July 22, 2022
Dear Friends,
I started out my homily from today’s mass on the Feast Day of St. Mary Magdalene asking a simple question, what is the first thing you think of when you think of Mary Magdalene? It is a very simple question, but as we know, with me, there is normally an underlying message. I asked this because if you were to do a Google search history and let it autofill the question you are looking for, it can be somewhat interesting to see what people are searching. The first five questions asked when I typed in “Was Mary Magdalene . . .” were: was she possessed? Jesus’s mother? Jesus’s wife? Lazarus’s sister? the woman at the well? All logical questions on some level; however, when mass began, the opening prayer did not touch on any of the questions. It mentions that Mary Magdalene was the first-person Jesus appeared to after His death and resurrection. My guess, as I said at mass this morning, is aside from Jesus’s mother, when we first think of Mary, we tend to fit into the questions people are asking on Google, not what scripture reminds us.
What I just wrote was not the planned opening to this letter, but it ties into what I had already decided was going to be today’s wisdom. Sadly, the whimsy will just most likely be the pun at the end. I stumbled upon a quote, and it was one that resounded with me as something we all need to hear at times. Everyone makes mistakes in their lives, but that doesn’t mean they have to pay for them for the rest of their life. Sometimes good people make bad choices. It doesn’t mean they are bad people; it means they are human. More than human, it means they are like us. None of us is perfect, yet we should strive to be. None of us is infallible, but we can strive to it. Sometimes, we need a reminder of our imperfections. Last week, we heard from our Deacons about Martha and Mary and how important it is to be both Martha and Mary. It is also important for us to remember that who we were, is not who we are. While people may remember us from our past, it doesn’t define us. If we think back to when we were younger, I am sure we all had a friend that we may have thought to ourselves, this person is going to be a horrible mother/father and yet years later were amazing in that role because they grew up.
Being human is part of who we are. Yes, because of our humanity we will make mistakes. We can learn from them and grow if we are open to it. While it is not fun to admit our faults or mistakes, it is how we grow as a human. We need to remember that. Just as we hope that people will see our growth, so too do we need to be open to that same thing for others. Recognize people grow, move towards forgiving the past and go from there. While some people may remember us in a certain way, we do not want people to remember us and have their own Google history of questions that pop up for our name, Mary Magdalene is remembered in the church as the one that Jesus first appeared to after His death/resurrection, not as the sister of Lazarus or someone that was possessed. God sees us for who we are, and we must never forget that. It is what we should strive for in our own lives, what others think or question should not matter.
God Bless,
Fr. Brian
P.S. What do you call a factory that makes just okay products? A satisfactory.
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