Mary Maudlin and Jesus the Gardener

Did you know that the etymology of the English word “maudlin” which means tearfully or effusively sentimental comes from the figure of the penitent Mary Magdalene? See this dictionary on line.
Unfortunately, poor Mary Magdalene has been wrongly identified as the weeping sinner portrayed at the end of Chapter 7 of Luke’s Gospel. I think we need to correct this erroneous identification of Mary Magdalene, but not her propensity for weeping as portrayed in today’s Easter Gospel, John 20:11-18. She truly is a highly sensitive person and this because, she loved her Rabbouni (Teacher) so much. Cardinal Martini, world renowned bible expert says of her, “Mary Magdalene is the prototype of a true believer, one who loves excessively. Not in a mediocre nor reasonable degree, but in such a complete manner. Through healing (cf Mk 16:9) and friendship, Jesus opened her eyes to love. While it is true that excess exists for better or for worse, Mary Magdalene represents that love which every Christian is invited to experience - complete, limitless love.”
What about Jesus the “gardener”? One commentary says this is an example of Johannine irony, associated to an earlier note that Jesus’ tomb was found in a garden (Jn 19:41). And from this image develops the reflection of the new creation which “redeems” the first creation in the garden of Eden and cancels the sin of the first man and woman. In our early morning mass today, the celebrant tried to develop the same theme, reflecting on the image of Jesus as the gardener – the patient and hopeful sower of good seeds!

My Gospel prayer:
If tears do come today,
let them be like those of Mary Magdalene,
flowing out of care and compassion.

And even if trials appear in this garden of life
let me follow my Master and Friend
announcing hope, offering his patient love.

Easter 2009

This Holy Week has been a truly dramatic experience here in Italy as our hearts go out to the victims of the earthquake which hit the region of Abruzzo last Holy Monday. The tremors were also strongly felt here in Rome where I live and even as I lay awake those wee hours of the morning, I started to pray for the people who would be greatly affected by the catastrophe.
And who could ever imagine seeing those scenes of inhabited places turned into ghost towns! It was a slow awakening for all of us as we followed the news day after day, of persons seeking for their children, or children searching for their parents.
The intensity heightened as we drew close to the end of the Holy Week, on Good Friday, with the funeral of 203 of almost 300 victims found in the rubble of the devastated towns. It was heartbreaking to hear the wailing of young mothers and fathers, and the voiceless plea of old men and women who lost their sons or daughters much younger than them. People searched for meaning, for answers: “why?” And “where is God in all these?”
At the other end of the line, there are those who continue to believe, to search for signs of hope, strengthened by the faith that God walks and cries and struggles with them. In the death and loss of loved ones, in the destruction of everything they hold dear, God continues to hold their hands, embrace them, infuse courage, desire and determination to start all over again.
As I contemplate this living calvary, I sense Christ rising from the dead. And in this darkness-slowly-turning-into-light, I live my Easter, struggling to let God’s grace take me out of the tomb of my trivial pains and lamentations.

Judas Asparagus - Children's Bible in a Nutshell

Someone sent me this delightful story. As the story goes, a child was asked to do a book report on the whole Bible and this came out:
The Children's Bible in a Nutshell

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, 'The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that. Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did. Then God made the world.
He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet. Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden.....Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars.
Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.
Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.
One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.
After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.
Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable. God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti.
Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff. Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.
One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.
After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me.
After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore.
There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of The New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.')
During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats. Jesus also had twelve opossums. The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so bad that they named a terrible vegetable after him.
Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.
But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead.
Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again. He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

Gift to the Magi

Here in Italy, we celebrate today the Epiphany of the Lord. It calls to mind the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, symbolized by his manifestation to the Magi or Wise Men from the East. Our Christian brothers and sisters of the Eastern church celebrate this as their Christmas. Actually they also refer to this feast as "Holy Lights" because they baptize on this day, and baptism brings about illumination.
In our convent tradition in the Philippines, this feast is celebrated on the Sunday after the Holy Family and is the awaited-day when we make our “exchange-gift.” Every member of the community is asked to prepare a package which is put in common under the big Christmas tree and at one moment, during the whole day celebration, we await the arrival of the “magi” which signals the moment for exchanging gifts.
While listening to a program in Vatican Radio yesterday, I got an insight on the appropriateness of this practice, aside from the spiritual meaning that we already have of Jesus being God's gift to humanity, Jews and pagans alike. At any rate, I learned something new from that brief interview: it was not only Jesus who received gifts of gold-frankincense-myrrh from Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar. The baby Jesus also handed them a gift. Here’s the story taken from Marco Polo’s narratives, translated by Ronald Latham, which I found in this website:
In Persia is the city called Saveh, from which the three Magi set out when they came to worship Jesus Christ. Here, too, they lie buried in three sepulchres of great size and beauty. Above each sepulchre is a square building with a domed roof of very fine workmanship. The one is just beside the other. Their bodies are still whole, and they have hair and beards. One was named Beltasar, the second Gaspar, and the third Melchior. Messer Marco asked several of the inhabitants who these Magi were; but no one could tell him anything except that they were three kings who were buried there in days gone by. But at last he learnt what I will tell you.
Three days farther on, he found a town called Kala Atashparastan, that is to say Town of the Fire-worshippers. And that is no more than the truth; for the men of this town do worship fire. And I will tell you why they worship it. The inhabitants declare that in days gone by three kings of this country went to worship a new-born prophet and took with them three offerings -gold, frankincense, and myrrh - so as to discover whether this prophet was a god, or an earthly king or a healer. For they said : 'If he takes gold, he is an earthly king; if frankincense, a god; if myrrh, a healer.'
When they had come to the place where the prophet was born, the youngest of the three kings went in all alone to see the child. He found that he was like himself, for he seemed to be of his own age and appearance. And he came out, full of wonder. Then in went the second, who was a man of middle age. And to him also the child seemed, as it had seemed to the other, to be of his own age and appearance. And he came out quite dumbfounded. Then in went the third, who was of riper years; and to him also it happened as it had to the other two. And he came out deep in thought. When the three kings were all together, each told the others what he had seen. And they were much amazed and resolved that they would all go in together.
So, in they went, all three together, and came before the child and saw him in his real likeness and of his real age; for he was only thirteen days old. Then they worshipped him and offered him the gold, the frankincense, and the myrrh. The child took all three offerings and then gave them a closed casket. And the three kings set out to return to their own country. After they had ridden for some days, they resolved to see what the child had given them. They opened the casket and found inside it a stone. They wondered greatly what this could be. The child had given it to them to signify that they should be firm as stone in the faith that they had adopted. For, when the three kings saw that the child had taken all three offerings, they concluded that he was at once a god, and an earthly king, and a healer. And, since the child knew that the three kings believed this, he gave them the stone to signify that they should be firm and constant in their belief.
The three kings, not knowing why the stone had been given to them, took it and threw it into a well. No sooner had it fallen in than there descended from heaven a burning fire, which came straight to the well into which it had been thrown. When the three kings saw this miracle, they were taken aback and repented of their throwing away the stone; for they saw clearly that its significance was great and good. They immediately took some of this fire and carried it to their country and put it in one of their churches, a very fine and splendid building.
They keep it perpetually burning and worship it as a god. And every sacrifice and burnt offering which they make is roasted with this fire. If it ever happens that the fire goes out, they go round to others who hold the same faith and worship fire also and are given some of the fire that burns in their church. This they bring back to rekindle their own fire. They never rekindle it except with this fire of which I have spoken.

My prayer for you today: May the fire that the Baby Jesus enkindled in you be kept burning the whole year through to warm and enlighten others too.