I didn’t forget that yesterday was Saint Mary Magdalene’s day, it’s simply that between church, youth group, and finishing Harry Potter, I simply didn’t bother turning on my computer. And yes, you read that right, I read Harry Potter books. It all started years ago when I used to work for an after-school program and the kids were beating me at the Potter board games. I had to start the book series to save face and to make sure that those third graders didn’t get too big for their britches thinking they could win so easily. Anyway, back to St Mary Magdalene.
St Mary Magdalene is one of those Catholic and Episcopal saint crossovers. (If you’re a Catholic hairstylist, she’s your patron saint.) Saint Mary Magdalene is sometimes called the apostle to the apostles because she was the first to witness the resurrected Christ and share what she had seen with the disciples. She was a caring companion of Jesus through his ministry.
You may sometimes here that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. This is a complete creation by men in the early church. As you may notice, there are lots of Marys in the Bible. Some groups think several of the Marys are the same person, thus Mary Magdalene is sometimes seen as the sinful Mary who washes Jesus’ feet. How being sinful and being a prostitute become one in the same, is a question for the early church. One thing seems clear to me, Mary was important to Jesus as a disciple. One thing that doesn’t work well in a patriarchal society is having strong women, and so they cast stones upon her name and reputation. It’s always been interesting to me that Jesus’ men, who were of course, also sinners, remained unscathed by their sins in comparison.
Lesson and prayers: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Mary_Magdalene.htm
More info: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/41685_87291_ENG_HTM.htm
Check out Ft Matthew’s November video discussing Mary Magdalene.
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