'Apostle to the Apostles'

Parishes in Wayne, Pompton Lakes hold prayer service to honor St. Mary of Magdala

WAYNE  St. Mary of Magdala has gotten an undeserved “bad rap”over the past 2,000 years of history.

Somehow, this significant figure in salvation history — known as Mary Magdalene — has acquired a bad and inaccurate reputation that cannot be found anywhere in Scripture: that of a “prostitute,” a “public sinner” or a “fallen woman.”

So in contrast, the parishes of Our Lady of Consolation (OLC) here and St. Mary, Pompton Lakes, joined together last week to celebrate a much more accurate picture of St. Mary of Magdala and her faithful legacy that many saints and theologians have attempted to promote over the centuries: that of the “Apostle to the Apostles.” About 50 parishioners from the two Passaic County faith communities gathered at OLC for their fifth-annual vigil service, “Celebration of the Feast of St. Mary of Magdala: A Walk with Mary of Magdala,” on the evening of July 22, her feast day.

“St. Mary of Magdala gets bad press. Scripture says that she was filled with demons, but when she met Jesus, her life had changed,” said Sister of the Church Arlene Kollar, OLC’s pastoral associate, who started the joint prayer service in honor of St. Mary of Magdala with her friend, Norbert Langer, a member of St. Mary’s adult choir and Justice and Peace Committee. “Think about how close St. Mary of Magdala was to Jesus. She walked with him during his ministry. She was brave to witness his death on Calvary, when other male disciples ran away. After the Resurrection, Jesus revealed himself to her first and then sent her to tell the other disciples. That’s why St. Jerome and others called St. Mary of Magdala the ‘Apostle to the Apostles,’ ” she said.

The hour-long vigil service followed St. Mary of Magdala’s earthly and spiritual journey through a gently interwoven tapestry of short Scripture passages, prayers, hymns and reflections, based on the Resurrection account in John 20:1-18. The evening concluded with a commissioning service to encourage participants to recommit themselves to “going out and making disciples” just as the honored saint had done, Sister Arlene said.

Next to a black-and-white portrait painting of St. Mary of Magdala at empty tomb of Jesus near OLC’s altar, two lectors led the vigil service, which started with an introduction of the honored saint. Scripture “shows her as the primary witness to the most central events of Christian faith, named in exactly the same way in each of four Gospels written for diverse communities throughout the Mediterranean world,” they said.

“It was impossible to relate the story of the Resurrection without including ‘Mary, the one from Magdala,’ ” the introduction states, adding that Luke 8: 1-3 reports that she traveled with Jesus and supported his mission with her own financial resources. “In the synoptic Gospels, Mary leads the group of women who witness Jesus’ death, burial, the empty tomb and his Resurrection…John’s Gospel names Mary of Magdala as the first to discover the empty tomb and shows the Risen Christ sending her to announce the Good News of his Resurrection to the other disciples.”

The lectors also took participants through several “steps” of St. Mary of Magdala’s experience of the Resurrection. They included: her arrival at the tomb; the Apostles going to see for themselves; their noticing that Jesus was not there; their believing Jesus’ Resurrection after seeing him; their understanding the significance of what they saw; Mary’s weeping at the tomb; her seeing Jesus but not recognizing him; the moment that she recognizes him; and then her going to tell the other disciples.

Each “step” of the vigil service included a brief Scripture passage; reflection questions for participants to ask themselves about what St. Mary of Magdala might have been thinking or feeling and how they might relate to her experience; a prayer read by the lectors, followed by a communal prayer; and then everyone singing verses from a related hymn, “I Have Seen the Lord” by Bob Hurd. One of the steps encouraged participants to reflect on the following concept: “We are people, like Mary, with a mission — to tell people what we have seen, what we have heard, what we believe — not to “cling” to what came before — the earthly Jesus — but to ‘be’ part of the new glorified Body of Christ, who now lives in and through the community of believers.”

Toward the conclusion of the service, Sister Arlene led a commissioning ceremony, anointing the palms of participants and urging them to take up the mission of becoming “witnesses like Mary of Magdala — called to accept the challenge of being a follower of Jesus and to live as He did.” Then, they all sang the hymn, “We Are Called” by David Haas, and recited the Lord’s Prayer.

The vigil service to St. Mary of Magdala started five years ago, after Sister Arlene had attended a similar service at St. Elizabeth Parish, Wyckoff, in the Archdiocese of Newark. She spoke about starting such a service locally with Langer, whom she has known since the days she served St. Mary’s, before moving to OLC. Langer said that, around the same time, he also had been thinking about starting a service in honor of the saint.

“Poor homiletics and confusion with other women in the Bible over the centuries made people in the Church think that St. Mary of Magdala was an adulterer and a fallen woman. But she experienced the Resurrection — an incredible gift to her and the whole Church. It is great to have her as a role model for women today to emulate,” said Langer, who noted that OLC and St. Mary’s alternate hosting the service from year to year. “We are from neighboring towns and coming together in faith is a nice byproduct,” he said.

A first-time participant, Sophie Marshall of OLC, said she found the vigil service “instructive and inspirational.”

“It was prayer from a woman’s point of view. St. Mary of Magdala stayed with Jesus at the Cross and went to the tomb [after the Resurrection]. She was a woman of means, not a harlot,” Marshall said. “It showed how strong women like her are.”