Mary Magdalene: Apostle of the Apostles

In a recent blog I described the difference between an Apostle and a Disciple. A disciple is one who learns from a teacher. The twelve disciples mentioned in the Gospels chose Jesus as their “rabbi” or teacher. Apostles are disciples who are sent to preach or teach. Therefore, before one becomes an apostle, one has to be a disciple. Jesus had many disciples. At one point Jesus send out 72 disciples to proclaim the Good News, in other words, he sent them as apostles. But normally we think of the Apostles as the 12 disciples that Jesus chose to be his inner group of disciples.

Another person who was considered a member of his inner group was Mary Magdalene or Mary of Magdala. She is the person that Luke in his Gospel said that seven demons had gone out of her. She is also often associated with the repentant sinner mentioned in Luke who anointed the feet of Jesus although this is unlikely. It was during the Middle Ages that this invention was created but has since been mostly rejected. Mary is, however, mentioned several times in the Gospels which indicates that she was an important disciple of Jesus. In fact, she was at times considered as important as the apostle Peter. In all of the Gospels she is the first one, or one of the first group of women,  to witness the risen Christ and to inform the other apostles. Therefore she is called the “Apostle of the Apostles,” the one who was sent by Jesus to announce his resurrection.

On June 10, 2016, The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued a decree which elevated Mary's liturgical commemoration from an obligatory memorial to a feast day, like that of most of the Apostles, which puts her a par with them. The reason why was to honor her as being the first witness of the Lord’s resurrection. Pope Francis’ decision to elevate her memorial to a feast during the Jubilee of Mercy was done in order to emphasize the importance of this woman, “who so loved Christ and was so greatly loved by Christ.” The decree says, “Thus, as already indicated she becomes an evangelist, that is a messenger who announces the Good News of the Lord’s resurrection or, as Rabanus Maurus and Saint Thomas Aquinas say, she becomes the “apostolorum apostola” (Apostle of the Apostles) because she announces to the apostles what in turn they will announce to the whole world.”

“I have seen the Lord.”

Mary Magdelene's Feast day is July 22.

Deacon Greg Beckel