The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate our experience of love that transcends our time and space.
In the Garden
The reading from the Song of Songs expresses a dream of Love.
* [3:2] The motif of seeking/finding here and elsewhere is used by later Christian and Jewish mystics to speak of the soul’s search for the divine. * [3:4] Whom my soul loves: the fourfold repetition of this phrase in vv. 1–4 highlights the depth of the woman’s emotion and desire. Mother’s house: cf. 8:2; a place of safety and intimacy, one which implicitly signifies approval of the lovers’ relationship.1
Psalm 63 declares comfort and assurance in God’s Presence.
* [Psalm 63] A Psalm expressing the intimate relationship between God and the worshiper. Separated from God (Ps 63:2), the psalmist longs for the divine life given in the Temple (Ps 63:3–6), which is based on a close relationship with God (Ps 63:7–9). May all my enemies be destroyed and God’s true worshipers continue in giving praise (Ps 63:10–11)! * [63:4] For your love is better than life: only here in the Old Testament is anything prized above life—in this case God’s love.2
In the Gospel of John, at the Resurrection, Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene.
* [20:17] Stop holding on to me: see Mt 28:9, where the women take hold of his feet. I have not yet ascended: for John and many of the New Testament writers, the ascension in the theological sense of going to the Father to be glorified took place with the resurrection as one action. This scene in John dramatizes such an understanding, for by Easter night Jesus is glorified and can give the Spirit. Therefore his ascension takes place immediately after he has talked to Mary. In such a view, the ascension after forty days described in Acts 1:1–11 would be simply a termination of earthly appearances or, perhaps better, an introduction to the conferral of the Spirit upon the early church, modeled on Elisha’s being able to have a (double) share in the spirit of Elijah if he saw him being taken up (same verb as ascending) into heaven (2 Kgs 2:9–12). To my Father and your Father, to my God and your God: this echoes Ru 1:16: “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” The Father of Jesus will now become the Father of the disciples because, once ascended, Jesus can give them the Spirit that comes from the Father and they can be reborn as God’s children (Jn 3:5). That is why he calls them my brothers.3
Nicky Santos, S.J. comments that in our moments of grief, perhaps the loss of a loved one, or, having a debilitating disease or illness, or losing our job, our eyes can be blinded by our pain and sorrow. We might fail to see God in our lives, perhaps even feeling that he might have abandoned us. But like Mary, we need to continue to be persistent in our faith, to never give up seeking God.
And, then, lo and behold, like the sheep recognizing the voice of the shepherd, like Mary recognizing the voice that called her name, we become aware of God who never abandoned us, who was and is with us through our pain and sorrow, who rejoices with us in our moments of joy, who strengthens us in our moments of weakness. And, then, like Mary we can say “I have seen the Lord.”4
Don Schwager quotes “The love of Christ inflamed her, “ by Gregory the Great (540-604 AD).
"Mary Magdalene, who had been a sinner in the city (Luke 7:37), loved the Truth and so washed away with her tears the stains of wickedness (Luke 7:47). Her sins had kept her cold, but afterward she burned with an irresistible love... We must consider this woman's state of mind whose great force of love inflamed her. When even the disciples departed from the sepulcher, she did not depart. She looked for him whom she had not found... But it is not enough for a lover to have looked once, because the force of love intensifies the effort of the search. She looked for him a first time and found nothing. She persevered in seeking, and that is why she found him. As her unfulfilled desires increased, they took possession of what they found (Song of Songs 3:1-4)... Holy desires, as I have told you before, increase by delay in their fulfillment. If delay causes them to fail, they were not desires... This was Mary's kind of love as she turned a second time to the sepulcher she had already looked into. Let us see the result of her search, which had been redoubled by the power of love." (excerpt from FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 25)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on the Song of Songs 3:1-4 comments that we all have times when God seems hidden from us—or times when it’s hard to recognize him in our everyday comings and goings. That’s when it’s helpful to follow Mary Magdalene’s lead. She shows us that seeking the Lord is an active endeavour. When we feel far from God, the last thing we should do is just resign ourselves to doing without him. Jesus wants to be found!
So how do you seek the Lord when he seems distant? Mainly by praying persistently. Pray as soon as you wake up each morning. Send up short prayers as you do your work during the day. Carve out some extra time to get to daily Mass. Meditate on Jesus in the Scriptures. Just as Mary Magdalene did, keep searching until you find him again.6
Brian Purfield, a member of the Mount Street Jesuit Centre team, who teaches short courses in theology, notes that Mary Magdalene reminds us that the most powerful tool for spreading the Good News is not knowledge, but experience. There is room for both. Scholarship and learning have provided valuable riches for the faith. But the true disciple does not simply say, ‘I have studied Jesus,’ but like Mary Magdalene, ‘I have seen the Lord.’
Only when Jesus speaks her name does Mary know him. At first she couldn’t recognise him, but Mary knew that distinctive voice: the voice that called her to wholeness when it expelled whatever demons troubled her; the voice that welcomed her into his circle of friends; the voice that told her she was valued in God’s eyes; the voice that answered her or laughed over a meal; the voice that cried out in pain from the cross. Mary knew that voice because it was a voice that had spoken to her in love. Then she knew who it was. Sometimes seeing is not believing; loving is.[v]7
Friar Jude Winkler sees the parallel between the Song of Songs and the Church, personified in Mary Magdalene, searching for Jesus in the Gospel. Through the voice of the Shepherd in the Garden, Mary recognizes Jesus though love does not allow her to restrict His freedom. Friar Jude reminds us that the Lord, Adonai, is the name used in the Shema for God.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces good friend, the life-long peacemaker John Dear. We have this revolutionary commandment: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your countrymen and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons and daughters of your heavenly God. . . .” (Matthew 5:43–45). These are the most radical, political, and revolutionary words ever uttered. They fulfill the vision of nonviolence, of work for justice and disarmament, of universal compassion and unconditional forgiveness, and of trust in the God of peace. Few discuss this commandment, but Dear believes it sums up Christianity. But we’ve done our best to avoid and disobey it.
Why? Because the command to love our enemies goes against everything every nation in the world commands. . . . We ignore this commandment because we do not want to get in trouble for opposing our nation. We are afraid of the consequences. If we love our enemies, perhaps they will think we are naïve and vulnerable and attack us, and if we do not prepare a counterattack, then we fear we will surely be killed. So we go on preparing to kill our enemies. We disobey Jesus, don’t believe God will protect us, obey our nation/state, and continue the ever-descending global spiral into war.8
The experience of Mary Magdalene of love that conquers our fears and limitations is initiated as we respond to the voice of the Good Shepherd in our lives.
References
No comments:
Post a Comment