At the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, in front of the altar of Mary Magdalene, right where the Gospel according to John describes the meeting of the woman who first met the risen Lord, the Church of Jerusalem celebrated the feast dedicated to the Saint of Magdala on Wednesday, July 22. The celebration, presided over by the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Ielpo, together with the Discretorium, the friars of the Custody, and the numerous faithful present for the commemoration of the first witness of the Resurrection, is one of the most important moments for the Christian community.

The feast of Magdalene recalls, in fact, how pain can be transformed into joy. Because loss can also become an encounter with Christ. In the homily, Fr. Ielpo wanted to emphasize this spiritual passage by proposing to the faithful to deeply understand the journey of Mary Magdalene. The images of the Gospel, in fact, show us “a woman who passes from weeping to joy, from searching to encountering, from loss to mission”. She is the same person, but with two different perspectives. On one hand, there is the Magdalene who remains astonished and dismayed before the empty Tomb. On the other hand, however, there is a woman who, unlike the disciples who returned home, remains even though she has no answers. Mary, explained the Custos, “weeps because she loves” and “her weeping does not arise from despair, but from fidelity”.

This perseverance, in a world where anguish, pain, and blood seem to reign, of which the Holy Land itself is a witness, must be a beacon for every faithful person. “How many times do we too find ourselves before our tombs: those of war, of divisions, of disappointed hopes, of the people we have lost, of the struggles of our vocation”, recalled Ielpo, “there are tears that become prayer, tears that prepare the encounter with God”. And it is precisely this encounter that was at the center of the Custos's other reflection, that is, starting from the questions Jesus addresses to the Magdalene: “Why are you weeping?” and “Whom are you looking for?” For Fr. Ielpo, it is precisely this second question that must be the center of the faith of every Christian. “If we only look for what we have lost, we will remain in front of a tomb. If, on the other hand, we continue to seek Christ, then even the tomb can become the place of encounter”.

Thus, in the heart of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, a few steps from the Aedicula, the feast of Saint Mary Magdalene ensures that every year the community of friars and Christians of Jerusalem remembers not only a place, but above all a watershed moment in the life of every person. The testimony of the meeting between Jesus and the Magdalene points out to Christians of all times the path that leads from weeping to faith. Because, as Father Custos explained, “if we continue to seek Him, even in the darkest nights, we will discover that He is always the first to seek us, to call us by name, and to send us as witnesses of the hope born from the empty tomb”.