Reflections on St Mary Magdalene

 Reflections of St Mary Magdalene

 
    July 22nd is the Feast of St Mary Magdalene, the woman with seven demons who was cured by Jesus [Luke 8:2] before becoming one of his most ardent follower, who stood at the foot of the cross [John 19:25] - so it should come as no surprise that Jesus Christ chose Mary Magdalene to be the first one to see him after his Resurrection, commanding her, "Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God'" [John 20:17]


    This prompted St. Thomas Aquinas to bestow the title "De Apostolorum Apostola" which translates to the Apostle to the Apostles. In 2016, Pope Francis raised July 22 from a memorial to a feast day equal to that of the other apostles.


It is widely accepted among secular historians that Mary Magdalene was a real historical figure, probably a wealthy Jewish woman from Magdala, a place with a notoriously unfaithful to the Laws of Moses because Jews and Gentiles freely intermingled. 


Jesus cast out seven demons (note: In Biblical times, seven was a number of perfection so it could be indicative that she was cleansed of her demons perfectly. Another explanation is Mary was cured of the seven cardinal sins). She was certainly a sinner saved by Jesus giving us an example that no person is beyond God's saving grace. 


Western Christianity unfortunately tarnished the reputation of Mary Magdalene ever since Pope Gregory I in 591 conflated Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany and the unnamed sinful woman who anointed Jesus' feet with sacred oil. 


In 1969, Pope Paul VI corrected this misconception of Mary Magdalene being a prostitute and sexually promiscuous but the myth persists in popular culture like the 1971 Rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar", or the 1988 Scorsese film "The Last Temptation of Christ".
Location: Israel

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