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Jesus' Appearance to Mary Magdalene
With the lighting of the Paschal candle and the completion of the Triduum at the Easter Vigil, we find ourselves firmly located within the joy of the Easter Season. The "Alleluia" returns to the mass and we find that there may in fact be a light to the end of the very long Lent that we've experienced for much of the last year. We revisit a story we've heard many times on Easter morning, Jesus' appearance to Mary of Magdalene (John 20: 11-18). Mary Magdalene has come to the tomb to mourn the death of Jesus. You can almost picture her sorrowfully making her way into the garden where he is buried, tears in her eyes, looking downward at her feet as she trudges to Jesus' final resting place. Or so she thought. Mary arrives at the tomb to find the large stone that had been used to seal it shut rolled to the side. In her fear and through her tears she spies someone nearby. She goes up to this figure, who she takes to be a gardener and begs him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
In the past the focus has been on this mis-recognition, Jesus calling Mary by name and Mary's subsequent realization that this figure is the resurrected Lord. Or, we spend too much time trying to figure out what Jesus meant when he says, "Do not touch me (noli me tangere)." I suggest we lean into Mary's vision of Jesus as the gardener. Maybe, that is an image of Jesus and of God that we need to reimagine today. Certainly, God was the first gardener. God created every flowering and fruiting tree and plant and placed them in Eden. Jesus carries on that work and maybe, just maybe, he is asking us to take up that same work too? But--what would it mean for us if we took that request to heart? What if Jesus is asking us to be gardeners in the contemporary world? Few, if any of us, live or work on farms, so how can we help Jesus tend the earth, add nutrients to the soil when necessary, sow seeds of various types, harvest in correct ways, and share the abundance of the earth's produce with others? What might that mean for us and for our world?
Below we have a few different resources to aid your ongoing prayer. It's an eclectic collection that runs the gamut from medieval hymns about Mary Magdalene to a painting in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
1. Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18)
2. Victoria Emily Jones wrote a wonderful article, "She Mistook Him For the Gardener", tracing the history of images of Jesus as a Gardener and a new interpretation of what Jesus is planting. It is posted on the Art & Theology website
3. A wonderful collection of Medieval hymns sung by Musica Medievale in celebration of Mary Magdalene can be found here.
4. "I have Seen the Lord," a reflection written by Barbara Lee is available on Loyola Press's website here.
5. Sr. Chris Schenk gave an interview that was originally published by the Jesuit run Instituto Humanitas Unisinos in Brazil, it is entitled: "Mary of Magdala: The Great Apostle."
Livinia Fontana was a Bolognese painter in the Mannerist Style of the renaissance. Her painting "Noli Me Tangere" was finished in 1581. It currently hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
For more information on the artist please visit this link to the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
For more information on the artist please visit this link to the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
March Session: Divinity Hides Itself
Register here for the March 24th session in preparation for Holy Week.
We will meet on-line 10-10:45 am (PST)
The third week of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius correspond with the scriptural events of Holy Week. In these days we are all spiritual pilgrims accompanying our dear Lord on his way. As St. Ignatius writes: "Our prayer now focuses on the humanity of Jesus by pointing out how his divinity hides itself. Greater love has no one than to lay down his life for our friends" [193-197]. Clearly God could have intervened. God could have decided not to be humiliated and crucified. God could have chosen not to suffer. But he does. And that is one of the biggest mysteries of our faith. It's in the presence of this mystery we catch a glimpse of who God might be for us. God doesn't stand idly by when others are imperiled, sick, or possessed in the stories of the Gospel. Instead, Jesus intervenes. He intervenes to return life to those he touches and heals, giving them a life they can live out of that abundance. Crippled men dance while carrying their mats, blind persons see, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and one woman is saved from being stoned to death.
Rejection and acceptance, disregarding or protecting, or deliverance into captivity or into freedom. Each of our lives is filled
with these. Sometimes we've been on one side and sometimes we've been on the other. The same is not true for Jesus. Rather,
he is the one who is rejected, disregarded and delivered into captivity and worse. Jesus is also the one who stands with us when we are similarly treated. Jesus protects, accepts and wants to carry us always into freedom. Literally, he does this for the woman in today's Gospel. Jesus has compassion for the woman and sees her in her fullness, saving her from death, protecting her from the crowd, and giving her words that will lead her ever unto freedom. Jesus wants the same for us.
Today's guided meditation brings us into the scene of that last story and we are invited to accompany Jesus, the woman, and the crowd. It also brings us to a point where we can reflect on where God has been hiding in the events of our own lives.
Below, we have a few different aids to your ongoing prayer. In the first grouping we have links related to the scripture we'll be using.
1. Jesus saves the woman (Jn. 8:1-11)
2. Rembrandt's The Woman Taken in Adultery
3. The Irish Jesuits who tend Sacred Space on-line have a wonderful list of questions, thoughts, promptings, and observations
that can also assist you if you'd like to pray over this passage again. You can find it here.
4. In 2014, Pope Francis preached on this passage at his daily mass in Domus Sanctae Marthae. L'Osservatore Romano published
some of the pope's words here.
5. Brandon Camphor & OneWay have a beautiful song, God of Mercy.
6. Jason and deMarco sing, Brokenness.
7. Audrey Assad's moving rendition of I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, helps to place ourselves in this story.
8. Trust in the Slow Work of God, a prayer written by Teilhard de Chardin.
9. In keeping with some of the thoughts surrounding this Gospel passage and the victimization of women, the Ignatian SolidarityNetwork posted an article on their site, "No Future For the Church Without Women," written by Mauricio Lopez. You can locate it here.
10. If you missed our guided meditation on March 24, you can access the images with the audio for each image here.
We will meet on-line 10-10:45 am (PST)
The third week of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius correspond with the scriptural events of Holy Week. In these days we are all spiritual pilgrims accompanying our dear Lord on his way. As St. Ignatius writes: "Our prayer now focuses on the humanity of Jesus by pointing out how his divinity hides itself. Greater love has no one than to lay down his life for our friends" [193-197]. Clearly God could have intervened. God could have decided not to be humiliated and crucified. God could have chosen not to suffer. But he does. And that is one of the biggest mysteries of our faith. It's in the presence of this mystery we catch a glimpse of who God might be for us. God doesn't stand idly by when others are imperiled, sick, or possessed in the stories of the Gospel. Instead, Jesus intervenes. He intervenes to return life to those he touches and heals, giving them a life they can live out of that abundance. Crippled men dance while carrying their mats, blind persons see, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and one woman is saved from being stoned to death.
Rejection and acceptance, disregarding or protecting, or deliverance into captivity or into freedom. Each of our lives is filled
with these. Sometimes we've been on one side and sometimes we've been on the other. The same is not true for Jesus. Rather,
he is the one who is rejected, disregarded and delivered into captivity and worse. Jesus is also the one who stands with us when we are similarly treated. Jesus protects, accepts and wants to carry us always into freedom. Literally, he does this for the woman in today's Gospel. Jesus has compassion for the woman and sees her in her fullness, saving her from death, protecting her from the crowd, and giving her words that will lead her ever unto freedom. Jesus wants the same for us.
Today's guided meditation brings us into the scene of that last story and we are invited to accompany Jesus, the woman, and the crowd. It also brings us to a point where we can reflect on where God has been hiding in the events of our own lives.
Below, we have a few different aids to your ongoing prayer. In the first grouping we have links related to the scripture we'll be using.
1. Jesus saves the woman (Jn. 8:1-11)
2. Rembrandt's The Woman Taken in Adultery
3. The Irish Jesuits who tend Sacred Space on-line have a wonderful list of questions, thoughts, promptings, and observations
that can also assist you if you'd like to pray over this passage again. You can find it here.
4. In 2014, Pope Francis preached on this passage at his daily mass in Domus Sanctae Marthae. L'Osservatore Romano published
some of the pope's words here.
5. Brandon Camphor & OneWay have a beautiful song, God of Mercy.
6. Jason and deMarco sing, Brokenness.
7. Audrey Assad's moving rendition of I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, helps to place ourselves in this story.
8. Trust in the Slow Work of God, a prayer written by Teilhard de Chardin.
9. In keeping with some of the thoughts surrounding this Gospel passage and the victimization of women, the Ignatian SolidarityNetwork posted an article on their site, "No Future For the Church Without Women," written by Mauricio Lopez. You can locate it here.
10. If you missed our guided meditation on March 24, you can access the images with the audio for each image here.
Some Resources for Holy Week
Here are some links if you are looking for things to help focus your prayer during Holy Week and the moments leading up to Good Friday:
1. The Tate Gallery holds Ford Madox Brown's Jesus Washing Peter's Feet.
2. The opening chorus, "Herr, unser Herscher," from J.S. Bach's St John's Passion. Performed by the Netherlands Bach Society.
3. The Anglican Church has a rich history of Lenten music. Among them are such familiar hymns as The Glory of These Forty
Days, Forty Days and Forty Nights, and O Sacred Head, Surrounded.
4. Ricky Manalo, CSP's hymn In the Days of Lenten Journey is another beautiful hymn which highlights the ongoing pilgrimage
that we are on, not just during Lent but in our everyday lives.
5. The image below, was painted by an almost forgotten Renaissance painter, Sr. Plautilla Nelli, O.P. Her story and the story of this remarkable painting can be found at the Smithsonian Institute's website here.
1. The Tate Gallery holds Ford Madox Brown's Jesus Washing Peter's Feet.
2. The opening chorus, "Herr, unser Herscher," from J.S. Bach's St John's Passion. Performed by the Netherlands Bach Society.
3. The Anglican Church has a rich history of Lenten music. Among them are such familiar hymns as The Glory of These Forty
Days, Forty Days and Forty Nights, and O Sacred Head, Surrounded.
4. Ricky Manalo, CSP's hymn In the Days of Lenten Journey is another beautiful hymn which highlights the ongoing pilgrimage
that we are on, not just during Lent but in our everyday lives.
5. The image below, was painted by an almost forgotten Renaissance painter, Sr. Plautilla Nelli, O.P. Her story and the story of this remarkable painting can be found at the Smithsonian Institute's website here.
