Homily for Tuesday in the Octave of Easter

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We pick up John's Gospel today on the Tuesday of the Octave of Easter where we left off on Easter Sunday morning. Mary Magdalene was the first to the tomb on Easter morning, then she became the apostle to the apostles, and ran to tell Peter and the beloved disciple, who in turn ran and discovered the empty tomb. Peter and the beloved disciple then returned home, but Mary remained weeping outside the tomb. Her devotion led her to be the first to arrive at the tomb to venerate it. Her devotion caused her to remain behind at the tomb after Peter and the beloved disciple left. She is the first to arrive and the last to leave, and she receives a double blessing for her devotion. She is the first to see the empty tomb. She is the first to see and to hear the Resurrected Jesus.

We see at the dawn of Jesus' Resurrection, just as we saw at the dawn of His Incarnation, that the Church to which Jesus makes Himself known is decidedly and primarily feminine. The angel appears first to the virgin Mary and announces that she will be the first to see and to hear and to touch the word made flesh. Here on the morning of the Resurrection, the angels clad in white appear first to Mary Magdalene, a woman, and she is the first to hear and to see the new Jesus, reborn from the tomb. Rightfully so, the virgin Mary is called the Queen of the apostles, and Mary Magadalene is known as the apostle to the apostles - the one sent to those sent. In both cases, the apostles, who will receive the commission from the Church to carry the message of the Resurrection to the ends of the earth, receive the Good News of the Incarnation and the Resurrection from the women chosen by God to first receive it. +