness rule in you and around you. You, little children, are called to be love and prayer. The devil wants peacelessness and disorder, but you, little children, be the joy of the risen Jesus who died and resurrected for each of you. He conquered death to give you life, eternal life. Therefore, little children, witness and be proud that you have resurrected in Him. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
April 25, 2020 “Dear children! May this time be an incentive for personal conversion for you. Pray, little children, in solitude, to the Holy Spirit to strengthen you in faith and trust in God, that you may be worthy witnesses of the love which God bestows upon you through my presence. Little children, do not permit trials to harden your heart and for prayer to be like a desert. Be a reflection of God’s love and witness the Risen Jesus by your lives. I am with you and I love all of you with my motherly love. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
We must witness, but our witness must come from our own personal experience of the Risen Jesus! We can’t make it up! We need to reflect and pray in order to encounter the Risen Lord at the door of the tomb of our heart, asking each one of us, “Why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Then we will recognize Him, and forever be changed. He is alive! He loves me! I have a Savior who can conquer death! This is the Good News!
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Cathy Nolan
(c)Mary TV. TV
