Saint Mary Magdalene
July 22
Lives of the Saints
by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. edition
[1894]
July 22.—ST. MARY MAGDALEN.
Or the earlier life of Mary Magdalen we know only that she was “a woman who was a sinner.”
From the depth of her degradation she raised her eyes to Jesus with sorrow, hope, and love. All covered with shame, she came In where Jesus was at meat, (to be at table for eating) and knelt behind him. She said not a word, but bathed His feet with her tears, wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed them in humility, and at their touch her sins and her stain were gone.
Then she poured on them the costly unguent prepared for far other uses; and His own divine lips rolled away her reproach, spoke her absolution, and bade her go in peace.
Thenceforward she ministered to Jesus, sat at His feet, and heard His words. She was one of the family “whom Jesus so loved” that He raised her brother Lazarus from the dead.
Once again, on the eve of His Passion, she brought the precious ointment, and, now purified and beloved, poured it on His head, and the whole house of God is still filled with the fragrance of her anointing.
She stood with Our Lady and St. John at the foot of the cross, the representative of the many who have had much forgiven.
To her first, after His blessed Mother, and through her to His apostles, Our Lord gave the certainty of His resurrection; and to her first He made Himself known, calling her by her name, because she was His.
When the faithful were scattered by persecution the family of Bethany found refuge in Provence. The cave in which St. Mary lived for thirty years is still seen, and the chapel on the mountaintop, in which she was caught up daily, like St. Paul, to “visions and revelations of the Lord.”
When her end drew near she was borne to a spot still marked by a “sacred pillar,” where the holy Bishop Maximin awaited her; and when she had received her Lord, she peacefully fell asleep in death.
Reflection.—”Compunction of heart,” says St. Bernard, “is a treasure infinitely to be desired, and an unspeakable gladness to the heart. It is healing to the soul; it is remission of sins; it brings back again the Holy Spirit into the humble and loving heart.”
Saint Mary Magdalene Feast Sg 3:1-4b or 2 Cor 5:14-17/Jn 20:1-2, 11-18 (603) Pss Prop.
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/saints/mary-magdalene-692
CATHOLICISM SAINTS ST. MARY MAGDALENE
*Christ & Mary Magdalene – Edelfelt.
This image shows the moment in which Mary Magdalene realizes she is speaking to the glorified Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection from death. She kneels in adoration, while He tells her not to touch him. Artwork by A. Edelfelt
Mary Magdalene, sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine, was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurrection. She is mentioned by name twelve times in the canonical gospels, more than most of the apostles and more than any other woman in the gospels, other than Jesus’s family. Mary’s epithet Magdalene may mean that she came from the town of Magdala, a fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in Roman Judea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Magdalene
You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.
Lk 22:28–30A