Early on Easter morning, at the very instant when the holy soul of Christ re-entered and revived His sacred body in the sepulcher, Mary experienced a mystical ecstasy in which her grief and sorrow were transmuted into ineffable joy and bliss. Just at that moment, after knocking, St. John stepped into her oratory, and finding her in the midst of a heavenly splendor and utterly transfigured with supernatural exultation, he understood that his Lord had just then arisen from the tomb.
Meanwhile the glorious body and soul of the Redeemer came forth from the holy sepulcher shining with all the brilliance of His divinity, and the risen Lord immediately showed Himself to His Blessed Mother, together with all the Saints and Patriarchs of the Old Testament. He was clothed in a long, white robe with a mantle that waved gently in the breeze as He advanced, reflecting all the colors of the rainbow, while His large wounds sparkled brightly.
Mary prostrated herself on the ground and humbly worshipped her resurrected Son until He took her hand, raised her, and drew her to Himself in a marvelous mystical embrace. Then in an ecstasy of fervent joy and love she heard a Voice saying to her: “My beloved, ascend higher!” And at the same time she was given a more profound and intimate vision of the Divinity than she had ever had before.
Next she turned to the holy Patriarchs and the souls of the Blessed, and as they bowed before her, she recognized and spoke to her beloved parents, St. Ann and St. Joachim, her good husband St. Joseph, and her friend St. John the Baptist. All of them honored her as the Mother of the Redeemer of the world. And together they praised the Lord with hymns for His glorious victory over death, until He left them in order to show Himself to Mary Magdalen. Later when Mary Magdalen and the others came to Mary and told her about Jesus’ appearing to them, she listened quietly and kindly and strengthened their faith by quoting some of the scriptural prophecies concerning the Resurrection of the Messias.
During the week that followed, when Thomas arrived and hesitated to believe that the Master had indeed risen from the dead, the other Apostles went to Mary and complained about his obstinacy. Seeing that they were becoming angry with him, she calmed them by assuring them that Thomas’ disbelief would in the end bring great benefit to others and glory to God, and she urged them to wait and hope and not to be so easily disturbed. Meanwhile she prayed fervently for Thomas, and therefore the Saviour soon enlightened him by allowing him to touch His sacred wounds.
This article is taken from a chapter in The Life of Mary as Seen by the Mystics by Raphael Brown, which is available from TAN Books.
