The following is a poem from Ronald Rolheiser* about Mary Magdala meeting Jesus in the garden on Easter Morning (see John’s account).
Somehow, this year I find this very moving. We are at a different time when gathering are not possible. There is something about how Mary touches on the things that we are experiencing in this time and place. Thank you, Fr. Rolheiser, for sharing this with us.
Blessings of Resurrection this Easter Season.
Rev. Joel
P.S. – I’ve included an Easter Lessons and Carols format service under the Resources page.
Mary Magdala’s Easter Prayer
I never suspected
Resurrection
and to be so painful
to leave me weeping
With joy
to have met you, alive and smiling, outside an empty
tomb
With regret
not because I’ve lost you
but because I’ve lost you in how I had you –
in understandable, touchable, kissable, clingable
flesh
not as fully Lord, but as graspably human.
I want to cling, despite your protest
cling to your body
cling to your, and my, clingable humanity
cling to what we had, our past.
But I know that … if I cling
you cannot ascend and
I will be left clinging to your former self
… unable to receive your present spirit.
___
* Ronald Rolheiser, “Mary Magdala’s Easter Prayer,” in Forgotten Among the Lilies, p. 176 – appearing also in The Holy Longing, p. 166.