Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Two Holy Marys

Appreciating our siblings and our saints

07/22/2025

John 20:1-2, 11-18 On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put him." Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been. And 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." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus 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." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni," which means Teacher. Jesus 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.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and then reported what he told her.

Today is July 22 and it is my sister, Mary’s, birthday, and I just want to give her a quick shout-out in this homily. Why? Well, because I believe it is providential that she shares the same name as the saint whose feast we celebrate today, Mary Magdalene. But first I want to note she did not receive the name Mary due to being born on the feast of St. Mary Magdalene, although naming babies for feast days is a common Catholic custom.

In my home country of India, we have a very specific way of naming children, namely, they bear the names of their grandparents. For example, the firstborn son is named for his grandfather on the father’s side. The firstborn daughter is named for the grandmother on the father’s side. Hence my sister being the firstborn daughter is named for my father’s mother, Mary, not St. Mary Magdalene.

Nonetheless, it was not by accident that my sister Mary was born on the feast of St. Mary Magdalene because they share the most important trait in common: an intense love for Jesus. In the gospel today Mary Magdalene demonstrates her devotion to her Lord by staying at the tomb weeping. The gospel pericope we read this morning omitted verses 3-10 where Peter and John run to the tomb but eventually leave.

But Mary Magdalene’s love for the Lord was not a flickering flame – like the apostles’ often was – rather it was a towering inferno of undying devotion. And precisely because of that unwavering love she is the first to behold – and even to touch – the resurrected Jesus. And further, her love uniquely qualified her to be sent as “the apostle to the apostles.” Jesus says to her, “Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

My sister Mary attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville. My brother got the brains in the family and I obviously got the good looks. And my sister got both: brains and beauty! But my sister was endowed by more than natural gifts, she also had the supernatural gift of faith in abundance. So in her free time she volunteered with the Nashville Dominican Nuns and discerned a possible religious vocation.

Today, my sister is happily married to Dr. Anthony Gulde, a dentist and devout Catholic. They have five children, and the oldest, Raichel, is considering a religious vocation, and the second son, Jacob, is pondering the possibility of priesthood. In other words, the apple has not fallen far from the tree; like produces like. Like Mary Magdalene shared her faith with the apostles, so my sister shares her faith with her children.

There is another respect in which my sister and today’s saint share a similar calling. My sister works at her parish church as the director of the OCIA program. Her role is to help people who are falling in love with Jesus to discover the untold riches of that faith in the Catholic Church.

What job could be more satisfying than bringing hungry people to be fed at the eternal banquet of the Eucharist? That Eucharistic Food of Bread and Wine is precisely whar Mary Magdalene saw, the risen and glorified Body and Blood of the Victor over sin and death.

And by the way, that is why Catholics are not cannibals, as some people accuse us. Cannibals eat the bodies of dead people. Catholics, by contrast, consume the Body and Blood of Someone who is far more alive than you and me. And consuming his living Body and Blood gives us hope to live forever, too. That’s why we come to Mass (in case you didn’t know).

And incidentally, like providence hitting us over the head with a baseball bat to get our attention, do you know the name of the parish where my sister and her family attend Mass and where she works on the church staff? You guessed it: St. Mary Magdalene. My sister and today’s saint share a lot of cool stuff in common.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

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