July 19, 2026•Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Parish Family,

Each year on July 22, the Church celebrates the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, one of the most remarkable disciples in the Gospel. Pope Francis elevated her celebration from a memorial to a feast, placing it alongside the feasts of the Apostles. It is a fitting recognition for the woman whom the early Church called the Apostle to the Apostles.

Mary Magdalene’s story is not one of perfection, but of transformation. Jesus freed her from the burdens that had weighed her down, and from that day forward she became one of His most faithful followers. She remained with Him when many others fled. She stood near the cross on Calvary. She watched as His body was laid in the tomb. And before dawn on Easter morning, while the world was still wrapped in darkness, she went to the tomb out of love.  She expected to find a body. Instead, she encountered the Risen Lord.

Perhaps the most moving moment comes when Jesus simply speaks her name: “Mary.” In that instant, grief gives way to joy, confusion to clarity, despair to hope. She recognizes Him, and He entrusts her with the first proclamation of the Resurrection: “Go to my brothers and tell them…” The first person commissioned to announce the greatest news in history was Mary Magdalene.

Her witness reminds us that Christianity is not first about ideas or rules. It is about an encounter with the living Christ. The Lord continues to call each of us by name. He meets us in our fears, our failures, our grief, and our ordinary lives. When we recognize His voice, He sends us forth to share His hope with others.

Our world desperately needs that witness today. So many people carry burdens of loneliness, anxiety, disappointment, and uncertainty. Like Mary Magdalene, we are called not merely to believe that Christ is risen, but to live as people who have encountered Him. Our words, our kindness, our forgiveness, our service, and our joy become ways of announcing, “I have seen the Lord.”

As we celebrate Saint Mary Magdalene, may we ask for her courage to remain close to Christ in every season of life, her faith to recognize Him even through tears, and her zeal to proclaim the Good News to a world longing for hope.  Saint Mary Magdalene, pray for us.

Grace and peace!
Father Neil Sullivan