David Carlson
- Jul 28, 2021
- 5 min read

499 When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different

Day 499 Wednesday, July 28th 2021

When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.

Announcement from Nancy McFarland who would like us to be aware of John Dear's Beatitudes Center and their series of programs on the non-violent Jesus.

Nancy is signing up for a conference in October:

Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Daniel Berrigan & Thich Nhat Hanh:”

A Two Part Zoom Conference with Jim Forest (and Rev. John Dear)

Saturday October 23 & October 30, 2021

Saturday, October 23, 2021 “Part One: Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton,” and Saturday, October 30, 2021 “Part Two: Daniel Berrigan and Thich Nhat Hanh.”

Both Sessions are early at 12 noon East Coast Time/9 am Pacific Coast Time (because Jim will be “live” in the evening from the Netherlands where he lives).

$50 total fee; each session will last up to two hours.

Jim Forest has written four great biographies of his friends, “All Is Grace” (Day); “Living with Wisdom” (Merton); “At Play in the Lions’ Den” (Berrigan); and “Eyes of Compassion” (Thich Nhat Hanh). He will speak on his friendships with them and lessons for us. Join us for this special event and help spread the word about it!

Deadline to register to be sure of receiving the link is October 15.

https://form.jotform.com/211087514703147

For more information about the Beatitudes Center and to read about all their offerings visit their website at:

https://beatitudescenter.org/programs/

Daily Reflection by Victoria:

In this reflection we revisit the introduction, video clip and homily from the celebration last Sunday

Introduction of Video Clip

The 6 minute clip you can see with the link below, mirrors the scriptural accounts of that early Easter morning at the tomb and Mary Magdalene’s visit to the Apostles in the upper room.

Victoria invites you to watch this clip like investigators: to use all your senses to inform you. And I invite you to enlist both sides of your brain: The left brain, usually associated with linear, analytical, logical, sequential and cause and effect thinking. And your right brain, usually associated with imaginative, metaphorical, holistic and Gestalt thinking…and the right brain is also where voice and facial recognition are situated.

When Mary, Ed and I were preparing for this liturgy a favorite quote kept coming back to me…and the quote is this:

said by Billy, age 4:

When someone loves you,

the way they say your name is different.

You just know that your name is safe

in their mouth.

I think this is such a profound statement. Just think about how much your name is part of your very identity, and how… just the WAY it is said by someone, especially someone who knows you…someone who really knows and loves you, and how that can affect you!

I wondered if that might have been what May felt when she heard Jesus say her name, “Mary…Mary.”

I also invite you to see images on the screen in an expanded way: simple objects like cloths, tombs, doors, and bolts…and how they might evoke new insights for you.

Click on this link to watch the video

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jkwE3P-bX6ayn_RWFBTQLtIB009ao6yM/view?usp=sharing

Gospel Reflection by Victoria:

Gospel John 20:11-18

Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting 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? Who 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 the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them,

‘I am going 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.

Homily reflections from Victoria:

• So, ends the reading of the Gospel of Mary.

• Take a minute, to paint in your mind’s eye...the setting for this Gospel...the dark days following the crucifixion...but before Pentecost. Fear has griped the disciples who have sequestered and locked themselves in an upper room.

• As you listen to this Gospel...does the image you’ve had of Mary of Magdala change in any way?

• When we hear Jesus depart, who are the ones grieving and upset?

• Who, as the text reads, “turns their hearts to the good” and what does that mean?

• Who is called upon to offer words of comfort?

• And who is the one who invites this?

• Who seems best to represent Jesus?

• How are these words of wisdom received? How do you react...how do the disciples?

Do these words seem strange and unusual to you? Why haven’t we heard them before?

• When does anger, jealousy and judgment seem to enter in... with whom.. to whom?

• And as the Gospel ends with the words... “they left and began to announce the Good News”

other questions arise...

• Who left? Who left with whom? Would their “Good News” sound similar...or different? Do you think each might offer unique camps and communities of thinking and perspectives on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus?

• Mary Magdalene is the only woman whose Gospel has survived the ages...but as we hear it tonight, some for the first time, does it offer a bit more insight into the more familiar Easter reading, from John.

Can you picture a different

• Mary mistaking Jesus for the gardener...until she hears her name whispered?

• Can you gain a different perspective when you hear Jesus tell her

“Don’t cling to me,?”

• When you hear Jesus say, “Go, find my brothers; Tell them: I am ascending to my Father and yours, My God and Your God”... How are you feeling about the possible reception Mary might get when she offers these words to her brother apostles?

• Mary proclaimed what she had seen and heard...are we called to do the same today? Are we called to announce: Christ Lives; Go; Proclaim; The Good News?

1. CHRIST LIVES: Who are the gardeners in our lives... those we’ve missed, ignored or mistaken... how is it we need to hear our name called, in order to recognize the LIVING Christ? How do I see that CHRIST LIVES in my time and culture?

2. GO: what will it take for me to GO? As I think about that dark and hidden upper room, what have I been clinging to...are there old, outdated, deadened things that I need to leave behind in order for me to GO...out that door?

3. And when I say the word: PRO CLAIM (Pro=For) (Claim=Own) What is it I lay “claim” to? What is it I truly own as my own, in order to:

4. Announce THE GOOD NEWS? What is the Good News I want to share? What is my MESSAGE to a waiting world?

• Later tonight, as our celebration comes to an end, I will invite us all to use these 4 phrases: as a blessing with one another...an opportunity “TO BLESS” and “BE BLESSED” by saying only these words.

Think about what these words mean to you:

• CHRIST LIVES!

• GO

• PROCLAIM

• The GOOD NEWS!

• And the people of God say, AMEN.

Emmaus Community in Sonoma County