Mary Magdalene, stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb, and saw two angels in white siting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken my Lord, and I don't know where they laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" She thought it was the gardener and said to him, "Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni," Which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, "Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." Mary went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and then reported what he had told her.
The Gospel of the Lord.
John deals with gradual recognition: one comes to recognize as Mary Magdalene at the tomb came to recognize Jesus Christ alive standing before her.
But with the death of Jesus there was to be no 'closure': the past was not to be closed up and sealed with nostalgia. The past had flooded into the present through the open tomb: the past is no longer past, it is timeless. This is the destruction of time. “Christ yesterday and today and the same forever” (Heb. 13:8).
Pope John Paul II was a model of untiring love for God and for all men and women, Pope Benedict XVI said as he celebrated a memorial Mass for his predecessor.
"The entire life of the venerable John Paul II unfolded under the sign of this love, this ability to give himself generously without reserve, without measure and without calculation," Pope Benedict said March 29 during his homily at the Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.
Using the Mass readings for March 29, Pope Benedict said Pope John Paul had many of the same traits as the "suffering servant" described in the reading from the Book of Isaiah.
"The servant acts with indestructible firmness, with an energy that does not lessen until he has realized the task he was assigned," the pope said. "He presents himself with the strength of his convictions and it will be the Holy Spirit that God places in him who gives him the ability to act with meekness and strength, assuring his success in the end."
"That which the inspired prophet says can be applied to our beloved John Paul II: the Lord called him to his service and, entrusting him with increasingly greater responsibility, accompanied him with his grace and his constant assistance."
"During his long pontificate, he did all he could to proclaim justice with firmness, without weakness or hesitation, especially when he faced resistance, hostility and refusal," the pope said.
Pope Benedict said his predecessor knew he was being led by God "and this allowed him to exercise a very fruitful ministry, for which, once again, we give fervid thanks to God."
"Love does not calculate, does not measure, does not count the cost and does not erect barriers, but knows how to give with joy, seeks only the good of the other and overcomes pettiness, stinginess, grudges and the closure that men sometimes carry in their hearts," the pope said.
"He let himself be used up for Christ, for the church and for the whole world; his was a suffering lived for love and with love until the very end," Pope Benedict said.
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