Easter Tuesday
"Jn 20:11-18"
Mary stood weeping outside the tomb...she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rab-boni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father."
Mary loved Jesus but something prevented her from recognising Him. When she heard her name, spoken by that Voice, with that 'tone', we can imagine how she shuddered with delight. That name she had heard so many times coming from Jesus' Lips, "Mary!"
There are many ways to pronounce a name. Think about the many people who have said your name, always differently: your parents, grandparents, siblings, friends... you could recognise each one of them on the phone just by hearing them say your name. But even the same person (your mother, for instance) could say your name in different tones and modes. You could tell what was coming just by listening to her say your name in the distance.
Jesus didn't need to say anything else to Mary; just her name. Jesus called everyone by their name. All of them remembered well how Jesus pronounced their names: Peter, John, Andrew, James, Nicodemus, Martha... and Our Lady, "Mother", and St Joseph, "father". And you... Can you imagine the sound of Jesus' voice speaking your name? Because He uses it every day to talk to you in your prayer.
"Just like our mother, he calls us by our name, by the name we're fondly called at home, by our nickname. There, in the depths of our soul, he calls us and we just have to answer: Ecce ego quia vocasti me - here I am, for you have called me" (St JosemarÃa).
My Mother, Handmaid of the Lord, you also use my name when you talk to your Son about me. Help me to always have that answer on my lips: "Here I am, Lord, for you have called me by my name."
