Mary Magdalene
An important figure for the synodal church
Almost everyday in the church calendar is associated with more than one saint. Very few of them have the category called feast, which means that saint is locally important (eg: Francis Xavier in India)or universally important (like apostles). Pope Francis recently included Mary Magdalene also in that category. It’s simple logic that if the apostles are included in that group, the apostle to the apostles (she spread the good news of the resurrection) should also be included.
What is the speciality of this figure? One of the most popular woman in the New Testament (after Mary, as she is the mother of Jesus). She is associated with life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. She was present in all these; John and the mother of Jesus too had that privilege. This is truly a unique privilege; she loved Jesus. All these are known; what is so great to speak about them?
The church is making attempts to become a synodal church. Pope Francis constantly reminds us that its God’s invitation to the church in the contemporary world. In this context, why Mary Magdalene is good model for a synodal church.
Synodal church is a church where the voices of each baptised are heard; this includes all men and women. We have many masculine models for the early church in apostles. The often quoted feminine model is Mother Mary. When she is the disciple par excellence, her title as the Mother of God is not achievable for us humans (atleast literally ; symbolically all of us can give birth to word of God in our lives). So a better model (sadly Gospel doesn’t have many women spoken of with such details) is Mary Magdalene. We should explore more on her life to understand how to be a disciple. I don’t think Mary Magdalene can be relegated as a passive women who only prayed; but she was present in the significant moments of Jesus' life (with much courage during the passion); and Jesus gifted her with the unique privilege of being the first human to encounter the risen Lord. Even her later life would have a lot of missionary components. Remembering and studying those forgotten models (especially very important ones like Mary Magdalene) is important in the synodal journey of the church.
Fr James Martin always says something interesting about Mary Magdalene. In between the announcement of Jesus' resurrection to her (first person) and the announcement to the second person, she was the only one who knew. Or she was the church.
