Third station
The Risen Christ appears to Mary Magdalene

 

P  We adore, O Risen Christ, and we bless you. 

A  Because by your resurrection you have given life to the world.

R From the Gospel according to John (Jn 20,11-18)
<But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father;  but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; ad she told them that he had said these things to her.>

G1 John and Peter, returned to Jerusalem and wait for something new. Mary of Magdala  remains there instead: through the veil full of tears she looks at the grave. To the angels that question her she reveals the motive for her weeping: "They have taken away my Lord". She is as if paralysed with pain. Jesus still unrecognised calls her by name: "Mary". The heart of Magdalene is ablaze, the face lights up with joy, the spirit kindles: it is He who pronounced her name in his own characteristic way. Maria, called by name, responds with  another name full of affection and immense respect: "Rabboni" (Teacher).

G2 The world of today has still so much to learn. Woman, considered incapable understanding the Scriptures, legally forbidden to testify, is chosen as the first witness to the resurrection. History puts on another sense. The Risen Christ entrusts a mission to a woman: to announce the good news to the apostles (to be an apostle to the apostles), to shout that the life is alive; that the road blocked for centuries to more than half the human kind, the women, has been finally opened. With the richness of femininity, the woman becomes in the Church the depository of joy and life. She is a new Eve for the new era of Two thousand.

A  Rejoice, O Virgin Mother Mary:
    Christ is risen, Alleluia.

P Risen Jesus, you call me because you love me. In my daily life may I recognise you like Mary Magdalene. You say to me: "Go to my brethren and say to them". Help me to travel across the roads of the world, in my family, in the school, in the office, in the factory, in so many activities of the leisure time, to perform with great care this task of announcing Life to the world.
A  Amen.

A  O Mary, temple  of the Holy Spirit
    guide us, the witnesses to the Risen Christ
    on the path of light.