BE A MARY OF MAGDALEN, NOT A MARITES

Listening to the Spirit

O God, who on this day, through your Only Begotten Son, have conquered death and unlocked for us the path to eternity, grant, we pray, that we who keep the solemnity of the Lord’s Resurrection may, through the renewal brought by your Spirit, rise up in the light of life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

Listening to the Word

John 20:1-9

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

Reflection

HAPPY EASTER! ALLELUIA! THE LORD IS RISEN, ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA

Today we celebrate the greatest truth of our faith and for all time: Jesus is risen. God wins. God conquered death and given us hope that sufferings have expiration dates.

The Gospel today offers us the testimony of a woman named Mary Magdalene. She is a woman of faith, love, and mission—standing in contrast to a name commonly associated by Filipinos with gossip: Marites. Here in the Philippines, we call someone “Marites” when that person loves to talk, spread rumors, and gossip—discussing everyone’s business except her own. Marites comes from the tagalog expression, “Mare ano ang latest?” (Mare-tes). Some netizens even prepared an acronym: Master of Arts in Relaying Information Through Exaggerated Storytelling (MARITES).

This Easter Sunday, we are called to be Mary of Magdala. She was once broken, wounded, and lost. But Jesus healed her and gave her a new life. After experiencing His love and mercy, she followed Him with all her heart. On that first Easter morning, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. While others were hiding in fear, she was searching—not to gossip but to find the Lord. Her heart was full of love and longing. She didn’t find a dead body. She encountered the Risen Christ. And what did she do after that encounter? She ran to tell the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” (John 20:18). She became the first witness of the Resurrection, the “apostle to the apostles.”

The temptation of being a “Marites” is real, even in Church communities and religious houses. Instead of proclaiming the Good News, some are more interested in sharing chismis than Christ. But Easter is not about gossip — it’s about Good News! Let us stop talking about others and start talking to Jesus. Let us not be people who live in the darkness of hearsay, but in the light of the Resurrection.

As baptized Christians, and especially as religious and missionaries, we are called to be like Mary Magdalene — to seek Jesus, to recognize Him, and to announce Him to the world.

This is our Easter mission: