It's STILL Easter...

Don't forget, this solemnity is eight whole days long. Woohoo, the Church knows how to party! :)

And, of course, the Easter Season is a whopping 50 days long (have to rejoice more than we fast, you know), so keep wishing your friends and family a "Happy Easter."

So, to keep you in the Easter Spirit, here is a lovely Gospel reflection:

John 20:11-18

Mary Magdalene 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 went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he had told her.

The Desire of Mary Magdalene

You will notice that as long as Mary stood gazing into the empty tomb and looked at the angels, Jesus stood behind her and concealed himself from her. This means that our Lord God hides himself from those who are busied with creatures, absorbed and distressed about created things. The moment the soul turns away from them and goes in search of God, then God reveals himself...


Whosoever longs for the sight of God must soar aloft like a star, and must have an aversion for all transitory things: he must be much enlightened by God if he would behold heavenly sights. Mary recognized her Lord when he called her name, and she answered instantly, Rabbouni (Master). That was the name she and his other disciples usually addressed him with...He is the Master of all truth, and therefore we must contemplate him. He is Master of the highest perfection, and therefore we must follow him without ever looking backward.


Master of the supreme good: such is his true name, and it entitles him to our love above all things. But you might say: God being infinite good and the soul finite, how can the soul love him or even know him? Ah, mark well that, although God be infinite goo and the soul finite, yet the soul's longing is an abyss without limit; the human soul can never be content, except with the possession of an infinite good. And the more the soul longs for God, the more does it yearn for deeper longings; the more we love God, the more we yearn to love him with yet greater intensity... It is a characteristic trait of the soul to have a longing to love him who is God, who is Supreme Good - to love him without limits to its love, him and none other except for his sake, him to love with increasing praise...


Rightly did Magdalen exclaim, Master! For Christ is, indeed, Master of all good, and therefore he must have our supreme love. But over love our Savior has a triple sovereignty. For as our sovereign Master he rewards us for nothing but for our love for him; he rewards us on account of nothing but his own love for us; and he rewards us with nothing but with the gift of his love for us. Every way we look at his reward to us it is love.

Father John Tauler, O.P.