Feast day July 22
Mary of Magdala stood with Mary the mother of Jesus at the foot of the cross gazing into the face of her savior. Memories from three years ago flooded her mind. It seemed like yesterday when Jesus found her overwhelmed with screaming demons. Jesus reached out to her.
She backed away. People had always been cruel to her. What made Him any different? But he seemed different than the others. She saw gentleness and love in His eyes, despite her own appearance. He didn’t turn away. He didn’t abandon her.
“Mary don’t be afraid,” Jesus said.
“He won’t save you! Get away from Him!” the demonic voices screamed.
Jesus looked at her as tears filled her eyes. He placed a callused hand on her forehead. “Come out! Stay out of her!”
The voices quieted. For the first time in days, she felt at peace.
Mary’s tears dried joy lifted her heart. Never had she felt this free. Her eyes met those of Jesus, filled with love. The voices gone and all that remained God’s love.
Mary went back home, but there was nothing there for her anymore. She gathered her few belongings and followed Jesus out of town. Townspeople whispered as they walked away. She smiled. They were wrong. Jesus showed her the truth.
They met up with Jesus’s followers and other women that had joined Him. The women, who welcomed Mary, took care of Jesus and the twelve apostles by supplying money and other things the men needed to successfully perform their ministry.
Then that terrible nightmare, last night after Passover dinner and prayer in the garden, her beloved teacher, arrested, tried in a joke of a trial, and condemned to a grisly crucifixion.
Now along with His mother, she knelt at the foot of the cross, watching Him die. Pain and sorrow tore at her heart, but she had to hold it in and be strong for Mary, his mother. She knew His mother’s pain was even greater than her own. She held Mary in her arms as the woman sobbed.
She and Mary approached the cross and rested their hands on His pierced, bloody feet, as Jesus breathed His last. They stayed until Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea came to remove Jesus from the cross. Both women embraced the broken body as the men placed it in the tomb. Her teacher, her savior, was dead. How would she continue?
Three days later, Mary returned to the tomb. She could not accept that it was the end. As she drew closer, she wondered how she would move the great stone guarding the entrance. However, when she arrived, the stone no longer blocked the entrance. She peered into the empty cave. Where had the master’s body gone?
Mary rushed to find Peter and John. They all returned to the tomb and discovered the truth. Peter and John returned home but Mary stuck around and cried. Two angels asked why she cried.
She answered, “Because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where have taken Him.”
When she turned from the tomb, she saw a figure she thought was the gardener.
“Whom are you looking for,” he asked.
“I am looking for my Lord. Where have you taken Him?”
“Mary.”
Instantly, she recognized him. “Teacher!” Mary went and announced the Resurrection to the disciples earning her the name “Apostle to the Apostles.”
After the Resurrection, we see no more of Mary in the Bible. Some believe she traveled with John the Evangelist to Ephesus in Turkey where she later died.
Saint Mary Magdalene
Richert, Scott P. “A Prayer to St. Mary Magdalene.” Learn Religions, Aug. 25, 2020, learnreligions.com/prayer-to-st-mary-magdalene-542596.
