As you know, Jesus has been appearing to those whom He loves, to make sure they know that He is indeed alive and well. I'm sure He appeared to His Mother first and foremost. He appeared to the Apostles, and to Mary Magdalene.
According to 'The Liturgical Year', 'today's Station is in the basilica of the twelve Apostles; and, instead of putting before us any of the apparitions related by the Gospels as having been made to His Apostles by our Saviour, after His Resurrection, the Church reads to us the one wherewith Magdalen was honored. Why thus apparently forget the very heralds and ambassadors of the New Law? The reason is obvious. By thus honoring her, whom our Lord selected as the Apostle of His Apostles, the Church would put before us, in their full truth, the circumstances of the day of the Resurrection. It was through Magdalene and her companions that the apostolate of the grandest mystery of our Jesus' life upon earth began; they have every right, therefore, to be honored today in the basilica which is sacred to the holy Apostles.
God is all-powerful, and delights in showing Himself in that which is weakest; He is infinitely good and glorious in rewarding such as love Him. This explains how it was that our Jesus gave to Magdalen and her companions the first proofs of His Resurrection, and so promptly consoled them. They were even weaker than the Bethlehem shepherds; they were, therefore, the objects of a higher preference. The Apostles themselves were weaker than the weakest of the earthly powers they were to bring into submission; hence, they too were initiated into the mystery of Jesus' triumph. But Magdalen and her companions had loved their Master even to the Cross and in His tomb, whereas the Apostles had abandoned Him; they therefore had a better claim than the Apostles to Jesus' generosity, and richly did He satisfy the claim...
...We must not be surprised that women were the first to form, around the Son of God, the Church of believers, the Church resplendent with the brightness of the Resurrection: it is the continuation of that divine plan, the commencement of which we have already respectfully studied. It was by woman that the work of God was marred in the beginning; he willed that it should be repaired by woman. On the day of the Annunciation, we found the second Eve making good by her own obedience the disobedience of the first; and now, at Easter, God honors Magdalen and her companions in preference even to the Apostles. We repeat it: these facts show us not so much a personal favor conferred upon individuals, as the restoration of woman to her lost dignity. St. Ambrose states: "The woman was the first to taste the food of death; she is destined to be the first witness of the Resurrection. By proclaiming this mystery, she will atone for her fault; therefore is it that she, who heretofore had announced sin to man, was sent by the Lord to announce the tidings of salvation to men, and to make known to them His grace."
'The Liturgical Year' is a great way to learn of the people, places, and things concerning events from the beginning of the world, right up to and through the history of the Church from its' beginnings. Above is only a small portion of today's readings. However, I would like to end with a Sequence that was composed in honor of Mary Magdalen in the Middle Ages, and sung by our forefathers during the Easter octave. It is exquisite in its' simplicity, and expresses a tender devotion towards this favored penitent, whose name is inseparable from the mystery of the Resurrection, and who was so dear to our blessed Lord that He chose her to be the first to announce to the Apostles and mankind the tidings of His victory over death:
Christ, now changed from a lamb to a lion, rises with his trophy, the glorious conqueror.
By His death, He conquered death: by His death, He opened heaven's gate.
This is the Lamb that hung upon the Cross, and redeemed the whole flock.
There was none found to condole with Him, save Magdalen, who pined with burning grief.
Tell us, O Mary! what sawest thou, when looking at the Cross of Christ?
"I saw my Jesus stripped, and raised on the Cross, by the hands of sinners."
Tell us, Mary, what sawest thou, when looking at the Cross of Christ?
"His head crowned with thorns, His face disfigured with spittle and blows."
Tell us, Mary what sawest thou, when looking at the Cross?
"His hands pierced, His side wounded by a spear, and a fount of living water gushing from the wound."
Tell us, Mary, what sawest thou, when looking at the Cross?
"He commended Himself to His Father; He bowed down His head; He gave up the ghost."
Tell us, Mary, what didst thou, after losing Jesus?
"I kept close to His weeping Mother, and returned with her to the house: I prostrated myself on the ground, and compassionated both Son and Mother."
Tell us, Mary, what didst thou, after losing Jesus?
"An angel thus spoke to me: 'Weep not, Mary! For Christ hath truly risen.'"
Tell us, Mary, what didst thou, after losing Jesus?
"I saw many proofs and signs of the Resurrection of the Son of God"
Tell us, Mary, what sawest thou on the way?
"I saw the sepulchre of the living Christ; I saw the glory of Him that had risen. I saw the angels that were the witnesses; I saw the winding-sheet and the cloths. Christ, my hope, hath risen! He shall go before you into Galilee."
It behooves us to believe the single testimony of the truthful Mary, rather than the whole wicked host of the Jews.
We know that Christ hath truly risen from the dead. Do thou, O Conqueror and King! have mercy upon us. Amen.
Is that beautiful or what?
She is called "the Penitent". St. Mary was given the name 'Magdalen' because, though a Jewish girl, she lived in a Gentile town called Magdale, in northern Galilee, and her culture and manners were those of a Gentile. St. Luke records that she was a notorious sinner, and had seven devils removed from her. She was present at Our Lords' Crucifixion, and with Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, at Jesus' empty tomb. Fourteen years after Our Lord's death, St. Mary was put in a boat by the Jews without sails or oars - along with Sts. Lazarus and Martha, St. Maximin (who baptized her), St. Sidonius ("the man born blind"), her maid Sera, and the body of St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin. They were sent drifting out to sea and landed on the shores of Southern France, where St. Mary spent the rest of her life as a contemplative in a cave known as Sainte-Baume. She was given the Holy Eucharist daily by angels as her only food, and died when she was 72 (which, by the way, is the same age as when our Blessed Mother died). St. Mary was transported miraculously, just before she died, to the chapel of St. Maximin, where she received the last sacraments.
St. Mary Magdalene, pray for us in our disbelief.
According to 'The Liturgical Year', 'today's Station is in the basilica of the twelve Apostles; and, instead of putting before us any of the apparitions related by the Gospels as having been made to His Apostles by our Saviour, after His Resurrection, the Church reads to us the one wherewith Magdalen was honored. Why thus apparently forget the very heralds and ambassadors of the New Law? The reason is obvious. By thus honoring her, whom our Lord selected as the Apostle of His Apostles, the Church would put before us, in their full truth, the circumstances of the day of the Resurrection. It was through Magdalene and her companions that the apostolate of the grandest mystery of our Jesus' life upon earth began; they have every right, therefore, to be honored today in the basilica which is sacred to the holy Apostles.
God is all-powerful, and delights in showing Himself in that which is weakest; He is infinitely good and glorious in rewarding such as love Him. This explains how it was that our Jesus gave to Magdalen and her companions the first proofs of His Resurrection, and so promptly consoled them. They were even weaker than the Bethlehem shepherds; they were, therefore, the objects of a higher preference. The Apostles themselves were weaker than the weakest of the earthly powers they were to bring into submission; hence, they too were initiated into the mystery of Jesus' triumph. But Magdalen and her companions had loved their Master even to the Cross and in His tomb, whereas the Apostles had abandoned Him; they therefore had a better claim than the Apostles to Jesus' generosity, and richly did He satisfy the claim...
...We must not be surprised that women were the first to form, around the Son of God, the Church of believers, the Church resplendent with the brightness of the Resurrection: it is the continuation of that divine plan, the commencement of which we have already respectfully studied. It was by woman that the work of God was marred in the beginning; he willed that it should be repaired by woman. On the day of the Annunciation, we found the second Eve making good by her own obedience the disobedience of the first; and now, at Easter, God honors Magdalen and her companions in preference even to the Apostles. We repeat it: these facts show us not so much a personal favor conferred upon individuals, as the restoration of woman to her lost dignity. St. Ambrose states: "The woman was the first to taste the food of death; she is destined to be the first witness of the Resurrection. By proclaiming this mystery, she will atone for her fault; therefore is it that she, who heretofore had announced sin to man, was sent by the Lord to announce the tidings of salvation to men, and to make known to them His grace."
'The Liturgical Year' is a great way to learn of the people, places, and things concerning events from the beginning of the world, right up to and through the history of the Church from its' beginnings. Above is only a small portion of today's readings. However, I would like to end with a Sequence that was composed in honor of Mary Magdalen in the Middle Ages, and sung by our forefathers during the Easter octave. It is exquisite in its' simplicity, and expresses a tender devotion towards this favored penitent, whose name is inseparable from the mystery of the Resurrection, and who was so dear to our blessed Lord that He chose her to be the first to announce to the Apostles and mankind the tidings of His victory over death:
Christ, now changed from a lamb to a lion, rises with his trophy, the glorious conqueror.
By His death, He conquered death: by His death, He opened heaven's gate.
This is the Lamb that hung upon the Cross, and redeemed the whole flock.
There was none found to condole with Him, save Magdalen, who pined with burning grief.
Tell us, O Mary! what sawest thou, when looking at the Cross of Christ?
"I saw my Jesus stripped, and raised on the Cross, by the hands of sinners."
Tell us, Mary, what sawest thou, when looking at the Cross of Christ?
"His head crowned with thorns, His face disfigured with spittle and blows."
Tell us, Mary what sawest thou, when looking at the Cross?
"His hands pierced, His side wounded by a spear, and a fount of living water gushing from the wound."
Tell us, Mary, what sawest thou, when looking at the Cross?
"He commended Himself to His Father; He bowed down His head; He gave up the ghost."
Tell us, Mary, what didst thou, after losing Jesus?
"I kept close to His weeping Mother, and returned with her to the house: I prostrated myself on the ground, and compassionated both Son and Mother."
Tell us, Mary, what didst thou, after losing Jesus?
"An angel thus spoke to me: 'Weep not, Mary! For Christ hath truly risen.'"
Tell us, Mary, what didst thou, after losing Jesus?
"I saw many proofs and signs of the Resurrection of the Son of God"
Tell us, Mary, what sawest thou on the way?
"I saw the sepulchre of the living Christ; I saw the glory of Him that had risen. I saw the angels that were the witnesses; I saw the winding-sheet and the cloths. Christ, my hope, hath risen! He shall go before you into Galilee."
It behooves us to believe the single testimony of the truthful Mary, rather than the whole wicked host of the Jews.
We know that Christ hath truly risen from the dead. Do thou, O Conqueror and King! have mercy upon us. Amen.
Is that beautiful or what?
She is called "the Penitent". St. Mary was given the name 'Magdalen' because, though a Jewish girl, she lived in a Gentile town called Magdale, in northern Galilee, and her culture and manners were those of a Gentile. St. Luke records that she was a notorious sinner, and had seven devils removed from her. She was present at Our Lords' Crucifixion, and with Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, at Jesus' empty tomb. Fourteen years after Our Lord's death, St. Mary was put in a boat by the Jews without sails or oars - along with Sts. Lazarus and Martha, St. Maximin (who baptized her), St. Sidonius ("the man born blind"), her maid Sera, and the body of St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin. They were sent drifting out to sea and landed on the shores of Southern France, where St. Mary spent the rest of her life as a contemplative in a cave known as Sainte-Baume. She was given the Holy Eucharist daily by angels as her only food, and died when she was 72 (which, by the way, is the same age as when our Blessed Mother died). St. Mary was transported miraculously, just before she died, to the chapel of St. Maximin, where she received the last sacraments.
St. Mary Magdalene, pray for us in our disbelief.
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