CONTACT: “O GOD, WHOSE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON ENTRUSTED MARY MAGDALENE BEFORE ALL OTHERS WITH ANNOUNCING THE GREAT JOY OF THE RESURRECTION, GRANT, WE PRAY, THAT THROUGH HER INTERCESSION AND EXAMPLE WE MAY PROCLAIM THE LIVING CHRIST AND COME TO SEE HIM REIGNING IN YOUR GLORY. WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU IN THE UNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, GOD, FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN”.
Song 3:1-4b or 2Cor 5:14-17 and Jn 20:1-2,11-18
Today we celebrate the feast of Mary Magdalene, also known as “The Apostle to the Apostles”. Mother Church raised this celebration, which was a Memorial, to the status of a feast. It is therefore no longer a memorial but a feast. This is because of the role Mary Magdalene played in the spread of the Good News.
Mary Magdalene came from a town called Magdala near Tiberias on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Accordingly, she was the one Jesus cast out seven demons (Mk 16:9), also known as “the seven deadly sins”. She was among the women who assisted Christ and the apostles as they travelled and preached the Good News. It was this Mary who stood at the foot of the cross of Christ with the Lord’s Mother and John the Beloved when the other apostles fled. She helped bury the Lord’s body, and on Easter morning she went to complete the burial. She became the first to see the risen Master, and she went and announced to the disciples that, “I have seen the Lord”, and then reported what he told her (Jn 20:18).
St. Alphonsus Liguori said at one time in commenting on the life of St. Mary Magdalene that, “When you commit any sin, repent of it at once and resolve to amend. If it is a grievous sin, confess it as soon as possible”. Indeed, this was the life of Mary Magdalene. She was living with seven deadly sins or seven grievous sins as devils. She knew she was a sinfully possessed person who needed God’s mercy, love and forgiveness. As soon as she got the opportunity, she did not spare it, but came weeping before the Lord for forgiveness and healing. According to St. John, she was ‘Mary of Bethany’ (and thus the sister of Martha), who ‘sat at the Lord’s feet’ and listened spellbound to his every word.
The portion of the Song of Songs, our first reading we meditate on, is about a young woman yearning for her loved one. She is so concerned about her lover’s whereabouts that she arose in the middle of the night to search for him. Truly, when you love someone, you will do all you can to ensure the safety of the person and care for his or her needs, even at a cost to your personal comfort. On an ordinary or human level, such a love is demonstrated most often in small actions like getting your spouse a glass of water, leaving work early to attend some function your child is involved in, or sacrificing your personal comfort to tend to the needs of a friend. Mary Magdalene really loved Jesus genuinely. She was concerned about Jesus’ whereabouts from the Tomb. She was ready to search for Jesus. She was all out about the safety of Jesus’ Body in the Tomb. Like Mary Magdalene, all of us sinners, our lover is Jesus, the Messiah who came to save. He gave his life as ransom for all sinners. What love is greater than this? Like Mary Magdalene, who sacrificed her time and resources (think about the litre of costly oil made from genuine aromatic nard she used in anointing Jesus’ feet and dried them with her hair; Cf. Jn 12:3ff) to care for Jesus. What can I also offer Jesus in return for his unconditional love for me?
Let us, like Mary Magdalene, be apostles (disciples) to fellow human beings as we bring the joyful Good News about the resurrection of the Lord to them. This is not necessarily preaching to the world or carrying the bible in our armpits or hands and proclaiming it at the roadside or in market squares, but by being a life witness wherever we find ourselves. A bit of saintly, holy and good life we live in our families, communities, workplaces and in the world is a greater and more powerful sermon/homily than any preached sermon. May Saint Mary Magdalene intercede for us. Stay blessed and happy feast to all those who bear the name Mary Magdalene.
WE MEDITATE TODAY, WEDNESDAY, ON THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES: ‘THE RESURRECTION, THE ASCENSION, THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE ASSUMPTION, AND THE CORONATION ’. (WE PRAY FAITH, HOPE, LOVE OF GOD, GRACE OF A HAPPY DEATH AND TRUST IN MARY’S INTERCESSION) “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen”.
PRAYER: “MAY THE HOLY RECEPTION OF YOUR MYSTERIES, LORD, INSTILL IN US THAT PERSEVERING LOVE WITH WHICH SAINT MARY MAGDALENE CLUNG RESOLUTELY TO CHRIST HER MASTER. WHO LIVES AND REIGNS FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN.”
Rev. Fr. Aloysius Kpiebaya, Catholic Diocese of Wa, UW/R, Ghana. (00233) 0207867239/0545462863. Email: aloybaya20@yahoo.com.
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