Mary Magdalene - Apostle to the Apostles

This morning's homily by Father Ian was wonderful! The Gospel passage was taken from John 20:11-18. I learned something about Mary Magdalene I never knew before. As a protestant previously I rarely heard sermon about the godly women in scripture. Today I learned that Mary Magdalene is known as the Apostle to the Apostles (apostolorum apostola).  The reason? She was the first person who saw Jesus after His resurrection. In the scripture passage:

"But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). " (John 20:11-16)

Jesus appeared to her but she initially did not recognize Him. But when she called her by her name "Mary" she immediately recognized Him! Oh it was such a love filled moment! You see, Mary Magdalene was the sinful woman with the "alabaster jar of ointment" described in Luke 7:36-50. Jesus used  the story of "A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty." to explain to Simon the Pharisee (who invited Him to dinner) this important lesson: "Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little." How little do I show love to Jesus! How little do I think my sins need to be forgiven!

What happened after Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene was remarkable! "Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her."

That's why she is the apostle to the apostles!!! She was sent by the Lord to announce the Good News to the eleven apostles, who were hiding! That's why she is Saint Mary Magdalene!

"When Jesus had risen from the dead early on the Sunday morning, he appeared first to Mary Magdalen, from whom he had cast out seven devils, alleluia."

Maundy Thursday Reflection

I reviewed something I wrote two years ago "Jesus washed Judas' feet - a New Commandment!" in which I reflected:
"The word Maundy comes from the Latin phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ("A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another." John 13:34) by which Jesus explained to the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet"
Having learned some Latin now, I now understand how Maundy comes from the Latin word Mandatum; do vobis = (I) give you; and that the words diligatis and dilexi are from the same root word for "love" (dilectio) but the different conjugation (endings of the words) turn them into a command and an active verb respectively. It's interesting that the Greek translation of John 13:34 uses the Greek word "agapaō" (a self giving type of love), which the Latin word does not seem to convey. Anyway, Latin is  really a very sophisticated language but hard to learn well.

I have tried to take advantage of the many special church events during Lent, including spending an hour each Wednesday between 10-11pm before the Blessed Sacrament. It has been especially meaningful this year because of my illness and also a particular family conflict which causes a lot of heart ache. We have been receiving a lot of support from the Courage-Encourage community. In fact my wife and I have signed up to go to this year's conference in Chicago this summer. I am quite looking forward to that.

In the homily Father Joseph gave on the Passover with the Disciples passage, he pointed out two things I didn't know before:
1. When Jesus told His disciples, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, “Surely not I, Lord?” He answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. " what Jesus meant was that the betrayer was one of His close friends who shared meals with Him. That's why the "Agony in the Garden" brought so much pain not only because of the imminent suffering Jesus was going to face, but also because one of His closest friends would betray Him!
2. When Judas, who betrayed him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” He replied, “You have said so.” Jesus was giving Judas one more chance to repent. He merely pointed it out to him that he could still decide to choose good rather than evil. Judas knew that Jesus knew. Judas knew that he would be betraying God who is all knowing.

That's why all the more significant was that Jesus washed even Judas' feet as a demonstration of what the New Commandment is like - on Maundy (command) Thursday.

Jesus taught us that we should love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. But He gave us a New Commandment on Maundy Thursday that we should love others as He has loved us. And how did He prove that love to us?

But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)