Faith-Forgiveness-Healing-Grieving-Mary Magdalene

HOMILY FEAST OF MARY MAGDALENE

(Song of Song 3:1-4; Ps 63; Jn 20:1-18)

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The first mission to which I was assigned as a young Oblate priest was St. Mary Magdalene in Beauval, on the picturesque banks of the Beaver River. When we built a new church in 1984, we commissioned Al Gerritsen to carve a beautiful wooden mandala of Mary Magdalene face to face with Jesus that now graces the front of the building.

This feast in honor of Mary Magdalene brings to mind a client at the Hopeview Halfway House in North Battleford, SK. for people in recovery who are going through a process of reintegration into society. She shared with me she was addicted to alcohol, drugs, gambling and sex. As well, she lied, shopped and stole compulsively. After our conversation, it struck me that I had just met another Mary Magdalene who was letting go of all these personal demons and trying to heal through the 12 Step program.

This feast invites us to be like Mary Magdalene: To believe, to be humble, to be forgiven, to be healed and finally to be a witness to our encounter with Jesus.

Our process of change and transformation begins with faith in Jesus and his two-fold mission as the Messiah: to redeem and sanctify, to forgive and to heal. He came not just to forgive our sins but also to heal our sinfulness (that which makes us sin – our painful emotions, defects of character, negative attitudes and our addictions.

That was the experience of Mary Magdalene who was delivered of seven demons by Jesus (Luke 8:1-2). It is no accident that St. John begins a passage about her in his gospel with the words “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb.” What was truly dawning was the awesome new creation Jesus was bringing about by his passion, death, resurrection and the sending of the Spirit on the early church.

Mary Magdalene had become a new creation through her encounter with Jesus. She was transformed into a woman of the resurrection. It is rather astounding that a very troubled, sinful woman, whose life was a mess, would be chosen to be the first witness to the resurrection and “the apostle to the apostles.” Astounding, yes, but also fitting, for she, like King David and like the woman who had washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and wiped them with her hair, had been forgiven much, and were now able to show much love.

We have a very important choice as we go about our daily lives. We can leave the events of our day the same as we came, or we can depart as new creations ourselves, having been transformed by our experience of him through faith-filled prayer, humble forgiveness and profound healing. We are invited to be like Mary Magdalene, to believe, be humble, be forgiven, be healed, and then called to witness our experience to others.

The first reading from the Song of Songs is fitting, as Mary certainly had an intimate relationship with Jesus. He did not shame or judge her (very much like the woman caught in adultery); rather, Jesus accepted her as she was, saw through her façade and sinful behavior to the goodness within her soul, forgave her all her sins, and even more important, healed her of all her sinfulness (that which made her sin – her painful emotions and negative attitudes from which he delivered her). How could she not have a deep and profound relationship with this Jesus who poured unconditional love into her heart?

Besides recognizing Jesus as Risen Lord in the gospel, Mary’s role there teaches us an important lesson – to mourn and grieve our losses, rather than stay stuck in grief. When Jesus called her name and she recognized him, she rushed to give him a great big hug. I am sure Jesus accepted that hug graciously and lovingly (unlike the custodian in the Holy Land who admonished us before celebrating the Eucharist in the Church of the Agony, “No madam to touch the chalice!”), but then told her “not to cling to him” because he had not yet ascended to the Father.

Jesus was teaching her (as well as the early church, and us) that she was to believe in him as the Christ of faith now and not the Jesus of history. He was back, but she could not have him back the way she had him before, because he was risen to a new, eternal life with the Father he wanted to share with her (and with us). She could not, however, receive that new life if she was clinging to the way he was. In short, he was teaching her to mourn and grieve her loss, so she could be open to receive his Spirit in a new way, which is what happened at Pentecost.

It is the same with us. So many people are stuck in grief. We need to mourn and grieve our losses, whatever they are, especially our loved ones, and finally let them go and give them back to God. We will thus open ourselves up to receive their spirit to be with us in a new way, as well as the spirit for whatever losses we have endured, and we will be able to move on in our lives with greater peace and joy.

The Eucharist on this feast is another opportunity for us to be like Mary Magdalene – to celebrate with genuine faith; to humbly receive the forgiveness and healing of Jesus, to proclaim “we have seen the Lord” and also share how he has transformed us.

So, let us be like Mary Magdalene: believe, be humble, be forgiven, be healed and be a witness to our transformation.