Weeping at the Tomb

Woman, why are weeping? Who are you looking for? The one you seek is in your possession, and you do not know it? You have the true, the eternal joy, and yet you weep? It is within your inmost being, and you look for it without? You stand outside, weeping at the tomb? Your heart is my tomb. I am not dead there, but I take my rest in your heart, living forever. Your heart is my garden. You were right to suppose that I was the gardener. I am the new Adam. I till and care for my paradise. Your tears, your love and your longing are all my work. In your inmost being you possess me, although you do not know it, and so you look for me without. Outwardly, therefore, I will appear to you, and make you return to yourself, that in your inmost being you may find the one whom you seek outside.

Duccio di Buoninsegna, Mary Magdalen with the Risen Christ, tempera on panel, 1308-11, Lines by an anonymous monk of the 13^th century, Meditatio de Passione et Resurrectione Christi, 38; PL 184, 766.