Word to the Wise
Wednesday, July 22, 2009 - St. Mary Magdalen [Patroness of the Order of Preachers]
[Exodus 16:1-5, 9-15 and John 20:1-2, 11-18]Jesus said to her, "Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalen went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and then reported what he told her.
Those lines from the Gospel of John reveal the reason Mary Magdalen is considered a major patroness of the Dominican Order - the Order of Preachers! She is arguably the first preacher of the gospel: the Lord is risen! The Gospel of John consistently uses the instrument of misunderstanding leading to belief in encounters between Jesus and all kinds of people. That pattern continues here because Mary Magdalen does not at first recognize him! It is when Jesus speaks her name that she awakens to the reality of his resurrection! Her faith leads to her mission which Jesus gives her, to go to the disciples and declare the words of Jesus' continuing mission which will result in the coming of the Holy Spirit. Despite a faulty interpretation which, in the past, has led to Mary Magdalen being considered a very bad lady indeed, scholars point out there is no real evidence other than Jesus' exorcism of "seven demons" from her that she was any more immoral than the apostles! She followed Jesus in his ministry, and now she comes to belief in his resurrection and she proclaims it to the disciples. In doing this she becomes a model disciple for the rest of us. (Traditions and legends have her traveling to southern France at the end of her life - a true Dominican itinerancy!) It is altogether fitting for her to be a patroness of the Order of Preachers and a model to the Church. AMEN
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