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Show j j Mary Magdalen j j The Penitent l . j Next lo His Blessed Mother, the Woman Most Beloved by jl. ChristPatroness of Salt Lake Diocese. !f ' i 1 1 1 I In reading over the lives of God's I most favored servants, we find them di j I vided into tVo classes: Those who bj J Cod's grace have been preserved in I j, wonderful purity of heart and life, and i ' those who by that same divine grace have bi.-en brought from spiritual dark- ' li.-ss 10 light, from sin to sanctity. Among the latter we find Mary Mag-1 Mag-1 dalrn. once the public singer, who be- !came the most Illustrious of all holy women, the Virgin Mother excepted. H'-r story begins upon the day when ; Christ sat at meal in the house of the i Pharisee, and Magdalen hearing of his i I wonderful gentleness for repentant sin- ' if juts, and knowing that he was there, i I came to Him. Though sin-stained and J J :ui outcast, she knew Jesus was God, I S I and she resolved to aprpoach Him. Si- j I knily she enters, and casting herself I pt the gentle Sav;or's feet, she washes gthrin with her tears and wipes them ! with her beautiful hair. With the pre-i pre-i ious ointment she anoints the Lord I jiot his head, as was the custom of I the east but his sacred feet, the feet I lie has already washed with tears "of - repentance and love. She does not 1 I speak, she does not tell of the burden " of her sin and shame. No, for Jesus knows all, knows, too, the deep sorrow ihat is broking her j;racevisited IV art. and in a biief moment all is forgiven, for-given, forgotten, and the great sinner is transformed Into the saint. The Pharisee sees all. and is scandalized, end marvels that Jesus would a How such a one to touch Him. but Christ roads, his heart, and thereupon follows lhe passage which has given courage liiirto tn manv fin urrinir on3 cinfnl smi! since that day: "Many sins are forgiven her because she has loved J KUl.h." It is through Mary's conversion that Christ becomes a friend and a guest at the house of Lazarus and Martha; so Living and tender a lnend that he vceps for these sisters when their brother is dead, weeps tears of human Fympathy. which Scripture has recorded, re-corded, that we might undci-stand what ii is to possess the friendship of Jesus. A second time we see Christ a guest ii ike home at Bethany, Martha is k l'usy serving, but Magdalen sits at His foot, listening with undivided attention ' to the words that fall from His lips. i Martha murmurs at Mary's inactivity, ; mid asks the Master to reprove her, 1 ut although the motive which actuates k Martha is pleasing to Him. still He '? t makes answer and says, "Mary hath chosen the better part." Time passes and the hour of Christ's coming passion draws nigh: again he sits at meal, this time in the house of imou, the leper, and Mary Magdalen iiiei's once more and lavishly annoints ht Master's feet with the spikenard of , great value, and so xcites the cupidity f that arch traitor Judas that he reproves re-proves Iit in the following words-"Wby words-"Wby was not this oil sold, and its priee given to the poor?" But Jesus descends de-scends her and answers: "She hath done veil," and adds: "Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that which she hath done shall be told for a memory of her." The lerible agony is over, the true scourging has been endured, the crown of thorns has been planted and pressed down around the head of Jesus, the Man of Sorrow. He has carried his heavy cross to the summit of Calvary, ami he hangs bleeding and dying. Where are his chosen disciples, they whom his touch healed of their dis- t ' drcs, me ui'au lie eciiieu usck 10 me; j Are they there? Ah, no! Only three ' loving, faithful souls stand by: Mary, j the stainless mother, the immaculte virgin; John, the virgin apostle and ! jnuch beloved disciple, and Mary Mag- alen. the repentant sinner, at the foot ' of the cross. The incomporable sacrifice is accom-- accom-- plished, and the bruised, nailed, pierced body is taken down fronithe cross and tenderly -wrapped in aromatic spices f nd fine linen, and laid away in the '-. garden sepulcher until the glorious in surrection morning, but it is anguish i inexpressible for Magdalen to tear her self away from the spot where her new Ll Sound love and master lies. It is only ;! the loliness and grief of the virgin ' mother that tiiwnps and causes her to accompany her back to that home K ' made desolate by the absence of her only son: "The loveliest among the sons of men." Kaster morning we see Mary Magda-Vn Magda-Vn hurrying to the tomb, so early that it is yet dark, but the stone has been , rolled away, the grave is open and her master is not there. In grief, she runs t'i the apostles to tell them that the Lord is not where he had laid him. They come, and finding that it is true, I I they go away to their' own homes. But Mary Magdalen remains at the tomb and tells her grief to the white robed angels an-gels and to one other who is not far off, and whom she takes for the gardener. "They have taken away my lord," she cries, and her sorrow is not to be comforted com-forted until she hears a voice say "Mary." Ah! no other voice could ever be like his, and turning she sees him whom she loves so much and calls by Vthe dear name of "Master." She is about to press her lips to those pierced feet when Jesus says. "Do not touch j hie." Is he less loving or less forgiving I than in other days, the days when she i anointed those feet with precious oint- i ment and sat and listened to his words, he who spoke as never man spoke? No, it is because Jesus is no moi-e what he has been; his body has been transfigured transfig-ured into a higher life, and soon he will sit at the right hand of the Father, and Magdalen must wait until she can fall at his feet in heaven. " Sei-ipture makes no further mention of this loving penitent, but early history his-tory and tradition tell us that after St. Peter had been crucified at Rome, and that the virgin mother had after her patient waiting gone to heaven, Lazarus with his sisters passed to the shores of France, and that by some unseen power the boat containing the family of Bethany was guided to Marseilles, Mar-seilles, where they told the story of "Jesus of Nazareth" as a story of a beloved and well known friend. Of Magdalen there is but one remembrance remem-brance at this port, that is in the altar bearing her name, which is in the vault of the abbey of St. Victor. At Aix mere was an oratory in wmcn miu prayed in the company of St. Maximus. who had accompanied the family in their pilgrimage. But God had ordained that his chosen servant should end her life in greater retirement' still. Therefore, There-fore, she sought a cave in the lonely j desert, and for thirty years her life was one of mingled prayer, penance j and wondrous communications with him she ioved so truly and persever-ingly. persever-ingly. Many times a day she was carried car-ried by angels from her cave to the rock above it, where visions were granted her which pen cannot describe nor tongue tell. Finally, the hour approached which Magdalen must have long desired, she felt she was about to pass from brief glimpses of untold glory to that which should be eternal, and her soul longed to receive once more the Blessed Sacrament Sac-rament of love. Not far distant was the oratory of St. Maximus. and when Magdalen knew the hour had come, she was carried by angels to a spot where the holy bishop had been divinely inspired in-spired to wait for her. and he gave -her the holy communion of the Lord's body and blood. Then he placed her remains in an alabaster monument and prepared a grave for himself near by. At the beginning of the eighth century cen-tury the Saracens invaded Provence, and the monks of St. Cassian concealed the crypt in which the relics of Mary Magdalen reposed. They removed her body from the alabaster tomb to another an-other grave, but they placed two inscriptions in-scriptions in it which would show in future days what it truly was. Centuries passed away; the precise spot where the dear saint lay was foi--gotten. At length. God inspired the Prince of Solerno to make a pilgrimage pilgrim-age for the purpose of discovering the tomb of Magdalen, and in December of 1279 a trench was opened in the old Basilica of St. Cassian. The work men soon struck upon the stone of a grave, and when the prince had raised it. a sweet fragrance was perceived by all. Convinced that he had found the remains, he caused the tomb to be sealed until the bishops of Provence might be convoked. The followijig spring a vast multitude stood around Magdalen's tomb; with all honor and ceremony it was opened and all gazed upon the earthly remains of her., who had so lovingly served her Master after the grace of conversion had been granted her. Upon her forehead fore-head a small particle of flesh was observed ob-served to be transparent, and with one accord the assembly declared it their belief that it was the spot once touched by the finser of the Savior when he said to her: "Do not touch me." Beautiful is the story of Magdalen, the story of penitence and love. Sinful, she .had nothing to offer Jesus but her tcai-s: forgiven, she had only her love to give him. But what love it was! so deep, so strong, so abiding: a love which kept her ever following the footsteps foot-steps of him who had pai'doned her so much. Faithful, indeed, she was, even when his path led to the grave. Theresa The-resa Gethin in the Canadian Messenger. |