The Feast of Mary Magdalene 22nd July 2007
Collect
Almighty God, whose Son restored Mary Magdalene to health of mind and body and called her to be a witness to his resurrection: forgive our sins and heal us by your grace, that we may serve you in the power of his risen life; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
First reading - Song of Solomon 3.1-4
All night long on my bed I looked for the one my heart loves; I looked for him but did not find him. I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not find him. The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. “Have you seen the one my heart loves?” Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the room of the one who conceived me.
Please join in the Psalm refrain:
As the running deer seeks the flowing brook, even so my soul longs for you, my God.
Second reading - 2 Corinthians 5.14-17
14) The love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.
15) And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.
16) From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.
17) So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
The Gospel
Gospel - John 20.1-2,11-18
1) Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.
2) So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’
11) But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb;
12) and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.
13) They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’
14) When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
15) Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ 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.’
16) Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher).
17) Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’
18) Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Post-communion
God of life and love, whose risen Son called Mary Magdalene by name and sent her to tell of his resurrection to his apostles: in your mercy, help us, who have been united with him in this eucharist, to proclaim the good news that he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.