St Mary Magdalen

Did you know that St Mary Magdalen got upgraded this year? Pope Francis decided to elevate her celebration of daily Mass as a feast, not just as a memorial as was before. This decision should reflect more deeply on the dignity of women, the New Evangelization, and the greatness of the mystery of Divine Mercy. Mary Magdalene was the first witness to the Resurrection, and is the one who announced the event to the Apostles. She is an example of true and authentic evangelization; she is an evangelist who announces the joyful central message of Easter. The Holy Father Francis took this decision precisely in the context of the Jubilee of Mercy to signify the importance of this woman who showed a great love for Christ and was much loved by Christ.

Mary Magdalene is mentioned as one of the women who ministered to Jesus. The same passage also refers briefly to an act of exorcism performed on her, on an occasion when seven demons were cast out. These women, who earlier "had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities", later accompanied Jesus on his last journey to, and were witnesses to the Crucifixion. She was also the privileged first person to see Jesus risen from the tomb, an honor that was not given to any of the 12 apostles, but only to Mary Magdalene, probably in a way of thanking her for staying with Jesus till the end at the foot of the cross. This is the last mention in the Gospels of Mary of Magdala, who now returned to Jerusalem. She is probably included in the group of women who joined the Apostles in the Upper Room in Jerusalem after Jesus' Ascension and may have also been with the Blessed Mother at Pentecost.

Tradition as early as the third century identifies Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany and with the woman sinner who anointed Jesus' feet, even though she remains unnamed. The identification of Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany and "the woman who was a sinner" is reflected in an influential sermon Pope Gregory I gave in 591, which said: "She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary of Bethany, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark.”