Tag: St Mary Magdalen

The emphasis in the spiritual life is on our searching for God. It is difficult not to admit this from the abundance of scriptural sources and the the witness of the saints. We know the accent of seeking when St Benedict makes this the key vocation matter in his Holy Rule. Sometimes I wonder, however, if it is more of realization that we do not find Him, but He has found us. Do we believe that God seeks us? Perhaps it is the experience of both of God seeking us, and we Him. I am thinking of the poem of Francis Thompson, “The Hound of Heaven.”

Nevertheless, St. Gregory the Great describes in terms applicable to anyone seriously engaged in the search for God:  “At first she sought but did not find, but when she persevered it happened that she found what she was looking for. When our desires are not satisfied they grow stronger… Holy desires likewise grow with anticipation… Anyone who succeeds in attaining the truth has burned with such a love.”

Back to St. Benedict. His first idea for his school is that prayer should be central to those who seek God. Like the saints teach us, you can’t find the Lord without spending time with Him, listening to Him, learning from him and praising Him. Mother Church gives various methods of prayer: in her liturgies like the Sacrifice of the Mass (Divine Liturgy) and the Divine Office, in Eucharistic Adoration, lectio divina, the Holy Rosary, silence, quiet works of charity, and just simply opening your heart and mind to God, giving Him praise and asking for His help and intercession. Then there is obedience to all of the above and to our spiritual director, the way of humility and the experience of community.

We don’t find God alone, but with and through others; so with St. Mary Magdalen, may we search and find God. May the Magadeln pray for us.

The entire Church rejoices today on this feast of Saint Mary Magdalen, the first to witness to the Resurrection of the Savior. From Magdala, a region in northern Galilee she is the Apostle to the Apostles (a title given by Aquinas) an an evangelist announcing the joyful message of Easter to the whole world. The Magdalene’s name is mentioned in the Gospels 12 times, more than any of the 12.

Mary’s known for her intensity in adhering to the Lord. From her we learn in a real way what it means to live the attitude of gratitude before God: we can think poignantly of her being released of the seven demons driven out by Jesus. This event of meeting the Lord personally becomes her mission statement for the building up the nascent Body of Christ (the Church) at that time, and for all time.

God’s method of drawing us to Himself if using a woman reputed to have had difficulties with a wholistic and life-giving faith. Hence, one can posit that without Mary’s witness we would never have heard of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection. Theologically she is the key for the soul seeking, more, thirsting for God.

As one Cistercian priest-monk said, “We love Mary Magdalen because of the way in which the boldness of her love for Jesus made her stare death down beyond all human logic or hope.  For her there is no question that the Messiah of Israel, sent to redeem all humankind, and the Beloved of her most intimate heart are one and the same person. She perseveres in weeping at the entrance to the tomb because she perseveres in her love: the presence and actions of Jesus in her own life had taught her that love is indeed stronger than death. Against all odds and logic, in a sort of sublime madness, she clings to her Jesus dead or alive; and she does not reason about a her relative physical strength when she says ironically to the man she thought was the gardener, “Tell me where you laid him, and I will take him away.” Because she loves Jesus so much, she is prepared to carry his body away single-handed.”

On June 3, 2016, Archbishop Arthur Roche (of the Congregation for Worship) wrote: “It is right that the liturgical celebration of this woman has the same level of feast given to the celebration of the apostles in the general Roman calendar and highlights the special mission of this woman who is an example and model for every woman in the church.”

A recent prayer for the Year of Mercy of Pope Francis identifies Saint Mary Magdalen: “Your loving gaze freed Zacchaeus and Matthew from being enslaved by money; the adulteress and Magdalene from seeking happiness only in created things; made Peter weep after his betrayal, and assured paradise to the repentant thief.”

Let us attend to the Magdalen for our journey of faith.

Saint Mary Magdalen is honored today on our liturgical calendar. We know her for a variety of reasons but the most important one is that she is the first to encounter the Risen Christ. This meeting gave her the duty and responsibility to announce the Risen Lord to the Apostles. According to the Gospel of Saint John Mary is thus honored as the Apostle to the Apostles.

Pious tradition speaks of Saint Mary Magdalen being dedicated to prayer, and solitude. Saint Mary is the patron saint of those religious and laity committed to the contemplative life. The Order of Preachers have Mary as a co-patron, also as the patron of preachers.

Saint Mary Magdalen calls us to rejoice in the Risen Christ, to witness Him to the world, and to re-dedicate ourselves to prayer.

The Church remembers liturgically the woman called the Apostles to the Apostles, the penitent woman who loved the Lord with a totality of being (Luke 8:2-3); from Bethany to the tomb to new life Mary give witness to something and to someone amazing! It is said that seven devils had been cast out of Mary (Mark 16:9). She is named as standing at the foot of the cross with the Blessed Mother and St John (Mark 15:40; Matthew 27:56; John 19:25; Luke 23:49). She saw Christ laid in the tomb, and she was the first recorded witness of the Resurrection. She met the Divine Presence, received forgiveness, and followed the Him to the Cross and was the first to witness the resurrection. The meeting of Jesus is the crucial point here. Tradition holds that Mary died in AD 68. The Greek Church says that she retired to Ephesus with the Mary, the Mother of God. Some of her relics are in Constantinople and others in France.

The Magdalen is the patron saint of those in process (journey) of conversion, of monks and nuns, of Dominicans, those who struggle with sexuality, southern France, and the Diocese of Salt Lake City.

Of St. Mary Magdalen, Bishop Alfred A. Curtis had this to say:

“We find in this Saint all that is noble, precious, beautiful and admirable; her creatures and contempt of self – and the root of all, her supreme and ultimate confidence in God was founded on the knowledge of her misery and nothingness, which made her despise self. She knew our Lord, He had reproved her for her crimes, but she turned to Him with her whole heart, and sought Him at a time and place that men might call unseemly. Oh, what a gift to know and loathe one’s self, and at the same time to believe that God does not loathe us! Let us ask St. Magdalen to get for us that confidence which she possessed in such a supreme degree.” (The Sisters of the Visitation of Wilmington (1913). The Life and Characteristics of Right Reverend Alfred A. Curtis, D.D. New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons.)