They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him

2 APRIL (Jn 20,11-18)

A true researcher of God, Mary Magdalene, does not give up, does not concede defeat. John leaves the tomb and Peter also. She remains alone, she asks, questions, interrogates, she demands an answer; she is not ashamed to reveal her most pure spiritual love for Jesus Christ. The Church, in the liturgy, applies to her what is written in the Song of Songs. She sees as a true researcher of God. She is sick of God and her Eternal Love, of her Lord; because to her, Jesus is really her Lord and God.

I am a flower of Sharon, a lily of the valley. As a lily among thorns, so is my beloved among women. As an apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my lover among men. I delight to rest in his shadow, and his fruit is sweet to my mouth. He brings me into the banquet hall and his emblem over me is love. Strengthen me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. His left hand is under my head and his right arm embraces me. I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and hinds of the field, Do not arouse, do not stir up love before its own time. Hark! my lover-here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills. My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag. Here he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattices. My lover speaks; he says to me, “Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come! “For see, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning the vines has come, and the song of the dove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance. Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come! “O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff, Let me see you, let me hear your voice, For your voice is sweet, and you are lovely.” Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that damage the vineyards; for our vineyards are in bloom! My lover belongs to me and I to him; he browses among the lilies. Until the day breathes cool and the shadows lengthen, roam, my lover, Like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of Bether. (Song 2.1-17).

To us, who are satiated with God, because we know his external appearance, because we know who he is just by hearsay, she shows us that the search must never be stopped until Christ is not grasped and put completely, even physically, in the heart. Even if Christ then, invites us to be missionaries of his truth, being this is the only real way to grasp and be with Jesus forever. Who finds the true Christ is always sent on a mission by him. Jesus wants to be of every heart as he is with ours. We are the givers of Him to the whole world. If we give him it is a sign that we found him. If we do not give him, we attest that he has not yet been found, he is not in our heart, he does not live in us, because if he lived, he would be given to others.

But 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 of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her.

Jesus is like a flowing fountain in a pot. If the water really flows, the pot is always overflowing. It is full, but from its fullness flows the water from the fountain that can be given all to others. The water that comes out is not needed to the vessel. It must be given for it to be made to come in usable. On the contrary, if the fountain is not running, the pot is always empty and no water will ever be given to people. Jesus has filled the heart of Mary of Magdalene. She cannot keep all of Jesus for herself. If she did it, Jesus would not be in her heart. Her heart would be empty. Instead, her heart is full and she immediately runs to forever fill with Jesus every other person she meets on her path.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us vases overflowing with Jesus.