Readings for Today's Mass can be found here

Feast of Saint John, Apostle and evangelist

The Gospel according to John 20: 1a, 2-8

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene 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 do not 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.

REFLECTION:

I always wondered why Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene first after His death? Why not John the Apostle who was at His feet when He died? John was the Apostle whom Jesus entrusted to take care of His mother. Or why didn't He appear to His mother first? What was so special about Mary Magdalene to have such an honor?

Could it be because Mary Magdalene was the most broken of His disciples? She had a very broken life until Jesus turned her life around.

We are all broken from the moment we are born; we are torn away from the comfort of our mother's womb and then placed in a warm hospital bed. When Jesus was born, He had to leave Heaven and be placed in a bed made of itchy straws in a cold cave. He was already rejected, because there was no room for Him in any inns or people's hearts as they had no compassion for His mother. How can you turn away a pregnant woman that is evidently due for labor shortly?

During this Christmas season, will you recognize Jesus in your brokenness? Whichever situation He was in He brought out the OK in being brOKen so that we may learn to laugh and love; live a new life.