Apostle to the Apostles

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today for the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene underline Love as the basis of religious experience.

Encounter in the garden

The reading from the Song of Songs shares poetry about loss and discovery of a lover.

* [3:2] The motif of seeking/finding here and elsewhere is used by later Christian and Jewish mystics to speak of the soul’s search for the divine.1 

Psalm 63 expresses the intimate relationship between God and the worshiper.

 * [Psalm 63] A Psalm expressing the intimate relationship between God and the worshiper. Separated from God (Ps 63:2), the psalmist longs for the divine life given in the Temple (Ps 63:3–6), which is based on a close relationship with God (Ps 63:7–9). May all my enemies be destroyed and God’s true worshipers continue in giving praise (Ps 63:10–11)!2

The resurrection appearance of Jesus to Mary of Magdala is described in the Gospel from John.

* [20:11–18] This appearance to Mary is found only in John, but cf. Mt 28:8–10 and Mk 16:9–11.3 

The prayer site run by the Irish Jesuits, Living Space, connects the experience of Mary of Magdala to the mission of all Christians.

Mary – and all the others – have to learn that the Risen Jesus is different from the Jesus before the crucifixion. They have to let go of the earlier Jesus and learn to relate to the “new” Jesus in a very different way.So she is told to do what every Christian is supposed to do: go and tell the other disciples that she has seen the Lord and she shares with them what he has said to her. “I have seen the Lord.” She is not just passing on a doctrine but sharing an experience. That is what we are all called to do.4 

Eileen Burke-Sullivan comments that the Gospel today tells of Mary’s recognition of Jesus through her tear-filled eyes as she hears her name announced by the Risen Lord and sees his living gaze of great love. This is precisely what St. Ignatius Loyola is asking a retreatant to prayer for in the fourth week because when we experience such great love it changes us.

 It changes the conditions of our intellectual perception of our humanity, our sinfulness and our righteousness; it changes the context and degree of affective receptivity; and most importantly it changes the coordination of our Will to the Father’s deepest desires. With such a grace each of us can be transformed into an effective witness of the Resurrected Christ who lives and reigns over our own lives and the world as we know it. Such change enables us to give all without counting cost and serve faithfully without needing to be approved or appreciated.5

Don Schwager quotes “The love of Christ enflamed her,” by Gregory the Great (540-604 AD) who cites Luke 7:37-47.

 "Mary Magdalene, who had been a sinner in the city (Luke 7:37), loved the Truth and so washed away with her tears the stains of wickedness (Luke 7:47). Her sins had kept her cold, but afterward she burned with an irresistible love... We must consider this woman's state of mind whose great force of love inflamed her. When even the disciples departed from the sepulcher, she did not depart. She looked for him whom she had not found... But it is not enough for a lover to have looked once, because the force of love intensifies the effort of the search. She looked for him a first time and found nothing. She persevered in seeking, and that is why she found him. As her unfulfilled desires increased, they took possession of what they found (Song of Songs 3:1-4)... Holy desires, as I have told you before, increase by delay in their fulfillment. If delay causes them to fail, they were not desires... This was Mary's kind of love as she turned a second time to the sepulcher she had already looked into. Let us see the result of her search, which had been redoubled by the power of love." (excerpt from FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 25)6

The Word Among Us Meditation on John 20:1-2, 11-18 for the feast of Saint Mary Magdalene suggests that each of us can probably remember times when God brought us to freedom. It might have been some area of weakness or a struggle that held us back and maybe crippled us in some way. As wonderful as the experience of God’s mercy is, it’s even more wonderful to think about how our healing or deliverance can set us free to live more radically for Jesus.

For example, maybe you have been able to pay off some long-standing debt. Perhaps that could be the catalyst to become more generous to the poor. Or maybe overcoming an illness makes it easier for you to get up a little earlier each day to pray and read Scripture. Or perhaps a reconciliation with a family member opens doors for you to share your faith more openly. Jesus loves to heal us, and he loves even more to draw us closer to his side.7 

Friar Jude Winkler clarifies some misunderstandings about Mary of Magdala and the location of her encounter with Jesus. The resurrected Jesus is changed but the same. Friar Jude notes Mary Magdalene is referred to as the proto-apostle in early icons and documents.

Howard Thurman explores how prayer is not a transaction, nor is it about changing God. It’s about opening our hearts, minds, and bodies to be receptive to God’s already and always presence.

In the total religious experience we learn how to wait; we learn how to ready the mind and the spirit. It is in the waiting, brooding, lingering, tarrying timeless moments that the essence of the religious experience becomes most fruitful. It is here that I learn to listen, to swing wide the very doors of my being, to clean out the corners and the crevices of my life—so that when His Presence invades, I am free to enjoy His coming to Himself in me. . . .8 

Howard Thurman offers thoughts with some emphasis from Richard Rohr that our mind creates dogmas, creeds and doctrines. These are the creations of the mind and are therefore always after the fact of the religious experience. But they are always out of date.

Fr Richard emphasizes that the religious experience is always current, always fresh. In religious experience, like that of Mary Magdalene, we hear His Voice in our own tongue and in accordance with the grain in our own wood. In that glorious and transcendent moment, it may seem that all there is, is God.

References

1	(n.d.). Song of Songs, chapter 3 - United States Conference of Catholic .... Retrieved July 22, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/songofsongs/3
2	(n.d.). Psalm 63 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved July 22, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/63
3	(n.d.). John, chapter 20 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved July 22, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/20
4	(n.d.). Living Space Tuesday of week 1 of Easter – Gospel | Sacred Space. Retrieved July 22, 2019, from https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/e1013g/
5	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - OnlineMinistries - Creighton University. Retrieved July 22, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
6	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved July 22, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
7	(n.d.). Saint Mary Magdalene (Feast) - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily .... Retrieved July 22, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/07/22/
8	(2019, July 22). Opening the Doors of My Being Theme: Mystic: Howard Thurman .... Retrieved July 22, 2019, from https://cac.org/opening-the-doors-of-my-being-2019-07-22/