I have seen the Lord

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and then reported what he told her.

Scripture for today's reflection can be found at Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene | USCCB

Today we celebrate the feast of Mary Magdalene, who was the first to see the Risen Lord. Mary was one of the original Galilean disciples of Jesus and one of the many women who followed him during his ministry around Galilee. She is known as the “woman from whom seven demons had gone out.” There has developed over the years that she was a penitent prostitute, but there’s no scriptural basis for this belief. All we know of Mary is that Jesus cured her of these issues.

Mary, being healed by Jesus, was truly grateful for the love Jesus showed her in this healing. Instead of a life of hardship and despair, she was restored to health & wellbeing by Jesus and was able to enter relationship with Heavenly Father and found the peace that can only come from her loving God. Her love for Jesus was so strong that she was the first to go to the tomb on Easter Sunday morning, not really expecting anything so spectacular as Jesus risen from the dead. What she found was an empty tomb. She was fearful that someone stole the body of Jesus. So, she ran to tell Peter and the others. After they found the tomb as she described and left, she stayed there to pray. Such was her love for the Lord.

Due to her perseverance, she was blessed to be the first to encounter the risen Lord on Easter Sunday morning.  Then Jesus gives her the responsibility of sharing this good news with the apostles that the He has risen from the dead. Because of this responsibility, she came to be known as the “disciple to the disciples.” She encountered the Risen Lord and went, without fear, to the apostles to let them know that Jesus was alive.

We ourselves encounter the Risen Jesus each time we come to church, whether it’s through the sacrament of Reconciliation to receive the forgiveness and healing of our sins, or receiving our Lord: body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist. We should, like Mary, be joyful at the opportunity to encounter the Risen Lord in these Sacraments. Then, after encountering Jesus in either the sacrament of Reconciliation or in Holy Communion, we should bring this Good News to all those in our lives.

Like Mary, when we meet others in our lives, we can and should say, “I have seen the Lord” and share the good news that Jesus is alive and present to all who seek him with a sincere heart.