mary magdalene

mary magdalene, whose feast day is the 22nd of july, must be the most pliable of saints. over the years she has been imaged and imagined in many ways, from the first witness of the resurrection and the apostle to the apostles, the inventor of the easter egg (my favourite), through repentent whore to excuse for the da vinci code.

i have long been a "fan" of hers, and remember with great expectation the publishing of starbird's the woman with the alabaster jar, a copy of which the publisher gave me since i was living in santa fe at the time and had given a workshop of the role of mary magdalene in the early church. seldom have i been so disappointed by any book, and few of the many books about mary that have followed have been any better. it seems that she is fair game as a hook on which to hang any hair-brained scheme about the early church or women one wants.

the midaeval understanding of the magadalen as a penitent i have usually avoided, even if i have sometimes defended it against the neo-gnostic goons. therefore i was delighted to re-find (duh! where have i been all these many years) that the epistle reading for her feast is from the fifth chapter of second corinthians:

"if anyone is in christ [she] is a new creature."

ah. of course. so many times in so many ways, i want to be, or at least to have the advantages of, the new creature, but to keep my old mind, thank you very much. i want memories, which i can re-paint as needed, in nostalgic sepia tones, rather than to re-member. but to be in christ is to have the mind of christ. it requires me to repent. there is no other way to be sanctified, which, as the collect for the feast reminds us, is what jesus did for mary:

"o almighty god, whose blessed son did sanctify mary magdalene, and call her to be a witness to his resurrection: mercifully grant that by thy grace we may healed of all our infirmities, and serve thee in the power of his endless life; who with thee and the holy ghost liveth and reigneth, one god, world without end. amen.