Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today marks the occasion of the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, the first of the Apostles of the Lord and one of the holy women that accompanied the Lord Jesus during His ministry, also known as Apostolorum Apostola, or the ‘Apostle of the Apostles’ for her role in witnessing the Resurrection of the Lord, as one of the first to encounter the Risen Lord and then proclaiming that Good News to the others, who themselves would become Apostles. The word and title ‘Apostle’ itself came from the Greek word ‘Apostolos’ which came from the verb that means ‘to send off’ and hence, has the meaning of being someone who has been sent off on a particular mission, and in this sense, St. Mary Magdalene received that great honour because she was indeed sent by the Lord to give the Good News to the other Apostles.

St. Mary Magdalene was one of the women frequently mentioned in the Gospels as one of the close confidants of the Lord, following Him on His missions. In terms of her identity, Apostolic and Church traditions were not clear, as she was sometimes associated with the woman who had been a prostitute or adulterer, but in one occasion in the Gospels, it was mentioned that the Lord had cast out seven demons from St. Mary Magdalene. Regardless of her origin and background, whatever she had done in the past and the sins she might have committed, what truly matters is that after her commitment to follow the Lord and her desire to serve the Lord henceforth, St. Mary Magdalene became a great role model and inspiration for all of us in how we ought to live our lives as Christians.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Song of Songs, also known as the Songs of Solomon in which the author wrote about the one who was seeking for the love of her heart, looking around and finding where this person whom she loved. This was a prefigurement of what happened in our Gospel passage today, in which we heard the account of the moment when St. Mary Magdalene was in the garden where the tomb of the Lord was located at, on the Easter Sunday morning when the Lord was risen from the dead. St. Mary Magdalene was distraught because she could not find the Lord’s Body in the tomb that morning, and she genuinely thought that the Lord’s Body had indeed been stolen by someone, and when the Risen Lord appeared before her therefore, she begged Him to show her where her Master’s body was at, not realising that she was speaking to Him.

The relationship between St. Mary Magdalene and the Lord is sometimes misconstrued as one of romantic nature as popularised not long ago by some incorrigible fiction authors, as it had been in the past. But if we understand deeper the context and the relationship between the Lord and St. Mary Magdalene, we can see how in St. Mary Magdalene we saw a great faith and love that she has for the Lord, Who has shown her the path of righteousness and liberated her from the bondage of the evil ones, and she also dedicated herself thoroughly and completely to His cause henceforth, as she was also one of the few who remained close to the Lord at the moment of His Passion, when He was suffering and being persecuted just before He was crucified. St. Mary Magdalene attended to the Lord when many other disciples fled in fear.

St. Mary Magdalene showed us all that there is hope for each and every one of us, that even those who were great sinners, those possessed by evil spirits and having been corrupted by sin have the potential and the chance to be redeemed through their faith and commitment to God. Like many other great sinners and other ordinary people turned saints, St. Mary Magdalene exemplified what a Christian should be like, in overcoming the temptations of the world, all the allures of sin and evil, embracing God’s call in our lives so that we may truly be able to follow Him wholeheartedly in whatever we do, and that we may be good inspirations and role models ourselves to our fellow brothers and sisters all around us.

Today, as we rejoice and honour the glorious examples and memory of St. Mary Magdalene, virtuous servant of God and our role model, let us all also strive to renew our own respective commitments to God. Each and every one of us have been entrusted with the unique gifts and talents, opportunities and chances for us to make good use of our lives to glorify Him. Now the question is whether we want to allow the Lord to help and guide us in our path, or whether we allow the many temptations of evil and wickedness in our lives to sway and mislead us down the wrong paths in life. If we continue to allow all these distractions and temptations to lead us down the wrong path, eventually we will regret our choice in doing so.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore commit ourselves to refocus our lives and our attention back towards the Lord, distancing ourselves from whatever it is that had distracted and kept us all away from Him. Let us all not be so easily deluded and misguided by the evil one anymore, but commit ourselves with ever greater effort and fervour like what St. Mary Magdalene had done, so that in everything that we do, we will always glorify the Lord, and do what is right and just in the sight of God. Let our lives be good examples and be truly worthy for all of us to be considered and called as the disciples and followers of the Lord. We should always strive and aspire to be ever righteous, just and full of faith and love towards God at all times.

May the Lord, our ever loving and compassionate God continue to bless us all and be with each and every one of us, and may He continue to strengthen each one of us through the examples of His glorious saints, such as St. Mary Magdalene and many others who have given their all and devoted their lives to God. St. Mary Magdalene, holy servant of God, intercede and pray for us all sinners, that God may be moved to forgive us all our sins and that He will continue to love us and to strengthen us in our journey of faith through life, now and always. Amen.