On this feast, we contemplate in Mary Magdalene a woman captivated by the experience of the Lord’s love—a love that awakens in her a burning search culminating in a liberation that drives her to be the first to proclaim that the Lord is alive.
Mary is a woman in search of love. In the midst of a confused search, she sank into the misery of a life far from God. She suffered under the grip of evil forces, entered the darkness of sin, and faced the wounds that came from it. She wandered in the misery of a heart seeking happiness in emptiness, thus settling into a hell with no way out.
At God's appointed time, she encountered a sincere and loving seeker: Jesus. His gaze, filled with compassion and mercy, reached the thirsty heart of the lost sheep. He met her in that crucible of confusion, disrupted her search rooted in possessive attachment, comforted her, lifted her up, and transformed her into a woman in love—though still focused on herself—until the morning of Easter.
“The love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore, all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who died and was raised for them.” (2 Corinthians 5:14–15)
Mary has this experience of her Master's love, which frees her on Easter morning, takes her out of herself, and sends her to proclaim to the apostles that the one she loves is alive. She thus becomes the “Apostle of the Apostles,” as Pope Francis called her when he elevated her liturgical memorial to the rank of a feast.
Saint Marie Eugenie of Jesus, in her own search for truth and genuine happiness, lived a similar experience of being touched by the Word of God, preached in 1836 by Father Lacordaire at Notre-Dame in Paris. She wrote to him:
“Your words answered all my thoughts... they completed my understanding of things... they gave me a new generosity, a faith that nothing could shake anymore… I was truly converted.” (https://assumpta.org/fr/sainte-marie-eugenie/sa-vie)
From that moment on, Saint Marie Eugenie was filled with a deep desire to give herself to God within the Church.
We, women who proclaim the Gospel today, share the same experience of being met by Jesus in our thirst for the God of love. He draws us in, captivates us, and frees our hearts so that we may give ourselves fully to Him and to the cause of His Kingdom.
Sr Christine Turabamariya
Rwanda-Tchad Province