Tuesday 22 July 2025 - I have seen the Lord

Tuesday 22 July 2025

Today is Tuesday the 22nd of July, the feast of Mary Magdalene, in the 16th week of Ordinary Time. Steffany Gretzinger sings, ‘I Love You Lord’. As we prepare to pray with Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the Risen Jesus today, place yourself now in the garden of the resurrection... what catches your attention? The flowers? Any wildlife near you? The stone of the tomb? I love You, Lord And I lift my voice To worship You Oh, my soul rejoice Take joy, my King In what You hear May it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear Today's reading is from the Gospel of John. This happy Feast of Mary Magdalene gives us permission to touch again the joy of the risen Christ through the hands of one who loved him in so many ways. We will hear the gospel account of Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene. We’ll hear it only once and then enter into the scene imaginatively. As you listen to the story being told, you may already find yourself entering the scene with Mary . . . John 20:1-2, 11-18 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed 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. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ 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, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ‘Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.  Spend a moment in each of these scenes, and if you need longer, you can press pause and take your time, or go back to any part of this later . . . Jesus has died. See Mary making her way to the tomb to anoint his body . . . On arrival the tomb is empty, and his body gone . . . Later she is weeping at the tomb . . . Turn your attention to Jesus who sees her there . . . he knows what he is going to do . . . how does he look at her? . . . how does he speak these words? “Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?” . . . She thinks he’s the gardener until he says her name, “Mary” . . . now watch and what happens between them . . . . . . No doubt she would like this to go on a lot longer, but Jesus has a task for her . . . she does not have to cling to this way of being with him . . . listen to Jesus then as he sends her on mission . . . and she departs to apostle the Apostles . . . As for you, tarry a while in the garden and let Jesus speak your name? . . . How does he mission you? . . . Go in peace to proclaim the Gospel . . . Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be World without end Amen