MARY MAGDALENE WASHES JESUS FEET
“Your faith has saved you; go in peace!” Luke 7:44-50
In the 6th Century, Saint Pope Gregory the Great identified St. Mary Magdalen as the woman who anointed Christ’s feet with perfume in the home of Simon the Pharisee
Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment;…He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The others at table said to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” But he said to the woman, your faith has saved you; go in peace!” Luke 7:44-50
REFLECTION
Instead of addressing His critics, Jesus addresses the repentant woman and praises her for her great love and faith and sends her on her way sanctified and redeemed. Her Faith has saved her not on her own but through the grace of God. Pray for that faith.
Jesus asks Simon, “Do you see this woman? Jesus has told us “they have eyes but do not see and ears yet they do not hear” Mark 8:18
Pray for a discerning heart to see the world as Jesus sees it.
THE CRUCIFIXON
…by the cross of Jesus were his mother and Mary of Magdala. John 19:25
Mary Magdalene remained faithful all the way through the Passion of Jesus. Do I embrace Jesus on the cross or avert my eyes from His passion and death?
Mary Magdalene followed the burial of Jesus to the tomb and saw where He was buried, and came on Sunday to anoint Him.
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 then went and announced to the apostles, “I have seen the Lord, and what he told her”. John 20: 15-18
DO NOT CLING TO ME John 20:17
When Jesus speaks to Mary Magdalene,”Do not cling to me.” Jesus invites Mary Magdalene and us to enter into the experience of faith which goes beyond what can be discovered by our “senses.”
“Blessed are those who have not seen and believe.” John 20:29
Saint Mary Magdalene is an example of true and authentic evangelization; she is an evangelist who announces the joyful central message of Easter,” He is Risen!
Do I evangelize?
Our first parents, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden spread death where there was life. Mary Magdalene in the garden of the Resurrection announced life from the Holy Sepulchre, a place of death. The first spread death where there was life; the second announced life from a sepulchre, the place of death.
PRAYER:
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.