The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today, Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, resonate with our experience of overwhelming love and desire to be with our special person.
The reading from Song of Songs is a Dream of Love.
* [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.
* [3:4] Whom my soul loves: the fourfold repetition of this phrase in vv. 1–4 highlights the depth of the woman’s emotion and desire. Mother’s house: cf. 8:2; a place of safety and intimacy, one which implicitly signifies approval of the lovers’ relationship. (Song of Songs, CHAPTER 3, n.d.)
Psalm 63 declares Comfort and Assurance in God’s Presence.
* [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)!
* [63:4] For your love is better than life: only here in the Old Testament is anything prized above life—in this case God’s love. (Psalms, PSALM 63, n.d.)
In the Gospel of John, the Resurrection of Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene.
* [20:11–18] This appearance to Mary is found only in John, but cf. Mt 28:8–10 and Mk 16:9–11.
* [20:16] Rabbouni: Hebrew or Aramaic for “my master.”
* [20:17] Stop holding on to me: see Mt 28:9, where the women take hold of his feet. I have not yet ascended: for John and many of the New Testament writers, the ascension in the theological sense of going to the Father to be glorified took place with the resurrection as one action. This scene in John dramatizes such an understanding, for by Easter night Jesus is glorified and can give the Spirit. Therefore his ascension takes place immediately after he has talked to Mary. In such a view, the ascension after forty days described in Acts 1:1–11 would be simply a termination of earthly appearances or, perhaps better, an introduction to the conferral of the Spirit upon the early church, modeled on Elisha’s being able to have a (double) share in the spirit of Elijah if he saw him being taken up (same verb as ascending) into heaven (2 Kgs 2:9–12). To my Father and your Father, to my God and your God: this echoes Ru 1:16: “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” The Father of Jesus will now become the Father of the disciples because, once ascended, Jesus can give them the Spirit that comes from the Father and they can be reborn as God’s children (Jn 3:5). That is why he calls them my brothers. (John, CHAPTER 20, n.d.)
Mirielle Mason asks was it a coincidence that God chose to use Mary Magdalene in such a key role in this story? Or perhaps could it be that even though she did not clearly understand what was happening, her love for Jesus was real and He cared for her in her time of sorrow, even to the point of turning that sorrow into JOY.
Dear Lord, help me to never forget, even for a moment, that the thirsting in my heart can only be quenched by You. Help me to follow Mary Magdalene’s example of true love for You and to live out that kind of love in my interactions with all those you have placed in my day-to-day life.
In Jesus’s holy, holy name - Amen. (Mason, 2023)
Don Schwager quotes “The love of Christ enflamed her”, by Gregory the Great (540-604 AD).
"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) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Song of Songs 3:1-4 asks do we seek Jesus with Mary’s intensity? The honest answer is probably not, at least not all the time. Yes, we love the Lord. But sometimes we get distracted by our busy schedules or worries, and the next thing you know, we’ve “lost” Jesus. We might not even think to look for him.
As you come to recognize the depth of Jesus’ mercy for you, your heart will be changed. Of course, you’ll respond with gratitude. But you’ll also experience a passionate loyalty and love for him—something that helps you notice that you’ve drifted from him and drives you to seek him again.
So follow Mary Magdalene’s lead. Thank the Lord for all he has done in your life, and let the memory of his mercy fill you with love for him.
“Jesus, you are the One whom my heart loves. Let me find you today!” (Meditation on Song of Songs 3:1-4, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler notes how the search for her lover in the Song of Songs mirrors the encounter of Mary Magdalene with Jesus in the garden. Mary tries to cling to Jesus, but we have to live true love that liberates us. Friar Jude ponders the theology of Jesus going to a special place as he notes that Mary addresses Jesus as Adonai, the Hebrew name to stand for Yahweh.
Franciscan Media writes that except for the mother of Jesus, few women are more honored in the Bible than Mary Magdalene. Yet she could well be the patron of the slandered, since there has been a persistent legend in the Church that she is the unnamed sinful woman who anointed the feet of Jesus in Luke 7:36-50.
Mary Magdalene was one of the many “who were assisting them [Jesus and the Twelve] out of their means.” She was one of those who stood by the cross of Jesus with his mother. And, of all the “official” witnesses who might have been chosen for the first awareness of the Resurrection, she was the one to whom that privilege was given. She is known as the “Apostle to the Apostles.” (Saint Mary Magdalene, n.d.)
Barbara Holmes leads a meditation sit, beginning with words from theologian Douglas Christie.
I am suddenly aware of my weariness, my fragility, and my deep uncertainty about what is happening to me and where I am heading in my life. Have I even begun to reckon with the depth of the sadness I carry within me or its sources? I know I have not. But here in this place I begin to realize that I must open myself to these questions, that this is part of why I am here. [1]
The shared silence. The intimacy. The sense of relief that we can let go, at least for a little while, of every inclination to explain or account for what is happening to us. We cannot explain it anyway. Sometimes we can hardly say a word. This life we are living: ineffable. Better to acknowledge this and relinquish the illusion that somehow, somewhere, there are words sufficient to encompass our experience. [2] (Holmes, 2023)
Perhaps the experience of selfless love is a gift of the Spirit through which we trust transcendence and surrender as a taste of relationship with the Divine.
References
Holmes, B. (2023, July 22). Bias from the Bottom: Weekly Summary — Center for Action and Contemplation. CAC Daily Meditations 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/bias-from-the-bottom-weekly-summary-2023-07-22/
John, CHAPTER 20. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 22, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/20?1
Mason, M. (2023, July 22). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved July 22, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/072223.htm
Meditation on Song of Songs 3:1-4. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved July 22, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/07/22/740295/
Psalms, PSALM 63. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 22, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/63?2
Saint Mary Magdalene. (n.d.). Franciscan Media. Retrieved July 22, 2023, from https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-mary-magdalene/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved July 22, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=jul22
Song of Songs, CHAPTER 3. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 22, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/songofsongs/3?1
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