Day 7 - Novena to Ste. Marie Magdalene
Opening Prayer (See Day 1)
Read from the Gospel
Mathew 27:57-61
Marc 15:42-47
Luke 23:50-56
John 19:38-42
"Meditation"
"Mary-Magdelene, witness to the resurrection, is also an eye witness to the empty tomb: she will attest that this is where they put him, and he is no longer there.With the other women, she has just enough time to bring back perfumes and oinments before the beginning of the sabbath and the silence of the holy saturday. Nicodemus also brings 100 pounds of myrrh and aloes: an uncommon amount, excessively generous, far more expensive than the 300 silver pieces worth of the perfumes.
"The Christ is placed in the tomb of Joseph of Arimethea, like Joseph , the beloved son of Jacob, stripped of his tunic, thrown into the cisterne and sold to the Ishmaelites of Gilead who were going to Egypt, camels loaded with spices.
"The stone was rolled and night fell on the world. On the sixth day, the new Adam was nailed to the wood of the cross; on the seventh day, God rested, having achieved his work. It is finished!
"This is the time of hope. Keep watch and pray, hold your lighted lamps like the wise virgins waiting for the return of the bridegroom..."
I have read all these 4 passages of the gospels many times. This is the first time I have read them side-by-side. They are full of people. They are filled with activity. Then all of a sudden, all is quiet. It is just the Marys who are there keeping vigil. I reflect on the quiet of Friday evening and Saturday morning in the church after the Good Friday service and the beginning of the Great Vigil of Easter. Is is a mystical time in the church. There is gret activity when the decorations for Easter are going up, but then - Saturday afternoon.
I have always taken that time to do my personal preparation for the Easter Vigil. I go into the church by myself. I walk through the whole Vigil - step by step, prayer by prayer, movement by movement. I check that all is in place and ready. Then I go into the ambo and, in the silent church, I sing the Exultet. I know it most from memory by now but it's been a year since I've sung it. I do it to get the visual on the page. I sing it with no microphone, to hear my voice reverberate in the empty church. Its only my voice filling the space.
I don't know why this image came to my mind when I read these 4 passages, but it did. Its like Mary sitting there asking herself, "What do I do now?" She is the woman the gospel says chose the better portion by sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to his word. She is the woman the tradition says who came behind Jesus's feet and annointed his feet with oils. And now she is comtemplating that those feet are gone forever; the voice which compelled her to sit and listen is now silent forever. So it's time for action. There is the need to prepare his body for proper burial and she doens't have much time. But in the time she does have, she sits quietly and contemplates all he said, all he did, all he meant. I guess for me, that quiet time before the celebration of the holiest liturgy of the whole church year, is so special.
We all need to recreate that kind of time in our lives. To reflect on all that is important, and what we need to do next in our life of faith.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Mary Magdelene followed you
faithfully from Galilee to the foot of the cross and to the tomb.
Help us also to follow you and to remain faithful to the end of our lives.
You who reigns for ever and ever,
AMEN!
