The feast of St Mary Magdalene

Glory to God in the highest,
and peace to God's people on earth.
Lord God, heavenly King,
almighty God and Father,
we worship you, we give you thanks,
we praise you for your glory.

Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father,
receive our prayer.

For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High,
Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Almighty God,
whose Son called Mary Magdalene to be a witness of his resurrection:
mercifully grant that by your grace we may be forgiven and healed,
and may know you in the power of your Son’s risen life;
who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

1 O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee.
2 My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh also longeth after thee, in a barren and dry land where no water is.
3 Thus have I looked for thee in the sanctuary, that I might behold thy power and glory.
4 For thy loving-kindness is better than the life itself: my lips shall praise thee.
5 As long as I live will I magnify thee in this manner, and lift up my hands in thy Name.
6 My soul shall be satisfied, even as it were with marrow and fatness, when my mouth praiseth thee with joyful lips.
7 Have I not remembered thee in my bed, and thought upon thee when I was waking?
8 Because thou hast been my helper; therefore under the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
9 My soul hangeth upon thee; thy right hand hath upholden me.
10 These also that seek the hurt of my soul, they shall go under the earth.
11 Let them fall upon the edge of the sword, that they may be a portion for foxes.
12 But the King shall rejoice in God; all they also that swear by him shall be commended; for the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.

A reading from the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians.

The love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

For the word of the Lord,
thanks be to God.

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John.
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending 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 she told them that he had said these things to her.

For the Gospel of the Lord,
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Looking for Mary Magdalene

Open your mind’s eye and take a look at Mary Magdalene, whose feast day is 22^nd July. How do you see her? Imagine her as a woman standing in front of you. What I she like? What is her character? Who is she for you?

The first picture I have is a wonderful wooden statue by Donatello, made in 1550, which shows Mary as a repentant sinner. She is very thin, her body wasted away with sin and suffering. She is dressed in rags which hang lifelessly around her as a sign of humility and repentance. Her hair is lank and untidy, long and uncared for – repentant sinners have no pride. Her face is bony and anguished, streaked with tears and racked with pain. Her eyes are fixed, begging for mercy, and her hands are raised in prayer, her long, thin fingers touching each other lightly as if all her hopes now lie with Christ’s mercy.

Fifty years after Donatello’s statue, the great artist Caravaggio, painted a picture of the wealthy and influential Mary Magdalene. He showed her talking to Martha. Mary is dressed in luxurious clothing, with wonderful red sleeves where the artist was showing how clever he was at painting the folds of the material and the light and shade. Mary is a beautiful and young, her low cut bodice revealing smooth and perfect skin. Mary has her left hand on top of a large mirror, while with her right hand she holds a white flower up to her breast as if daring Martha to make the comparison between white flower and white skin.

The third picture is an icon written by Robert Lenz in 1988, for Christ church, New York, on the occasion of the consecration of Barbara Harris as bishop. Mary is shown as a Middle Eastern woman, holding and pointing to an egg. The Eastern Orthodox tradition tells us that after the Ascension, because of her high social standing, she journeyed to Rome and was invited to the court of Tiberius Caesar. She told Caesar that Jesus had risen from the dead. To help explain His resurrection she picked up an egg from the dinner table. Caesar responded that a human being could no more rise from the dead than the egg in her hand could turn red. The egg instantly turned blood red. The icon shows her serious, confident face, her eyes holding the gaze of the Emperor.

But there is another old story that Mary Magdalene went to France. An unknown artist, working in the same century as Donatello and Caravaggio painted a picture of Mary Magdalene preaching to the people of France. The artist has chosen to show Mary Magdalene as a mature woman. She is healthy, strong and utterly at ease with herself and the task of preaching. Her face is wise and comforting – she could be someone’s mother. Her face is familiar with life and death, with crucifixion, burial and resurrection. And around her there are men and women of every age, listening to her words and talking about the message she has brought them. The scene is outside, surrounded by flowers and trees and the glories of nature. It is perfectly natural for this middle-aged woman to be telling the wonders of God’s mercy to God’s beloved children.

Over the centuries, Mary Magdalene has been a controversial figure. She has been depicted as a desperate and repentant sinner; a confident woman of power and privilege, a close intimate of Jesus (and according to one tradition, his wife.). She has been seen as the Apostle to the Apostles, first witness of the Resurrection. She is said to have visited Europe, where she became a noted preacher, preaching to the wealthy and powerful princes of the country which later became France. She has been used to denigrate women and she has become the champion of feminists.

For me, however, amongst all these vicissitudes, she has been for me a symbol of confident hope. Whether she turned to Christ for her salvation; became his supporter and companion; proclaimed the message of the Resurrection to the Apostles, the French Nobles or the Emperor in Rome, there is a confidence about Mary. She knew what she was doing and she knew where her hope and her future lay.

May we have that same confidence and hope on our journey of faith.

The thing I love about Mary Magdalene is her ongoing transformation as she lived her life with Jesus. If Mary Magdalene could be transformed by the presence of Jesus in her life surely there is hope for all of us and for the world which we pray for now.

Today I’d invite you to be enveloped in that transforming power. I’d invite you to bring it to your prayers.

Perhaps begin by imagining Jesus and Mary Magdalene next to you, in the space where you are now. Imagine them living and breathing, but also understanding, knowing all of the deepenings that you and the world have.

Allow their transforming power to move in you.

And then consider the people and places, the issues that come to your mind when you think about praying for the world.

It may be the leaders of the world who you think need our prayers.

It may be health care workers, those people on the front lines of COVID, those people who are continuing daily to have to deal with all of the issues surrounding the pandemic, but as well as that all of the everyday issues that bring health into sharp focus for so many of us.

It may be that you think about people in lockdown, those people who are struggling because of their jobs or simply because of the isolation.

It may be that this week it is the people who have suffered with the floods in Europe and in China and the fires across America and Canada.

It may be that what rises in your heart is about the earth itself and its desperate need for our good care.

Bring whatever things you think are important to Jesus and to Mary Magdalene, into their transforming power.

Take a minute now simply to think of and bring to the surface those things you think are of greatest need.

Remember the transformation that happened in Mary Magdalene. Believe and trust that that sort of transformation, miraculous, dep, significant, can occur for whomever and whatever you are praying for.

Lord Jesus Christ, empower our transformation and the transformation of the world. Amen

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

(Preface of the Apostle of the Apostles)

It is truly right and just,
our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,
whose mercy is no less than his power,
to preach the Gospel to everyone
through Christ, our Lord.

In the garden he appeared to Mary Magdalene,
who loved him in life,
who witnessed his death on the cross,
who sought him as he lay in the tomb,
who was the first to adore him when he rose from the dead,
and whose missionary duty was honoured by the apostles,
so that the good news of life might reach the ends of the earth.

And so Lord, with all the Angels and Saints,
we, too, give you thanks, as in exultation we acclaim:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

Merciful God, we thank you
for these gifts of your creation,
this bread and wine,
and we pray that by your Word and Holy Spirit,
we who eat and drink them
may be partakers of Christ’s body and blood.

On the night he was betrayed Jesus took bread;
and when he had given you thanks
he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying,
‘Take, eat. This is my body given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.’

After supper, he took the cup,
and again giving thanks
he gave it to his disciples, saying,
‘Drink from this, all of you.
This is my blood of the new covenant
shed for you and for many
for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’

Therefore we do as our Saviour has commanded:
proclaiming his offering of himself
made once for all upon the cross,
his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension,
and looking for his coming again,
we celebrate, with this bread and this cup,
his one perfect and sufficient sacrifice
for the sins of the whole world.

Let us proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died;
Christ is risen:
Christ will come again.

Renew us by your Holy Spirit
unite us in the body of your Son,
and bring us with all your people
into the joy of your eternal kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
with whom, and in whom,
in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
we worship you, Father,
in songs of never-ending praise:

Blessing and honour and glory and power
are yours for ever and ever. Amen.

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love you above all things and I desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, come spiritually into my heart. I embrace you as if you were already there, and unite myself wholly to you. Never permit me to be separated from you. Amen.

Compassionate God,
in this eucharist you have set aside our sins
and given us your healing.
Grant that all who have shared in holy things
may bring your healing to this broken world,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding
keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God
and of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord
and the blessing of God Almighty,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
be amongst you and remain with you and those you love and pray for
this day and always.

Amen