22nd July, 2013:
Feast of Mary Magdalene, the first Missionary of the Risen Lord!
The Lord will fight for you and you have only to be still! (Ex 14:14) What powerful words from the first reading today! Being still is not a very easy thing to do. We want to be in control of everything in our life and our situation. Anything little that goes a bit out of our plan, however limited that plan be, we are anxious, frustrated or lost. Being Still is a profound attitude...It is in being still, we can know the Lord (Ps 46:10). Being Still is an act of faith, a total self surrender to the Lord, allowing the Lord to act. Being Still is an act of hope, a childlike confidence that God is in-charge and nothing will go wrong, however dark the given moment may be. Being Still is an act of perseverance, the strength of endurance, that quality which made Mary Magdalene so special in the history of Faith. When we read the Gospel of St.John, chapter 20, we see, that the apostles Peter and John came to the tomb, they saw, they felt that something great is happening and went back to where they stayed. But Mary Magdalene, stood there, by the tomb; she remained still; she would not leave; her perseverance was great; her endurance was tremendous; her capacity to be still was praiseworthy and the Lord rewards her 'being still'. The Risen Lord appears to her as the first one among the disciples to see the Risen Lord and the one to carry the great message to the rest of them... the first missionary of the Risen Lord!