When I reflect on the witness of St. Mary Magdalene, one thing that always impresses me is the she “kept the faith”- even when “keeping the faith” was terribly hard; even when “keeping the faith” didn’t seem to make much sense.
While Jesus hung dying on the cross, and after most of Jesus’ friends had run away out of fear, she stayed and kept watch. We can only imagine the thoughts, feelings, and temptations that swirled around her that day: anger, confusion, terror, helplessness, loneliness, resentment.
It would have been very easy for her to have run away too. But she didn’t. She stayed; she “kept the faith.” Certainly out of courage; and maybe because she knew that at that moment, faith was the only thing she had left; faith was the one thing she really needed. Her reward? She saw the risen Jesus- something that those who had run away had to wait to experience.
The witness of St. Mary Magdalene can inspire us to “keep the faith”- when things seem their bleakest, when our friends aren’t there for us, when God himself seems to be distant or indifferent. Because as she learned, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, just like the first rays of the sun on Easter morning.
Readings for today’s Mass: http://www.usccb.org/nab/072211.shtml
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