Tuesday, April 26 : Saint Gregory the Great

“Sir, if you have taken him away…” Mary had not yet said who it was who made her weep from desire, nor mentioned by name him of whom she spoke. But the force of love customarily brings it about that a heart believes everyone else is aware of the one of whom it is always thinking… Mary did not believe that the one for whom she herself so constantly wept in her desire was unknown to the other. Jesus said to her: “Mary!” After he had called her by the common name of “woman”, he called her by her own name, as if to say: “Recognize him who recognizes you.” To Moses also God said: “I know you by name” (Ex 33,12) because “man” is the common appellation of us all, but “Moses” was his own name. He was rightly told that he was known by name, as if the Lord was saying to him openly: “I do not know you in a general way as I know others, but particularly.” And so, because Mary was called by name, she acknowledged her Creator and called him at once “Rabboni”, that is, “teacher”. He was both the one she was outwardly seeking and the one who was teaching her inwardly to seek him… “Mary Magdalene came and made known to the disciples: ‘I have seen the Lord and he said these things to me.’” See, how the sin of the human race was removed where it began. In paradise a woman was the cause of death for a man; coming from the sepulchre a woman proclaimed life to men.

maronite readings – rosary,team