Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early in the morning to prepare the dead body of Jesus according to the prescriptions of the Law. Was she surprised beyond telling, looking into a tomb that did not “contain” the Body of Jesus. Love cannot be contained. Mary was filled with grief as she stood at the tomb. She waited, she persevered, encountering two Ángels asking her why she was weeping.
Jesus appeared to her and she thought he was a gardener; how beautiful, even if slightly mistaken. Remember, it all started in a garden: creation, life, Adam, Eve... the serpent... the betrayal... banished from the garden. The tomb, the empty tomb, became much like that original garden, where the original creation occurred and.... the original sin. This garden of the empty tomb became imbued with the New Creation, “rooted” in Christ’s Resurrection. “Behold I am making all things new...”
How poignant. How beautiful. God as a gardener!!! Why not!!! This divine gardener is always planting new seeds of grace and contemplation in the soil of our hearts. He is recreating our lives... our hearts... transforming them as they are connected to the Tree of Life, the Cross, that overshadows the tree that started it all.
Mary of magdala started it all as the very first witness to the “Gardener” who is transforming the garden, removing the weeds, cultivating the soil, making us breath anew.
Peace,
Fr. Frank