Easter Saturday

Mary Magdalene Announces the Resurrection by Sr. Mary Charles McGough, O.S.B. (Click on image for larger version)

Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:15-18)

Mary Magdalene, whose feast day is July 22, is a prominent figure in the Easter story. (Check the notes on her feast day to make sure you know who Mary Magdalene - and who she isn't!)

Mary is called the "Apostle to the Apostles" because she is missioned by Jesus to go and tell the others the he has risen from the dead. In the icon above, artist Sister Mary Charles illustrates the scene where Mary Magdalene tells the apostles of her experience of the Risen Christ.

All four gospels report this event (Matthew 28:8, Mark 16:13, and Luke 24:9, John 20:18). The apostles do not believe Mary’s words, according to the accounts in Mark and Luke, but their doubts are quickly erased when they see Christ for themselves.

"I have seen the Lord!" Mary Magdalene stands facing the eleven apostles: she is the first to proclaim the Resurrection. Their faces reflect puzzlement, scepticism, confusion, sadness and hopelessness It has only been a matter of hours since they had experienced the arrest, crucifixion, and burial of Christ and they are in hiding for fear that the same end befall them.

A outline of the city of Jerusalem fills makes for a backdrop, with a rainbow flowing like a river from where Mary has come and through the city, providing a symbol of the Resurrection.