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. (Jn. 20:1-2; .11-18)

Mary Magdalene and Saint John Paul II

It was Saint John Paul II who dedicated a lot of attention, not only to the importance of women in Christ’s and the Church’s very mission, but also with special emphasis, to the particular function of Mary Magdalene as the first witness who saw the Risen One and the first messenger who proclaimed the resurrection of the Lord to the Apostles (cf. Mulieris dignitatem, n. 16). The importance of women continues on in the Church today. It is manifested in the Church’s dedication to the new evangelization which seeks to welcome men and women, without distinction, from every race, people, language and nation (see Rev. 5:9), to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, accompanying them on their earthly pilgrimage and offering them the wonders of God’s salvation. Saint Mary Magdalene is a true and authentic example of an evangelizer, that is, of an evangelizer who proclaims the joyful Easter message (see Collect for the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene and the new preface).

Mary Magdalene and Pope Francis

Pope Francis made the decision to elevate the memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene precisely within the context of the Jubilee of Mercy to highlight the relevance of this woman who had such a great love for Christ and who was tremendously loved by Christ…. It is also of note that ecclesial tradition in the West, especially after Saint Gregory the Great, identified Mary Magdalene with the woman who washed Jesus’s feet with perfume in Simon the Pharisee’s house. This interpretation continued to influence western Church writers, and artists, as well as the liturgical texts connected with the Saint.

Mary Magdalene, first witness of the resurrection

We know that Mary Magdalene was a member of the group of Jesus’s disciples. She followed him even to the foot of the cross and to the garden where he was buried. Saint Gregory reminds us that she was the first testis divinae misericordiae (witness to divine mercy). The Gospel of John recounts that Mary Magdalene wept because she could not find the Lord’s body (see Jn. 20:11). Jesus had mercy on her, allowing her to recognize him as “Rabbouni”, thus transforming her tears into Easter joy.

On the one hand, she had the honor of being the prima testis (first witness) of the resurrection of the Lord, the first to see the empty tomb, and the first to hear the truth of his resurrection. Christ had a special consideration and mercy for this woman who showed such great love toward Him that she sought him anxiously in the garden with such suffering, with lacrimas humiltatis (humble tears), as Saint Anselm called them….

In addition, it is specifically in the garden of the resurrection that the Lord says to Mary Magdalene: “Do not hold on to me”. This is an invitation directed not only to Mary, but also to the entire Church, to enter into an experience of faith that surpasses any materialistic appropriation or human understanding of the divine mystery. It has an ecclesial scope! It is a good lesson for any disciple of Jesus not to seek human securities and worldly titles, but faith in the Living and Risen Christ!

Mary Magdalen, the first apostle

Precisely because she was an eyewitness of the Risen Christ, she was also the first to witness to Christ’s resurrection before the apostles. She fulfilled the mandate of the Risen One: “Go to my brothers and tell them…. Mary Magdalen went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’ and then reported what he told her” (Jn. 20:17-18). In this way, she became, as already stated, an evangelizer, that is, a messenger who proclaims the good news of the resurrection of the Lord, or, as Rabanus Maurus and Saint Thomas Aquinas used to say, apostolorum apostola (apostle to the apostles) because she announced to the apostles what they, in their turn, would proclaim throughout the entire world. The Angelic Doctor was right in using this term, applying it to Mary Magdalene. She is the witness of the Risen Christ and announced the message of the resurrection, like the other Apostles.