True Love Perseveres-HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE 15TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (FEAST OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE 22ND JULY 2023

True Love Perseveres-HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE 15TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (FEAST OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE 22ND JULY 2023

Song of Solomon 3:1-4ab; Ps.63; John 20:1-2, 11-18

True Love Perseveres

There is this popular saying that: in prosperity your friends know you but in adversity you know your friends. Today, we celebrate the person of Mary Magdalene, one that Jesus knew as a friend in his time of “adversity”. The death of Jesus meant “the end of the road” for all his followers. This is because, no one anticipated His Resurrection, even though he had indirectly spoken about it. Yet, in this seemingly hopelessness, Mary Magdalene will still stay with the Lord in the grave. What a depth of pure love she demonstrated!

In the state of hopelessness and fear as to what will become of Jesus’ followers, Mary Magdalene did not go into hiding or think of embarking on a new course in life. If at all she was disappointed that Jesus died without accomplishing what they expected of him (establishment of a new kingdom), her disappointment did not grow into hatred. Her presence at the grave showed that she still loved to spend time with Jesus, “at least before the body finally decays”. Thus, the seemingly loss of the body of Jesus was as serious as the loss of a child. She quickly alerted the disciples and will remain at the grave side weeping in case she finds a clue as to where the body was taken to.

Mind you, she was neither a relative nor one of the Twelve. Sometimes people who are dearest to us are farthest from us when we need them most. Mary Magdalene was a true follower of Christ. She did not follow because of what she will get in return but because she loved sincerely.

Mary wept in search of the corpse of Jesus but she was shown the glorious body of Jesus. Her period of “exile” (sorrow) was replaced with inexplicable joy. This is not surprising, for Jer.29:13-14 says: “when you seek me, you will find me; and when you search for me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from among all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile”.

Beloved, let us learn from Mary Magdalene how to love God unconditionally. Let us also learn from her how to love one another. If you love someone, and the person lets you into his or her world, know that you will definitely discover the grey areas of the person’s life. This is when you come in to positively impact that person. A friend is someone who sees the thorns in your life, uproots them and plant roses in their stead. Then, the friend goes about telling people how beautiful you are. But when we see the thorns in people’s life and choose to publicize it, then we are no friends at all. True love empathizes; true love perseveres.