When Easter morning came, someone was missing amidst the disciples. That person is the very lynchpin of the Salvation story. That person is no other person than the Blessed Virgin, Mary. She is nowhere to be seen or heard.
Where was she then?
From the Gospel of John 20:1-9, we heard how “Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciples He loved and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we do not know where they have put Him.”
So where was Our Lady when Jesus resurrected? She was the Mother of God. And she was nearby throughout the passion and she watched Her Son carry His cross.
She even watched as they drove the nails through His hands and his feet. She stood there, agonizingly and helplessly by as He was raised on the cross.
For three hours she stood on Calvary watching every drop of blood leave her son’s body. She was even at the foot of the cross when He died.
The following week, which was the Second Sunday of Easter ( Divine Mercy Sunday), the gospel once again was from John, this time from 20: 19-31.
This is when Jesus appears to all of them (except “doubting” Thomas) with the doors locked. Once again, the Mother of our Savior is never mentioned. Why is it so?
No Mother should ever want to witness such cruelty heaped upon her own child. Who could have loved Jesus more than her Mother? Doesn’t it seem absolutely unquestionable that the first person who Jesus appeared to after resurrected was His Mother?
Still, there is not a single mention of the Blessed Virgin in the Resurrection narratives.
During the year 431 A.D, the Council of Ephesus encouraged the Dogma of the Divine Maternity. This explains to us that the greatness and majesty that was bestowed on Our Lady was enclosed into a bundle of pure Love from God, who was the Father of her child and she was the Mother. Every drop of the DNA of Jesus comes from His Mother. Still, she is not mentioned in the gospel readings of the Resurrection.
So, where was our Blessed Mother, the Mother of the Risen Christ, Her only Child, on the Easter Sunday?
On this case, Pope St. John Paul the Great gave the response to the above questions, speaking from Vatican City on May 21, 1997, he said:
“The unique and special nature of the Virgins presence at Calvary, and her perfect union with the Son in his suffering on the Cross seem to portray a very particular participation on her part in the mystery of the Resurrection.”
“The Blessed Virgin, who was present at Calvary and at the Cenacle, ” probably, was also a privileged witness to the Resurrection of Christ, in this way she completes her participation in all the essential moments of the paschal mystery.
Additionally, as we embrace the risen Jesus, Mary is a sign and anticipation of humanity, which hopes to reach its fulfillment in the resurrection of the dead.”
