Today is April 22, Tuesday in the Octave of Easter.
We read in the Gospel at today’s Mass, “She turned around and saw Jesus there” (Jn 20:14).
Commenting on this verse, St. Thomas Aquinas writes, “We see from this that if anyone desires to see Christ, they must turn round to him: ‘Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you’ (Zech 1:3). Those come to the point of seeing him who entirely turn themselves to him by love: ‘She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her’ (Wis 6:14).” So what does it mean that Mary Magdalene turns and discovers Christ?
“Mary had turned her back to Christ by her disbelief,” St. Thomas continues. This doesn’t necessarily mean she sinned grievously or rejected Jesus in the way others did, but that in her grief and confusion, Mary Magdalene did not initially believe or understand the reality of Christ’s resurrection. In Jn 20, she is weeping outside the tomb, unable to recognize Jesus when he appears to her — symbolizing a kind of spiritual blindness or lack of faith.
“She turned her soul to knowing him,” Aquinas says. When Jesus says her name, “Mary,” she recognizes him — her spiritual eyes are opened. This is a conversion of heart, or a turning of her whole being toward the risen Lord.
Following Mary Magdalene’s example
“She turned round to him,” St. Thomas concludes. Physically, she may have turned toward Jesus (as Jn 20:14-16 suggests), but Aquinas sees this physical turning as a symbol of her interior conversion — from grief and confusion to faith and recognition.
We follow Mary Magdalene. Spiritually, we must turn from disbelief to the Lord. Our doubt and anguish will fade as we surrender all that distracts us and draws our attention away from the Lord. When we turn to him, even in confusion and unclarity, that is where trust and faith begin, just as was the case for Mary Magdalene.
Let us pray,
O God, who have bestowed on us paschal remedies, endow your people with heavenly gifts, so that, possessed of perfect freedom, they may rejoice in heaven over what gladdens them now on earth. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
