As St. John tells us in the Gospel Mary Magdalene did not recognize the Risen Jesus at first. She had an expectation of what she was looking for and the one in front of her wasn’t it. It was only after Jesus called her by name that she saw him for who he truly was. St. Gregory the Great has a sermon in which he imagines Jesus saying: “Recognize me as I recognize you; for I do not know you as I know others; I know you as yourself.” That thought is meant for each one of us. Jesus knows us not generically, but specifically, as we are. Jesus calls us by name. The flip side of that as Mary Magdalene found was that she needed to recognize Jesus as he truly was. We too easily have a preconception about Jesus gleaned from the catechism or Sunday School that limits our ability to encounter Jesus as the gospels portray him. If we are not shocked, challenged, daunted, even reluctant by the life and words of Jesus we are probably not seeing him as he is.
JULY222025
By Church Staff
