Jn 20:11-18
11Mary [of Magdala] stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. 13And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” 14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus.
15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. 17Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” 18Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her.
Mary! They say the sweetest word a person may hear is his or her own name. My classmates would call me RAul, with emphasis on the letter A. When angry, my brother would teasingly call me Braulio! Only my father would fondly call me RaU! It was for me the sweetest sound of my name.
Jesus calls “Mary” in a way only he must call her, and she recognizes him. Jesus says that God knows the number of the hair on our heads. Isaiah professes that the Lord has written our names on the palm of his hands. God knows us personally and sweetly.
We should feel and discover the same personal relationship with the God who created us. As Jesus has taught us, we should address him so sweetly as our Father. With holy fear and faith, we should be able to cry out, like Thomas, “My Lord and my God!” In humility we can go to God when we are weary and heavily burdened, lovingly lay our heads on his breast, and sigh: “Lord, where have you taken me?”