Fr. Thomas Keating continues to demonstrate how Mary Magdalene’s initial encounter with the risen Jesus served as a guide and catalyst to lead her through the contemplative journey.
… Mary [Magdalene] is sent to be the apostle of the apostles. What makes an apostle is divine love, nothing else. “You, my brothers [and sisters],” Jesus says through her,” have been initiated into the reign of God, into my experience of the Father as Abba, the God of infinite compassion.”
Jesus, in the plan of God, has opened the way to the highest states of consciousness. The Garden of Eden is both a memory of what could be and a preview of what is to come. In the Garden of the Resurrection the full revelation of the mystery of Christ is unveiled. And with that knowledge and experience, Mary reaches the third level of Contemplative prayer, the abiding state of divine union, which is to see God giving himself in everything. This is the transformed consciousness of inner resurrection. And this is the Good News she was sent to announce to the apostles…
Like Mary Magdalene, Christ is also calling us by name as we celebrate the feast of his resurrection.
Excerpts from The Mystery of Christ by Thomas Keating