Today's Thoughts...

​Today’s Thoughts: Today is the feast of St. Mary Magdalene. She is referred to as the Apostle to the Apostles. Mary was the first proclaimer of the resurrection a story we read today from John’s Gospel (John 20: 1-2, 11-18). The interesting thing about Mary’s encounter with Jesus is that at first, she does not recognize him. You might think that after following Jesus for so long it would be hard not to recognize him.
 
Now some might say it was because of his resurrected body but I think it was because Mary did not expect to see Jesus alive.  Have you ever been in a situation when you did not expect to see someone? When the person surprises us with their presence there always seems to be a moment when we don’t recognize them. They haven’t changed, they are the same person but our eyes and brain just were not expecting them. Then they do or say something that is familiar and we recognize them. It doesn’t make sense and once we realize our mistake, we wonder how we did not recognize her or him but it happens.
 
The element of surprise can often catch us off guard. Perhaps today that is a good way to think about the presence of God in our life. We have a God of surprises and at any moment of our day God can walk into our midst. Are we ready? Or will we miss the moment because we are not expecting God to be there?
 
Through the intersession of St. Mary Magdalene may we be open today to be surprised by God! Have a great Monday everyone!