Feast of Mary Magdala
Homily for 23 July 2006
Jean Scanlan

What say you, Magdalen? As I sat in my prayer room on a rainy day last week to prepare this long-awaited homily I asked the same question: What say you, Magdalen?

If you were standing here with us today what WOULD you say? Undeniably that you are Jesus’ friend. You opened your heart to receive the healing love of Jesus and you were transformed. While the apostles stumbled around not understanding his “odd-God ways” you saw into His heart. In the Gospel we heard Peter’s doubting words: “Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?” But you, Mary, You read his heart like a manuscript from the great Source of all life. What a comfort you brought Jesus when so few could understand. A friend is one who reads the heart of the beloved. Jesus could glance at Mary’s eyes and find affirmation and understanding. Have we ever considered the human Jesus needing to have a close friend who knew Him at a soul level. In the fragment from Mary’s Gospel read today we hear Levi’s response to Peter’s doubting words: “Surely the Savior knows her very well. That is why He loved her more than us.” Isn’t that one of our greatest needs and treasures as we walk our path through life? The human Jesus NEEDED a close friend. Mary Magdalen was a friend at the very soul level.

What say you Magdalen? Fellow traveler? We too are travelers born in a different time – far away from the dusty paths of Palestine. In our time we see blood spilled daily in that Holy Land you knew so well. We pray a litany for Holy Lands named Palestine, Lebanon, Israel, Iraq and Iran, Ruana and Darfur made red with the blood of God’s children. As fellow travelers of Jesus how do we open our hearts to suffering everywhere, everyday? May our hearts not become hardened and unmoved by the immensity of this suffering and the sterility of seeing it on a flat screen. How different the experience of my friend and married priest Dave Corcoran who just returned from two months in Palestine with the Christian Peacemaker Teams Initiative. At the age of 70+ he protected Palestinian children on their way to school, he watched occupation soldiers driving people from their lands and homes, and was himself knocked to the ground, spat upon and kicked. There is nothing sterile and distant for this fellow traveler. The gentleness of Jesus is in his eyes mixed with the hard determination to protect the weak and helpless - overlaid with the struggle to love those who hurt you. These were all aspects of the Jesus with whom you walked and traveled, Mary. When you went out to teach and preach as woman apostle you knew that all people are one – all are loved by God.

What say you, Magdalen? Denigrated, despised, betrayed by your brothers. Is this where you shine with the likeness of Jesus? Is your love for those who hurt you that which you absorbed into the very cells of your body as you witnessed your teacher/master/friend cry out from the cross, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do?” Woman witness, Apostle to the apostles, apostle to US, His heart lived on in you. There could only be lived forgiveness as the legacy of Rabboni !

Let us pray that like Mary we open our hearts to receive the healing love of Jesus. May we grow in the grace to forgive and may we use our unique giftedness to bless and heal our world. Amen – Alleluia - Amen