GRIZABELLA

Memorial of St. Mary Magdalene

Jn 20:1-2, 11-18

T.S. Eliot wrote a poem that later was made by Andrew Lloyd Weber into a musical play entitled, “Cats”. The climax of the play happens in the Jellicle Moon, where one cat character, Grizabella, is chosen to go to cat heaven and be reborn into a new cat life. The choice is unexpected, even shocking, for Grizabella is the most unlikely candidate for canonization. She is an outcast in the cat community. In her tattered clothing, she represents the so called “street people” of society. Worse her fellow feline consider her to be the curse of their race. Yet to the shame of those who belittle and ridicule her, those who think that they are better choices for rebirth and entrance into cat heaven because they are of a better breed, Grizabella is chosen and exalted. An audience awed by the play cannot help but feel the urge to stand up and cheer for Grizabella. Do you know why? Because Grizabella is more than just a counterpart of Mary Magdalene; she is the mirror of anyone in the audience!

Grizabella is the reflection of each of us: sinners yet loved, wounded yet chosen, hopeless yet made into signs of hope. But where Cats can only awaken our deepest hopes for another and better life, the love of the Lord confirms these expectations as true. In the musicale, as Grizabella is transformed into a new cat with a new cat life she sings to welcome the dawning day: “Daylight, I must wait for the sunrise, I must think of a new life. And I mustn’t give in. When the dawn comes tonight will be a memory, too. And a new day will begin.” This is Grizabella’s song. This is also Mary Magdalene’s. This is our song, too.

However dark our life may be, remember that Jesus already conquered darkness by the light of His Resurrection. However wounded we become, Jesus already has the healing we need. He always has. No matter how down-and-out we are, like Magdalene and Grizabella, there is always hope for us that a new life would begin.

I heard it said that the world is at its darkest just before the first streaks of light cut across the sky. We wait in silence for the voice that calls us by name, the same voice that called out Mary Magdalene from the tomb she wanted to linger on. We grope in darkness for the touch of Him who will make us understand what happiness is.

There are many others who seek for that touch. There are countless who long to hear that voice. Having heard His voice and felt His touch, let us be His voice and touch. By loving like Jesus, let us make them understand what happiness is, and a new dawn will begin.