#magdalaytha

[tigris-euphrates]

This opened my third, fourth, fifth and sixth eyes 👁

[tigris-euphrates]

I'm not kidding when I say that everytime I get sad about stuff in my life, I think about how sad Magdalene must have been watching Christ be tortured and killed so brutally, and those awful three days she spent thinking that he was dead and that he would never ever come back, but then...after all her sorrow she got to be the most blessed of the disciples and she got to see Christ first and he was so kind and loving to her...after all of that unbearable sorrow she got to experience unbearable joy... her story gives me a lot of hope and makes the wait for happiness worth it

[tigris-euphrates]

"Mary Magdalene" by Father James Martin SJ

“I didn’t want to let the day go without speaking about the great Mary Magdalene.

First of all, Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute. This was the result of some very lazy conflations and probably great sexism in the early church. Because Jesus was said to have driven "seven demons” from her, Mary was thus thought to have been sinful in her previous life and, mainly due to a few church fathers, she was identified with prostitution. Essentially, it seemed that the early church (that is, after the time of the disciples) gravitated toward two poles when describing women: either as virgins or prostitutes. The idea that Mary was a strong, powerful and influential woman, a disciple in her own right, may have been too difficult to accept.

Whatever Mary’s sins were, or had been, it is clear that she was a key member of the disciples. (Also, she wasn’t married to Jesus, as Dan Brown claims in “The Da Vinci Code.” This too is a subtle form of sexism: she is seen as important only by virtue of who her husband is.) Mary is also, as we see in today’s Gospel (from John, often thought to be an eyewitness, or to be the “beloved disciple”) is the first one to whom Christ appears after the Resurrection. What a privilege! What a sign of his love for her! What a sign of her fidelity to him! Then the Risen One himself asks Mary to return to the disciples and proclaims what she has seen. “I have seen the Lord,” she says simply.

Thus, my favorite title for this woman, which is not “prostitute” or “reformed sinner” or “the penitent one,” but something far more important: Apostle to the Apostles.

Also, notice that Mary does not recognize Jesus until he speaks her name. I’ve always thought this so beautiful. She couldn’t recognize him (most likely because of the heretofore unexperienced appearance of his glorified body) but she knew that distinctive voice, the one with the accent from Nazareth–the voice that called her into wholeness when it expelled whatever demons were troubling her, the voice that welcomed her into Jesus’s circle of friends, the voice that told her she was valued by him, the voice that answered her questions about God, the voice that counseled her near the end of his earthly life. That voice she knew, because it was a voice that had always spoken to her in love. Then she recognizes.

Because sometimes seeing is not believing. Loving is.“

[tigris-euphrates]

Anyways….I literally spent the entire week thinking about Mary Magdalene and what an amazing biblical figure she was. It was really disappointing today in church when the priest didn’t mention Magdalene’s solid, constant faith, her perseverance, the sorrow she experienced and the unspeakable joy of being the first person in the entire world to see the risen Lord. He talked about Peter and John, who’d didn’t speak at all during today’s reading. Instead, it was the Magdalene who stood by the Lord through every station of the cross, who wept at His feet while He died on the Cross, who cleaned His body and prepared it for burial with the other women. It was Magdalene who saw the empty tomb first, Magdalene who ran and told the others, and after they left in disbelief, she stayed on and wept by the tomb. For her faith, unmatched by any of the other disciples, she was the first to see the risen lord, to behold His glory, and to know, and know with absolute certainty, that Jesus is God, and that He overcame death. To me, one of the most loving things in the New Testament is when Jesus speaks her name “Mary”, and she comes rushing to Him and clings to His robes. Their love for each other is so powerful that it overcomes all of the patriarchy that was around them, and it transcends mortal love.

[tigris-euphrates]

Mary Magdalene was a middle eastern woman lol, it’s mind-boggling that they cast Rooney Mara to play her in that upcoming movie….and to make matters worse they cast grimey-ass Joaquin Phoenix as Christ like bitch!¡ in what universe did the real life Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ look like those dusty motherfuckers Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix??!

[tigris-euphrates]

I thought St. John was present at the crucifixition as well?

Yeah he was, but he was the ONLY male disciple left. All the other men were literally hiding in fear. All that was left was John and a group of women (Magdalene, the Holy Mother, Joanna, Susanna, Veronica and unnamed others). They’re referenced as the “weeping women” in the stations of the cross. Also, in all of the versions of the resurrection, in every single one, women are the first witnesses to the resurrection, and they go and preach to the others. And, idk if it’s just my interpretation, but when Jesus points to John and tells Mother Mary “this is your son” He was sort of putting John under her authority….she becomes his spiritual guide IMO (and in extension, she becomes a spiritual guide for ALL of us)

[tigris-euphrates]

if you haven't already read "the resurrection of mary magdalene" by jane schaberg i HIGHLY recommend it, i think you'll love it

I’m literally adding it to my amazon wishlist as we speak, omg….thanks for the rec, I’m trying to get my hands on as much feminist/liberation theology as possible 😭