Magdalene

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put him."

Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken my Lord, and I don't know where they laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" She thought it was the gardener and said to him, "Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him." 

Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni," which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, "Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am going 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 then reported what he told her. (John 29:1-2, 11-18)

Today is the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene.  Mary Magdalene was a prominent figure in Jesus’ life.  According to John, Jesus was her teacher.  She was the first to see him after he “left” his tomb.  What follows is a posting by University of Notre Dame’s Carolyn Pirtle (July 22, 2020) entitled “Celebrating Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles.”

(begin) In 2016, Pope Francis raised the rank of today’s celebration of Mary Magdalene from Memorial to Feast in the liturgical calendar. This means that not only will the special readings for the day be proclaimed, but the Gloria will be prayed, and, for the first time ever, a special Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer will be included in the celebration of the Mass.

The Preface is entitled “Apostle to the Apostles,” the honorific bestowed upon Mary Magdalene. Recalling that “apostle” means “sent,” one can easily see not only the aptness but the beauty of this title: all four Gospels record that Mary Magdalene was at the tomb that first Easter Sunday morning, and that she was sent to share the Good News of Jesus’ Resurrection to the eleven remaining Apostles, who had locked themselves in the upper room. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John may not have concurred with one another on every detail in their accounts of Jesus’ life, but they were unanimous on this. Mary Magdalene was there.

In John’s Gospel, we read that Jesus himself appeared to Mary Magdalene, who was weeping at the tomb in grief and confusion, all while perhaps the flame of hope still flickered in her heart. She went to the tomb, as we may hear in the First Reading from the Song of Songs, “searching for him whom [her] heart loves.” She begs the One she believes to be the gardener: “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” And no sooner did she ask to be led to her Christ than he revealed himself to her by speaking her name: “Mary.”

With poetic elegance and simplicity, the newly-composed Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer for today’s Feast sums up this transformative episode in Mary Magdalene’s life: He appeared in the garden and revealed himself to Mary Magdalene, who had loved him in life, witnessed him dying on the Cross, sought him as he lay in the tomb, and was the first to adore him, newly risen from the dead. He honored her with the office of being an apostle to the Apostles, so that the good news of new life might reach the ends of the earth.

To hearts who love, witness, seek, and adore him, Christ appears and reveals himself, so that all might become apostles, sent to proclaim the Good News of new life to the ends of the earth. Like Mary Magdalene, we may be met with disbelief. We may even be met with derision or hatred. But as St. Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians (the other option for today’s First Reading), “The love of Christ impels us” to share the Good News that Jesus is alive. He is risen. Now and for all eternity. May this reality sink into our hearts a little more deeply today as we contemplate how Mary Magdalene’s life was transformed by the Resurrection of Christ, and may we open our hearts in turn to love, witness, seek, and adore the Risen One every day of our own lives. St. Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles, pray for us. (end)

Okay, with all above said, how can anyone conclude that women cannot become permanent deacons because women are not Christ-like?  Quite preposterous!  This “not Christ-like” [that is, not men] reference was mentioned in “Women Deacons?  The synodal process & women’s ordination” by Phyllis Zagano (July 22, 2023).  Zagano is author of several works on women in the diaconate and is author most recently of Just Church: Catholic Social Teaching, Synodality, and Women (Paulist 2023). She holds a research appointment at Hofstra University.

Zagano stated: “On June 20, 2023, the Vatican released the Instrumentum Laboris of the Synod on Synodality. Described by Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the General Secretariat of the Synod as “the fruit of a Church experience, of a journey in which we all have learnt more by walking together and questioning ourselves on the meaning of this experience,” the document will guide the first of two synod meetings in October 2023. What does the Instrumentum Laboris, and the entire Synod process so far, say about women in the Church and the possibility of women’s ordination to the diaconate?  

Zagano concluded: The present synodal journey both recovers a tradition of the ancient Church and echoes the way in which Christians have come together in communion to carry forth its mission. Today, the distinction is the fact of wider participation of women. And one of the questions about participation is about women in the diaconate.

That women were ordained as deacons is an historical fact, but that fact is about a particular time and place in Christian history. History alone is not dispositive. Whether the Church needs women deacons today can be partly resolved by the Synod, then formally approved by the pope. It would be up to episcopal conferences to request women deacons, and individual diocesan bishops would make their own determinations on local implementation (my emphasis).

There will be significant argumentation against ordaining women as deacons, but to say women cannot be ordained, only installed to a quasi-diaconal ministry, insults their baptismal equality. The false argument against restoring women to the ordained diaconate—that women cannot image Christ—is implicitly if not directly the cause of the denigration and disrespect for women on every continent (my emphasis). As the Instrumentum Laboris points out, “A synodal Church must address these questions together, seeking responses that offer greater recognition of women’s baptismal dignity and rejection of all forms of discrimination and exclusion faced by women in the Church and society.” (end)

I agree with her.  Now we wait to see if Church leadership does as well.  If so, I will be pleasantly surprised.  Saint Magdalene would be pleased as well.

Deacon David Pierce