Author: WebDept ParishAdmin

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Mary Magdalene, the apostle to the Apostles. As St. John Paul II shared, she is “the first eyewitness of the Risen Christ.” On the first day of the week, in the early morning, Mary went to the tomb, likely to mourn. This detail of the early morning hints to me that Mary had been thinking about Jesus all night. Visiting his tomb was her first priority of the day. What she encountered shocked her. 

As she wept, she bent over into the tomb. And encountered two angels in white “sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been” (Jn 20:12). The angels spoke to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” 

The angels and their location is significant. Angels flanking a structure in the Old Testament indicated a border, or separation, between Man and the Divine. For example, in Genesis, the cherubim guarded the way to the tree of Life after the fall of Adam (see Gn 3:24). Beginning in Exodus 25, the Ark of the Covenant, the place where God again began to dwell among his people Israel, was flanked on the exterior with two cherubim: “Make two cherubim of beaten gold for the two ends of the cover” of the Ark of the Covenant (Ex 25:18). 

Look closely at today’s Gospel, and you’ll see that the angels are not on guard outside the tomb as they were when they marked the borders of the Garden and the Ark of the Covenant. They are not marking a border at all. Instead, today’s angels are heralds for the resurrected Lord. 

The Incarnation united the very presence of God with humanity. Situated inside the tomb, flanking the place where the Incarnation was actually laid, these angels seem to beckon Mary into God’s presence. 

The angels did not flank a border; they flanked a presence – the presence of the Lord. In her grief, Mary did not yet understand that Jesus had risen, which is why she asked Jesus himself, “Where have you taken my Lord?” 

Yet as he spoke her name, Mary recognized the resurrected Jesus. I like to imagine that Mary greeted Jesus with a huge bear hug since he tells her “Stop holding on to me.” That Easter morning, Mary was the first one to witness that the communion between Man and Divine was restored through the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and that humanity was now able to participate in salvation.   

Mary’s testimony to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” inspired the disciples to run to the tomb to see for themselves. Mary is a brave and inspirational leader in our Church. She was steadfast in her faith in Jesus even in times of sorrow and confusion. She recognized the angels and was not afraid to question them. She was the first to proclaim the resurrection to others with zeal. It’s fitting then that today we honor Mary Magdalene with a feast that is equivalent to the way in which we honor the Apostles, because she was the apostle to the Apostles.  

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“I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved me as a bride, Following me in the desert, in a land unsown” (Jer. 2:2). As our readings begin, the Lord reminisces about the love His people once had for Him. It is the same devotion which characterizes our Psalm: “With you is the fountain of life, and in your light we see light” (Ps. 36:10).

The Israelites were convinced that God knew what He was doing when He led them out of Egypt through a wasteland, into a land they had never seen. Although they wanted to escape their grueling work under Pharaoh, that alone might not have convinced them to upend their lives and walk through uncharted and dangerous territory. Through the ten plagues and Moses’ mediation, God reminded His people that He was worthy of their devotion. The Israelites trusted that He would give them life and light, and gave Him praise and honor.

This devotion was lost upon entrance into the Promised Land: “You entered and defiled my land, you made my heritage loathsome. . . . The prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after useless idols” (Jer. 21:7–8). At the time of Jesus, they still had not completely regained this devotion: “They have closed their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted and I heal them.” (Matt. 13:13, 15). Our Lord’s reference to Isaiah implies that they were even so hardhearted as to refuse God’s healing.

Christ provides the key for understanding this tragic decline in the faith of the chosen people: “To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away” (Matt. 13:12). They had kept their hearts from God: “They have forsaken me, the source of living waters; They have dug for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water” (Jer. 2:13). As they continued to doubt, their devotion became more and more disingenuous, and their relationship with God became less and less effective. God did not so much draw back from them, “taking away,” as their lack of devotion did, taking away the blessings which accompany a connection to God.

We can apply this to ourselves: if we remain devoted to God, steadfast in prayer and firm in faith, the Lord will bless us with a deeper relationship with Himself and the abundant blessings which flow forth from such a relationship. We see this in various Old and New Testament figures who trust in the Lord alone and are rewarded. If our devotion fails and we are slack in prayer, doubting God’s presence or providence, we will lose our connection to Him and find ourselves lost and helpless without His grace. Let us always strive to rely on God and acknowledge His sovereignty over all things, for with Him is the fountain of life.

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“Recuerdo la devoción de tu juventud, cómo me amaste como a una novia, siguiéndome en el desierto, en tierra no sembrada” (Jeremías 2:2). Al comenzar nuestras lecturas, el Señor recuerda el amor que Su pueblo una vez tuvo por Él. Es la misma devoción que caracteriza nuestro Salmo: “En ti está la fuente de la vida, y en tu luz vemos la luz” (Sal 36,10).

Los israelitas estaban convencidos de que Dios sabía lo que estaba haciendo cuando los sacó de Egipto a través de un desierto, a una tierra que nunca habían visto. Aunque querían escapar de su trabajo agotador bajo Faraón, eso por sí solo podría no haberlos convencido de cambiar sus vidas y caminar por un territorio desconocido y peligroso. A través de las diez plagas y la mediación de Moisés, Dios le recordó a Su pueblo que Él era digno de su devoción. Los israelitas confiaron en que Él les daría vida y luz, y le dieron alabanza y honra.

Esta devoción se perdió al entrar en la Tierra Prometida: “Entrasteis y contaminasteis mi tierra, abominásteis mi heredad. . . . Los profetas profetizaron por Baal, y fueron tras ídolos inútiles” (Jeremías 21:7–8). En tiempos de Jesús, todavía no habían recuperado esta devoción: “Han cerrado los ojos para que no vean con los ojos y no oigan con los oídos para poder entender con el corazón y convertirse para que yo los sane”. (Mateo 13:13, 15). La referencia de nuestro Señor a Isaías implica que eran tan duros de corazón como para rechazar la sanidad de Dios.

Cristo da la clave para comprender este trágico disminución de la fe del pueblo elegido: “Al que tiene, se le dará más y se enriquecerá; al que no tiene, aun lo que tiene se le quitará” (Mateo 13:12). Habían apartado sus corazones de Dios: “Me han abandonado, fuente de aguas vivas; Se han cavado cisternas, cisternas rotas que no retienen agua” (Jeremías 2:13). A medida que continuaron dudando, su devoción se volvió cada vez más falsa y su relación con Dios se volvió cada vez menos efectiva. Dios no se apartó tanto de ellos, “quitando”, como lo hizo su falta de devoción, quitándoles las bendiciones que acompañan una conexión con Dios.

Podemos aplicar esto a nosotros mismos: si permanecemos devotos a Dios, constantes en la oración y firmes en la fe, el Señor nos bendecirá con una relación más profunda con Él mismo y con las abundantes bendiciones que emanan de tal relación. Vemos esto en varias figuras del Antiguo y Nuevo Testamento que confían solo en el Señor y son recompensados. Si nuestra devoción falla y somos negligentes en la oración, dudando de la presencia o providencia de Dios, perderemos nuestra conexión con Él y nos encontraremos perdidos e indefensos sin Su gracia. Esforcémonos siempre por confiar en Dios y reconocer Su soberanía sobre todas las cosas, porque en Él está la fuente de la vida.

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Jesus goes down by the sea. And the large crowd is so eager to be near him and hear his words that he is forced to get into a boat and go a little way out to sea. He could say anything right now, command anything– storm some city, revolt against the Romans, start their own community – and most of them would do it! But Jesus does not use his authority to overthrow anything or bully anyone; instead, through the parable of the sower, he invites those who hear him to examine and change their own hearts.

Are our own hearts hardened pathways? Do we show up to hear God’s word, but that word does not resonate in us because our hearts have been allowed to harden in the same old desires and habits that keep beating their way through them? Any seed tossed on this surface just bounces around a bit and is taken away by the enemies of our soul.

Are they filled with rocky patches? Do we hear the word of God and it begins to echo within us, and we even experience the joy of recognizing what is Good and True and Beautiful? But then, because we have not allowed our heart to be softened and furrowed by vulnerability and suffering (but instead, perhaps, hardened by these things), this joy of Truth cannot be sustained within us against the demands of our ego, the culture, or temptation.

Are they strangled by brambles? Do we hear God’s word and experience the desire to conform our lives to it, but only so far? Do we, though called to the better part, give in to the lesser? The word is often welcomed up to the point at which we are called to let go of worldly pleasure, power, popularity, prestige, or prosperity (the “5 P’s,” as I call them); we have then put a limit on God’s action in our lives.

Or are our hearts rich soil? Have we allowed our hearts to be prepared by grace so that, like Mary’s, they are fertile earth in which the Word of God can be planted and come to fruition and yield a great harvest? She heard the word of God, welcomed it, said YES, and never wavered, all the way to the Cross and beyond. This is what Jesus calls us to do!

The Kingdom requires our freely given yes. Only if our hearts are rich soil and the seed can be nurtured there without limits or conditions can we truly be fruitful branches on the True Vine. Without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). But if we allow ourselves to be prepared by the Sower, if we remain in Him and He remains in us, he can bring forth His fruit in us, “a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.” 

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Jesús baja al mar. Y la gran multitud tiene tantas ganas de estar cerca de él y escuchar sus palabras que tiene que subir a un bote y adentrarse un poco al mar. Podía decir cualquier cosa en este momento, ordenar cualquier cosa: asaltar una ciudad, rebelarse contra los romanos, comenzar su propia comunidad, ¡y la mayoría de ellos lo harían! Pero Jesús no utiliza su autoridad para derribar nada o intimidar a nadie; en cambio, a través de la parábola del sembrador, invita a quienes lo escuchan a examinar y cambiar su propio corazón.

¿Nuestros propios corazones son caminos endurecidos? ¿Nos presentamos para escuchar la palabra de Dios, pero esa palabra no resuena dentro de nosotros porque hemos permitido que nuestros corazones se endurezcan en los mismos deseos y hábitos que las siguen derrotando? Cualquier semilla arrojada sobre esta superficie rebota un poco y es arrebatada por los enemigos de nuestra alma.

¿Están llenos de áreas rocosos? ¿Escuchamos la palabra de Dios y comienza a resonar dentro de nosotros, y hasta experimentamos la alegría de reconocer lo que es Bueno y Verdadero y Bello? Pero después, debido a que no hemos permitido que nuestro corazón se ablande y surque por la vulnerabilidad y el sufrimiento (sino, tal vez, endurecido por estas cosas), esta alegría de la Verdad no puede ser sostenida en nosotros contra las exigencias de nuestro ego, la cultura, o la tentación.

¿Están estranguladas por las zarzas? ¿Escuchamos la palabra de Dios y experimentamos el deseo de conformar nuestra vida a ella, pero solo hasta cierto punto? Aunque somos llamados a la mejor parte, ¿nos rendimos a la menor? Con frecuencia la palabra es bienvenida hasta el punto en que somos llamados a dejar de lado el placer, el poder, la popularidad, el prestigio o la prosperidad mundanos (yo las llamo las “5 P’s”); entonces hemos puesto un límite a la acción de Dios en nuestras vidas.

¿O nuestros corazones son tierra fértil? ¿Hemos dejado que nuestros corazones sean preparados por la gracia para que, como el de María, sean tierra fértil en la que la Palabra de Dios pueda ser plantada y fructificar y dar una gran cosecha? Ella escuchó la palabra de Dios, la acogió, dijo SÍ, y nunca vaciló, hasta la Cruz y más allá. ¡Esto es lo que Jesús nos llama a hacer!

El Reino exige nuestro sí dado gratuitamente. Solo si nuestros corazones son tierra fértil y la semilla puede ser nutrido allí sin límites ni condiciones, podemos ser verdaderamente ramas fructíferas en la Vid Verdadera. Sin Él nada podemos hacer (Juan 15:5). Pero si nos dejamos preparar por el Sembrador, si permanecemos en Él y Él permanece en nosotros, Él puede dar en nosotros Su fruto, “al ciento, al sesenta o al treinta por uno”.

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