Mary Magdalene
“saw Jesus … but did not know it was Jesus.” That was the experience of almost
all those to whom Jesus appeared after his resurrection. Why? Jesus had not
returned to his former life. He had been raised to a new life, beyond death. His appearance was somehow changed. Mary
Magdalene recognized the Lord only when he spoke her
name. The gospel reading does not tell us how she reacted. We can easily infer
this, however, from Jesus’ words: “Stop holding on to me” – or as another and
better translation has it: “Do not cling to me!” Immediately Jesus commands:
“Go to my brothers” with the news of my resurrection.
A young man
considering priesthood told the priest who was helping him with his vocational decision that he had finally
found courage to send in his application for admission to one of the Church’s
religious orders for men. A few days after he received word of his acceptance
into the novitiate, he was driving down the highway when he thought of a girl
he had known. “She’d be the perfect wife for me,” he thought. “Am I crazy,
throwing away that chance for happiness?” He told the priest that he got so upset that he
prayed: “'Lord, you’re going to have to help me.' Immediately the Lord came to me
so strongly that the tears ran down my cheeks, and I had to pull off the road.”
“Johnny,” the
priest told him, “the Lord came to you to strengthen your faith and your decision to serve him as a priest. You must be thankful for that. But don’t try to hold on to
that spiritual experience by running the video over again in your head. That is
spiritual gluttony.”
The priest went on to tell
him about the risen Lord's words to Mary Magdalene: “Do not cling to me,” but go to my brothers with the news of my
resurrection. Every encounter with the Lord is given to us not just for
ourselves, the priest explained, to give us a nice warm spiritual experience inside. Whenever the Lord comes
to us, he sends us to others – his brothers and sisters; yes, and ours too.
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