Thursday, July 22, 2021

Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene

(II Corinthians 5: 14-17; John 20:1-2.11-18)

A man writes of his former aversion to jigsaw puzzles.  He thought of them as vain pursuits.  It seemed to him that too much time was being wasted on the amorphous background.  In contrast relatively little time was spent piecing together the central images.  Then watching his daughter one day working on a puzzle, he had an inspiration.  The jigsaw puzzle, he thought, is like God’s creation of human beings.  Everyone has their importance.  Just as without the background the central figures would lose perspective, so it is with God’s children.  Everyone is a piece of the puzzle that adds to the panorama.  For the writer it was a new way of seeing.  It is like Mary’s inspiration in today’s gospel and Paul’s revelation in the first reading.

Paul writes of how he sees no one according to the flesh anymore but according to the Spirit.  He means that he regards no one as a rival or an enemy any longer.  Gifted with the Holy Spirit, Paul can see in others a true image of God to be respected, even loved.  Mary Magdalene comes to a similar realization as she discerns Jesus in one who looks like the gardener.  Graced with the Spirit, she sees that Jesus has risen from the dead.

Grace enables us to see in a new way.  It allows us to recognize a sister or brother in the homeless and even in the arrogant.  It bids us to help the stranger and to be patient with critics.  Grace is more than heightened consciousness.  It actually moves us interiorly to love without worry or regret.  It changes our lives as it did for both Paul and the Magdalene.