Mary Magdalene was weeping one moment, and then became overjoyed in the next.
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When we are sad or depressed, it is tempting to give up and fall into even greater despair. However, the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ resurrection encourage us to persevere and trust that God can bring a greater good out of our sadness.
Alonso de Andrade, in the 19th-century book Daily meditations on the mysteries of our holy faith, highlights the perseverance of St. Mary Magdalene and how she was rewarded for it.
Consider how St. Peter, St. John, and St. Mary Magdalene came to the sepulchre to seek Christ, and how the disciples went away because they found not the body of the Lord; but St. Mary Magdalene remained at the door weeping his absence, and merited to see, alive and glorious, him whom she sought as dead. Learn that it is not sufficient to seek Christ in order to find him, unless, like St. Mary Magdalene, we seek with perseverance, and that those deserve to enjoy the glory of his resurrection who, with lively faith and devotion, seek, follow, and contemplate his Passion and death, like this holy penitent seated by the tomb.
Furthermore, the story of Mary Magdalene’s encounter of Jesus at the tomb reassures us that God can instantly turn our sadness into joy.
[H]ow easy is it for God in one instant to console the poor, and to change wailing into mirth and sorrow into joy. Blessed is [he who] trusts in him. Contemplate the delight of this saint at seeing the Beloved of her soul, whom she was weeping as dead, more glorious and more resplendent than the sun; with what ardor she cast herself at his Feet, where she had found the remedy of her sins … Draw from all this great profit for your soul, confiding in the Lord that he will comfort you in your distress, and that, as with St. Mary Magdalene, so will he double your joy, fulfilling your desires more perfectly than you can conceive.
If you are in a difficult place in your life right now, trust in God and his love for you. He may not give you joy today, but if you persevere in faith, he can change that sorrow in into a joy you can’t imagine.
Life may seem bleak, but God is in control: “He is not God of the dead, but of the living” (Luke 20:38).
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