Mary of Magdala loved the Lord, she was grateful for the good she had received from him. When Jesus dies, it is her who, “early in the morning,” on that first day of the week, “goes to the grave while it was still dark.” In this woman’s readiness, we see the deep desire residing in her heart: she wants to see the body of Jesus. But she cannot find it. In her desperate and somewhat confused search, it is eventually Jesus who comes to her calling her by name: “Mary!“
When she returns to the disciples, Mary of Magdala sums up all that she has experienced in a small sentence: “I have seen the Lord!” Well, our Christian faith begins from and is based on these simple words. We believe in the Lord Jesus because a woman, Mary of Magdala, had first experienced the resurrection of the Lord.
In these days when we celebrate the central event of our faith, the Easter mystery, the kerygma, we remember that faith in Jesus is a gift, as it was for Mary of Magdala. A gift that must be desired from the depths of our hearts and sought with all our might. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Mt 7,7-8). “Those who put their hope in you, oh God, will never be disappointed; those who abandon you for no reason, they will be disappointed” (Sal 25,3).
We celebrate this Easter 2020 in the very special and completely unexpected world context of the Covid-19 pandemic. So many people have been directly affected, so much suffering all around us, so many victims everywhere, so much uncertainty! We too have been badly hit, particularly in the Community of the Mother House. For this reason, in these days it is our duty to remember in a special way the brothers who left us. We thank the Lord for having had them as members of the same family here on earth, knowing that one day we will be together in our eternal home. Let us pray for their perpetual rest.
Easter tells us that the last word is not death but life. We are its witnesses. What we need today is to be people who look to the future with God’s eyes. The missionary disciple, each of us, knows how to say the word that is appropriate at the appropriate time. He can read the reality we live in with the wisdom of the Spirit. He can employ always-new keys to interpret what is happening. Being filled with the Life of God, he is capable of implanting hope in whatever place or situation he finds himself in. The night, its darkness is behind us. In front, we have only God’s promise.
I then wish to thank each of you for the closeness and fraternity you have manifested, in different ways, towards me. This last week, in fact, my mother left us physically and began her journey to eternity. She was a woman of great faith. “I want my soul for God,” she used to say in particular moments when it was necessary to be honest and tell the truth. This phrase certainly expresses well the attitude that accompanied my mother throughout her life. For her, there were no half-truths. She always spoke what she thought and believed was right and true. All through her life, she had a particular concern for being honest and true, while having, at the same time, a great sense of God’s presence in her life. It was precisely this felt presence of God, which led her to live in that way. May she rest in the peace the Lord gives to the good and faithful servants.
I really wish each of you, and all friends and acquaintances, a very happy Easter! May the joy of the Lord’s living presence accompany you every day and fill your hearts with the gifts of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22).
Fraternally Yours,
Fernando García Rodríguez, sx