Daily Readings - Mon Jul 22 2024
First Reading - Song of Solomon 3.1-4a or 2 Corinthians 5.14-17
Song of Solomon
1All night long on my bed I looked for the one my heart loves; I looked for him but did not find him.2I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not find him.3The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. "Have you seen the one my heart loves?"4Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him to my mother's house, to the room of the one who conceived me.
2 Corinthians
14For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
John
1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.13They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"14"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.15"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."16Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).17Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Sermon
The readings today invite us to reflect on the themes of seeking, finding, and the profound encounter with the divine. In the first reading from the Song of Solomon, we hear the voice of the bride, who, with deep longing, searches for her beloved throughout the city. Her persistence and yearning are not in vain, for she eventually finds him and holds him close, unwilling to let him go. This passage, often interpreted as an allegory for the soul’s search for God, reminds us that our spiritual journey is marked by both longing and union. The bride’s determination to seek her beloved, even in the face of uncertainty, mirrors our own search for meaning and connection with the divine.
In the Gospel, we encounter Mary Magdalene at the tomb of Jesus, her heart heavy with grief. She seeks Jesus, but like the bride in the first reading, she initially does not find him. The tomb is empty, and she is met with the question, “Why are you weeping?” Mary’s tears flow from a place of deep love and loss, but her sorrow is transformed when Jesus reveals himself to her. The moment she hears her name, “Mary,” spoken by the risen Lord, her grief turns to joy, and she recognizes the one she had been seeking. This encounter underscores the reality that our seeking is not in vain; God reveals himself to those who seek him with persistence and love.
These readings remind us that our faith journey is one of seeking and finding, of longing and encounter. Like the bride and Mary Magdalene, we are called to seek God with persistence, even when the path seems uncertain. The moral lesson here is clear: trust in God’s timing and presence. Just as Mary Magdalene found Jesus in the most unexpected way, we, too, will encounter God in our own journeys. Let us approach life with the same determination and love, knowing that our seeking will lead us to the One who seeks us even more.