Early in the morning, while it was still dark

22 JULY (Jn 20,1-2.11-18)

Mary Magdalene is the true seeker of her divine and eternal spouse. This search is her own life. We can apply to her the entire Song of Songs, this beautiful love poem, according to which the search for love never ends. Love is an eternal quest. The love that no longer seeks is a dead love. It is doomed.

I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I gather my myrrh and my spices, I eat my honey and my sweetmeats, I drink my wine and my milk. Eat, friends; drink! Drink freely of love! I was sleeping, but my heart kept vigil; I heard my lover knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my beloved,
my dove, my perfect one! For my head is wet with dew, my locks with the moisture of the night.” I have taken off my robe, am I then to put it on? I have bathed my feet, am I then to soil them? My lover put his hand through the opening; my heart trembled within me, and I grew faint when he spoke. I rose to open to my lover, with my hands dripping myrrh: With my fingers dripping choice myrrh upon the fittings of the lock. I opened to my lover – but my lover had departed, gone. I sought him but I did not find him; I called to him but he did not answer me. The watchmen came upon me
as they made their rounds of the city; They struck me, and wounded me, and took my mantle from me, the guardians of the walls. I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my lover – What shall you tell him?- that I am faint with love. How does your lover differ from any other, O most beautiful among women? How does your lover differ from any other, that you adjure us so? My lover is radiant and ruddy; he stands out among thousands. His head is pure gold; his locks are palm fronds, black as the raven. His eyes are like doves beside running waters, His teeth would seem bathed in milk, and are set like jewels. His cheeks are like beds of spice with ripening aromatic herbs. His lips are red blossoms; they drip choice myrrh. His arms are rods of gold adorned with chrysolites. His body is a work of ivory covered with sapphires. His legs are columns of marble resting on golden bases. His stature is like the trees on Lebanon, imposing as the cedars. His mouth is sweetness itself; he is all delight. Such is my lover, and such my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem (Songs 5,1-16).  

Tor the Apostle John the figure of this research is not his person, even if calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. Instead, it is Mary Magdalene. He goes to the tomb because he is urged by her. He enters the empty tomb after Peter, sees and believes. Then he leaves. He does not seek risen Jesus. Faith is enough to him. Faith is not enough to Mary. She wants to find Jesus. She wants to see him. She wants to feel his presence and she search more. She asks, queries and questions. She is not content with any answer. The only answer is to find her Master and her Lord. Jesus listens to her heart and lets himself be found.

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” 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.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints teach us how to seek Jesus.