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One of the welcome and lasting legacies of Pope Francis is his 2016 decision to raise the annual commemoration of Mary Magdalen to a Feast Day, placing her alongside the other disciples.
I am encouraged and inspired when people offer homily suggestions of theme, focus, ideas, and experiences which show the life of the scriptures as a reality in the present. It’s a powerful sign that people are appreciating that the work of the homily is the work of the entire community of faith.
So I was especially happy a few years ago, when Mary Magdalen was a new feast to (along with the other priests of the Christchurch diocese) receive an email from scripture scholar and Sister of Mercy Kath Rushton, with some reflections for the Feast of Mary Magdalen.
Kath writes:
“At this time last year, as the Feast Day of St. Mary Magdalene approached, I emailed you the passages where she is found in the four gospels and offered some points from biblical interpretation and aspects from early Christianity. Doing this turned out to be a great blessing for me because in preparation I was led to recent research on how she is presented in the gospels and was understood and named by early church theologians which was not included in what I emailed you.
“In Greek, she is named as: Maria ē Magdalenē which translates as: Mary the Tower. As some of you may know for several years I have written monthly reflections on Sunday gospel passages in Tui Motu InterIslands Informed by the recent research I uncovered a year ago, in the 2024 July edition I wrote a reflection entitled “Mary the Tower”
This reflection from Kath is inspiring. Click on the image below to read it, and you may like me meet the real Mary Magdalen for the first time.
Mary Magdalen, a towering witness.
Now that our women can be ordained, I am sure that they too can become taller like Mary to all of us.
Thank you John, for bringing this beautiful reflection on this day, putting right the status of Mary the Tower and how we should be honouring her. My prayer is that this will open the way for true equality of women in our church in ALL aspects of ministry and leadership. We have long denied ourselves the gifts women bring to humanity in the fullness of their feminine charisms and qualities – gifts given to us by our God who is indeed neither male or female.
May this be read far and wide. Thank you John and Kath Rushton for bringing this to light.
Thank you John for highlighting Sr Kathleen’s gifted research and proclamation of Mary Magdalene. I too hope and wait for the day of equality for women in every aspect of ministry in our Church. It is so long overdue and consequently so much is being lost and denied to both women and men. Blessings on you both and gratitude for your gifts. Joy
Thankyou, good to get historical interpretations put right. Great research