❤️ “Because she has loved much, much has been forgiven her” is the phrase that summarizes the life of Saint Mary Magdalene. Traditional liturgy identifies her with three figures: the anonymous sinner who anointed Jesus' feet in the Pharisee's house, Mary of Bethany, sister of Lazarus and Martha, and the first witness of Christ's Resurrection, thus becoming the "Apostle to the Apostles." Her life is a testament to radical transformation through an encounter with the merciful love of Christ, moving from sin to the deepest love and the most courageous proclamation of the faith.Introit (Ps 118:95-96, 1)
Me exspectavérunt peccatóres, ut pérderent me... The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I have understood Thy testimonies, O Lord. I have seen an end of all perfection: Thy commandment is exceeding broad. Ps. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. ℣. Glory be to the Father.
Epistle (Sg 3:2-5; 8:6-7)
I will rise, and will go about the city: in the streets and the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and I found him not. The watchmen who keep the city, found me: Have you seen him, whom my soul loveth? When I had a little passed by them, I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him: and I will not let him go, till I bring him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that bore me. [The Bridegroom speaks:] I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and the harts of the fields, that you stir not up, nor make the beloved to awake, till she please. [The Bride speaks:] Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm: for love is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell, the lamps thereof are fire and flames. Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can the floods drown it: if a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he shall despise it as nothing.
Gospel (Lk 7:36-50)
At that time, one of the Pharisees desired him to eat with him. And he went into the house of the Pharisee, and sat down to meat. And behold a woman that was in the city, a sinner, when she knew that he sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment; And standing behind at his feet, she began to wash his feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. And the Pharisee, who had invited him, seeing it, spoke within himself, saying: This man, if he were a prophet, would know surely who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, that she is a sinner. And Jesus answering, said to him: Simon, I have something to say to thee. But he said: Master, say it. A certain creditor had two debtors, the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And whereas they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which therefore of the two loveth him more? Simon answering, said: I suppose that he to whom he forgave more. And he said to him: Thou hast judged rightly. And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon: Dost thou see this woman? I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she with tears hath washed my feet, and with her hairs hath wiped them. Thou gavest me no kiss; but she, since she came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint; but she with ointment hath anointed my feet. Wherefore I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less. And he said to her: Thy sins are forgiven thee. And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves: Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said to the woman: Thy faith hath made thee safe, go in peace.
✒️ The sinner's tears were more precious than the perfume, for they came from the heart, and she washed the Lord's feet so that He might wash her soul (St. Augustine, Sermon 99). What once served her vanity and sin, her hair, now serves her humility to wipe Christ's feet, transforming the instrument of seduction into an instrument of service (St. Gregory the Great, Homily 33 on the Gospels). She does not wait to be called, nor does she await an invitation, but bursts into the house, overcoming shame with charity, for there is no shame in the confession of faith (St. Ambrose, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, Book VI). By kissing Christ's feet, she presses her lips to the very fount of mercy, from which she drinks the pardon for her iniquities (St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 95).
🔭 The Gospel of John identifies the woman who anoints Jesus' feet as Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus, and places the event in the week of the Passion, not at the beginning of the ministry as in Luke. In John, the criticism comes not from the host but from Judas Iscariot, and the motivation is not the woman's sinful state but the supposed waste of the perfume (Jn 12:1-8). Matthew and Mark report a similar event in Bethany, but they specify that the anointing was on Jesus' head, and the criticism comes from the disciples in general; Jesus then connects the act directly to the preparation for His burial, a dimension not made explicit in Luke's text (Mt 26:6-13; Mk 14:3-9).
✉️ The statement “Thy faith hath made thee safe” echoes the core of Pauline theology, which teaches that justification comes not from the works of the Law but from faith in Christ Jesus, which works through charity (Gal 2:16; Gal 5:6). The love that motivates the sinner, which leads her to break social barriers, manifests the charity described by Paul as the greatest of gifts, without which all else is nothing (1 Cor 13:1-3). Her transformation from "a sinner" to one forgiven vividly illustrates the Pauline concept that in Christ we are a "new creation," where the old things have passed away (2 Cor 5:17), for "where sin abounded, grace did more abound" (Rom 5:20).
🏛️ The actions of the sinful woman mirror the essential elements of the sacrament of Penance, as defined by the Council of Trent. Her tears demonstrate a perfect "contrition" of the heart, which is the chief act of the penitent, a sorrow of the soul and a detestation for the sin committed, with the purpose of not sinning again (Session XIV, Ch. IV). Her public, wordless gesture is a form of "confession," not auricular but factual, of her misery and her faith in divine mercy. Finally, the use of the precious ointment can be seen as an act of "satisfaction," whereby she offers what is most valuable to her to make amends for the offense, moved not by servile fear but by the filial love that restores friendship with God (Session XIV, Ch. VIII).
