Feast of St. Mary Magdalene
St. Mary Magdalene, disciple of the Lord. Sister of St. Lazarus and St. Martha, she appears in several passages of the New Testament. After leading a dissolute life, she was freed of seven demons and became a faithful disciple of Jesus, following Him to Calvary. “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much” (Lk. 7:47). Her persistent search for her Lord after His Resurrection was rewarded when He appeared to her and sent her to announce his Resurrection to the Apostles. According to Tradition, she and the other members of her family from Bethany were set out to the sea by the Jews, adrift in a boat without oars which arrived in Marseilles, in southern France where she is much venerated. There she evangelized an then led a hermitic life until her death.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Sgs 3:1-4b
The Bride says: On my bed at night I sought him whom my heart loves– I sought him but I did not find him. I will rise then and go about the city; in the streets and crossings I will seek Him whom my heart loves. I sought him but I did not find him. The watchmen came upon me, as they made their rounds of the city: Have you seen him whom my heart loves? I had hardly left them when I found him whom my heart loves.
OR – 2 Cor 5:14-17
Brothers and sisters: The love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all; therefore, all have died. He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. Consequently, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh; even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer. So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9 (R.2)
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
O God, you are my God whom I seek;
for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water. R.
Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory,
For your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you. R.
Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you. R.
You are my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.
My soul clings fast to you;
your right hand upholds me. R.
Gospel – Jn 20:1-2, 11-18
Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. 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 Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he told her.
Featured Saints
Blessed Augustine Fangi di Biella, priest (†1493). Dominican religious, who held the office of Prior and strove to obtain perfect observance of the rule and the constitutions of the Order.
St. Philip Evans and St. John LLoyd, priest and martyrs (†1679). A Jesuit and secular priest, respectively, hanged during the reign of Charles II of England for having exercised their priestly ministry among the Catholics of the country.
St. Anastasius, monk (†662). Disciple of St. Maximos the Confessor, of whom he was a companion in both prison and tortures for the true Faith. He died in the Caucasian Mountains, in present-day Georgia, after repeated exiles.
St. Walter of Lodi (†1224). Founded the Hospital of Mercy in Lodi, Italy, to aid pilgrims and travelers. An ascetic, he walked barefoot, clothed in sackcloth.
Blessed James Lombardie, priest and martyr (†1794). Priest from Limoges, France. Incarcerated and left to die in a sordid prison-galley at Roquefort during the religious persecutions of the French Revolution.
Blessed Maria Agnes Teresa of the Blessed Sacrament, virgin (†1981). She founded, in Cuernavaca, Mexico, the Clarist Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament and the Missionaries of Christ for the Universal Church.
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