Searching for Jesus

Homily for the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene

Both the Gospel text and the reading from the Song of Songs speak of someone searching for the one they love. Today’s feast of St. Mary Magdalene reminds us that she is a good model for us in her love and diligent search for Jesus. Although we do not see Jesus face-to-face as she did, we are also to love him and to search for him daily.

Perhaps the episode from the Gospel of St. John gives us a hint of how we should recognize Jesus. Hers is a rather common mistake. She thinks Jesus is the gardener. How could she not recognize the one she loved so much? Some have made excuses for her by saying that his glorified body could hide his identity from the people who knew him. Indeed, she is not the only person in the Gospels who does not recognize Jesus after the resurrection.

Perhaps the same thing happens to us as we search for Jesus in our lives. We fail to see him as we are meant to see him. We fail to serve and love him as he loves us. The Gospels teach all of us that we are to see Jesus in the faces of all the people with whom we interact each day. We are called to seek Jesus in our daily lives and, with his grace, find him in the unlikeliest people. Consequently, our task is to cultivate our love for Jesus in prayer and then to show forth our love to those most in need – to those he places in our paths each day.

As we receive the Eucharist today, may our prayer echo the words from the song of songs: “Let me seek him whom my soul loves.”