Tomorrow, July 22 is the feast of St Mary Magdalene:
Almighty God,
whose blessed Son restored Mary Magdalene to health of body and mind,
and called her to be a witness of his resurrection:
Mercifully grant that by your grace we may be healed of all our infirmities
and know you in the power of his endless life;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
A hymn from Matins of St Mary Magdalene from The Saint Helena Breviary
This icon was written by Brother Robert Lentz, ofm. “According to the ancient tradition of the East, Mary Magdalene was a wealthy woman from whom Christ expelled seven demons. During the three years of Jesus’ ministry she helped support Him and His other disciples with her money. When almost everyone else fled, she stayed with Him at the cross. On Easter morning she was the first to bear witness to His resurrection. She is called “Equal to the Apostles”. The Eastern tradition tells us that after the Ascension she journeyed to Rome where she was admitted to the court of Tiberius Caesar because of her high social standing. After describing how poorly Pilate had administered justice at Jesus’ trial, she told Caesar that Jesus had risen from the dead. To help explain His resurrection she picked up an egg from the dinner table. Caesar responded that a human being could no more rise from the dead than the egg in her hand turn red. The egg turned red immediately.”
Good information here and the Wikipedia article is here.
She is my favorite saint! So neglected and depicted simplistically by the patriarchal church.
Beautiful prayer! Thanks for sharing it. She has certainly gotten a bad rap historically. I loved your comments.
Very interesting to read a different historical slant – thank you.
The traditional gospels give us very little about Mary M. Only the alternate gospels give us any information. Only the alternate gospels give her any space. Thanks for giving us your take on this remarkable woman.
I shall be leading a group celebrating Mary Magdelene in July – this in a church where we have just been told that Jesus choose 12 men only and if you don’t like it find a church which suits you better.
Blessings, Margaret, and on your group.