Saint Mary Magdalene’s Story
Except for the mother of Jesus, few women are more honored in the Bible than Mary Magdalene. Yet she could well be the patron of the slandered, since there has been a persistent legend in the Church that she is the unnamed sinful woman who anointed the feet of Jesus in Luke 7:36-50.
Most Scripture scholars today point out that there is no scriptural basis for confusing the two women. Mary Magdalene, that is, “of Magdala,” was the one from whom Christ cast out “seven demons” (Luke 8:2)—an indication at the worst, of extreme demonic possession or possibly, severe illness.
Writing in the New Catholic Commentary, Father Wilfrid J. Harrington, O.P., says that “seven demons” “does not mean that Mary had lived an immoral life—a conclusion reached only by means of a mistaken identification with the anonymous woman of Luke 7:36.” In the Jerome Biblical Commentary, Father Edward Mally, S.J., agrees that she “is not…the same as the sinner of Luke 7:37, despite the later Western romantic tradition about her.”
Mary Magdalene was one of the many “who were assisting them [Jesus and the Twelve] out of their means.” She was one of those who stood by the cross of Jesus with his mother. And, of all the “official” witnesses who might have been chosen for the first awareness of the Resurrection, she was the one to whom that privilege was given. She is known as the “Apostle to the Apostles.”
Reflection
Mary Magdalene has been a victim of mistaken identity for almost 20 centuries. Yet she would no doubt insist that it makes no difference. We are all sinners in need of the saving power of God, whether our sins have been lurid or not. More importantly, we are all “unofficial” witnesses of the Resurrection.
“Mary Magdalene has been a victim of mistaken identity for almost 20 centuries.”
I never understood by it’s said that she was a prostitute. Not once in the Bible does it say, or even imply, that. What kind of people would invent something so disparaging? Democrats didn’t exist when this fallacy began.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
First Reading:
From: Song of Solomon 3:1-4
Third canto: Nocturne
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[1] Upon my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves: I sought him but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer. [2] “I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves.” I sought him, but found him not. [3] The watchmen found me, as they went about the city. “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?” [4] Scarcely had I passed them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.
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Commentary:
3:1-5. This canto deals with a second stage of love. It is night-time, in the city; the lover is absent, and the beloved searches for him until she finds him. The speaker is the beloved. United in love with the one she loves (v. 5), she looks back, recalling her first fruitless search (v. 1), and what happened then and her second failed attempt to find him (v. 2); then, at her third attempt -- success (vv. 3-4). The canto in this way describes a trial she has undergone; she overcomes, thanks to her perseverance. ‘‘If you want to stay close to Christ, seek out suffering and do not fear it. For sometimes Christ is sooner found in the midst of bodily torments and in the hands of the torturers. Scarcely had I passed them, says the Song (v. 4). After a very short time, then, you too will he freed from the hands of those who persecute you, and no longer will you he subject to the powers of this world. Christ will come out to meet you, and he will not allow temptations to threaten you for very long. The one who seeks Christ in this way and finds him can say: I held him, and would not let him go until I brought him into my mother’s house, the home of the one who bore me in her womb. What are your mother and your home if not the most intimate and hidden parts of your soul? Keep your house well guarded; keep the most secluded rooms well cleaned, so that the Holy Spirit may come to live in an immaculate home […]. The ones who look for Christ in this way, who ask for him in this way, will never he abandoned by him; he will come to visit them often because he is with us until the end of the world’’ (St Ambrose, De virginitate, 12, 68, 74-75; 13, 77-78).