Recognise Jesus
She thought it was the gardener and said to him (Gv 20, 15)
On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,“They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.”When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him,“Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going 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 then reported what he told her. (Jn 20, 1-2. 11-18)
Mary Magdalene is thrown into despair by the apparent absence of Jesus in the tomb. Not even the voice of Jesus manages to move her because she could not imagine that He was the very one she was looking for. In reality, when mankind sinks into the painful darkness of despair, they behave initially as Magdalene did with Jesus: they observe but they do not see, they listen but they do not hear, because the spirit is occupied by the self and cannot make room for the Son of God. But when Jesus calls her by name, Mary recognises Him. Let us have some silence in this day for personal prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to help us too, to recognise Jesus when He calls us by name.
