Redeemed passion

John 20 : 1 - 18

I have seen the Lord

It is always interesting to be reminded of saints of old and today the traditional church remembers Mary Magdelene. A sinner, redeemed by grace - a woman who learned to 'love' her Lord, when the other (disordered) loves of her life were ordered and healed by him.

I believe she was a woman with a great passion for life, yet in earlier years she had focused on those things that were not life giving.

We remember in the reading that Jesus revealed himself to her soon after his resurrection. And it was his voice, his calling out her name that brought sudden recognition. In her passionate concern for him, just to see his corpse, she has missed his very presence before her. He lovingly broke through her preoccupation and led her to experience his presence in a new way. She was also entrusted with the task of sharing that experience with others.

I suspect that some of those who are passionate about their faith would have had misplaced passions before they met him. Yet, in his great mercy, he brings about an ordering of our lives and loves. We learn to love him who first loved us and to love all things, in him; never in themselves alone. Then and only then will our inner vision and experience of our Lord be attractive to others when shared with them.