Members One of Another - Homily for the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene (2024)

Throughout his epistles, St. Paul often uses the image of the body to show the unity and diversity of the Church. Each of us is called for a specific task in the Church, some to teach, others to minister to the sick, some to shepherd the flock, others to support the shepherd, some to sing and conduct services, others to support the church and her mission financially. “God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him” (1 Cor. 12:18) “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body” (1 Cor. 12:12). We commemorate the saints from all walks of life, in every form of ministry and service to the Church in order to inspire us as we struggle along the way.  Today the Church celebrates the equal-to-the-Apostles, St. Mary Magdalene. While there are only a few brief, but important mentions of her in the Scriptures, the Church has preserved her memory in much more thorough detail.

Firstly, it would be good to clear up some common misconceptions about this other virgin Mary. St. Gregory the Great, Pope of Rome, was mistaken in conflating St. Mary Magdalene with the sinful woman who wiped Christ’s feet with her hair. This has led to the belief prevalent in the West that she was a harlot and became possessed for living a debauched life.

The East knows her otherwise. We know her for her many virtues. The first would be chastity—she led a pure, virginal life. As the only child of her parents, her father brought her up in the fear of the Lord, teaching her the Law and the Prophets.  This was very unusual for a girl at that time, but as we will, see, very providential. The family was not only spiritually wealthy, but materially as well. Her carefree and happy childhood was cut short, however, as she was orphaned at the age of ten. As she grew older she would visit the sick and infirm and comfort them in their afflictions, having been no stranger to sorrow herself.

St. Mary led such a pious life that the devil was suspicious that she was to be the virgin prophesied by Isaiah. St. Ignatius of Antioch tells us that the Virgin Birth was hidden from the devil. Although the devil could conjure up a view of the whole world in a glance, he could not see what happened in Bethlehem that first Christmas. Not knowing that the Virgin Birth had already taken place, he feared its fulfillment in the Magdalene. And so he sent seven devils to torment her, hoping she would fall into debauchery and thus defiled, God’s plans to save the human race would be thwarted.

What a grievous affliction St. Mary endured! What courage she possessed in her contest with the demons. To be tormented by devils and to endure the onslaughts of lust, doubt and unbelief and not to fall!  We are familiar with Job’s afflictions—he lost his wealth, his cattle, all his children, his health, the support both of his friends and even of his beloved wife. Furthermore, Job was afflicted because he saw no wrongdoing in himself. So how much more did St. Mary suffer, living a holy life and yet to be assaulted with the torments of hell. Her contest was surely not less than that of the patriarch of old and her crown no less brilliant.

Upon hearing of the Savior and His wonderful miracles and healings He performed, she sought Him out and He delivered her from the demons that were tormenting her. In gratitude, she served Him and his disciples out of her abundant wealth. She followed the Savior for the remainder of His earthly ministry and was present as His Crucifixion. Who could fail to marvel at her steadfastness in the face of the horrific death of her deliverer and teacher and Savior? Would we not rather have fled like the other disciples? It was she who persuaded the Noble Joseph to give his tomb to be the burial place for Christ. Blamelessly suffering the torments of hell and being faithful to Christ to the end, it was fitting that she, along with the Theotokos, were the first to hear the glad tidings of Christ’s victory over the demons, and she became the first to proclaim the resurrection to the disciples.

She was present with the disciples at Pentecost and received the gift of the Holy Spirit. She went to Rome to demand justice against Pontius Pilate and while there, she preached to the Romans, helping to establish the Church until St. Paul would arrive. Later, she would use the gift of tongues to evangelize Gaul, converting the multitudes in what is now Marseilles. She continued her ministry in various other parts of the Empire before departing for Ephesus, where she ended her life in peace.

In St. Mary, we see exemplified what St. Paul is exhorting us today in the Epistle. “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given us, whether…ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching…he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity…he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness” (Rom. 12:6-8). In gratitude for all that God had given her, she never hesitated to support the church with her material wealth. And again, all the spiritual talents she was given as a child—her knowledge of the Scriptures and the pious life she led in following the commandments were multiplied in her missionary work. She preached the Good News of the Resurrection, taught the faith, healed the sick, and raised the dead.

We can also see in St. Mary’s life the prescription against envy. She firmly knew that she was faithfully serving God according to her abilities and gifts.  In her life is the embodiment of what St. Paul said also in today’s Epistle.  Knowing that “as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” (Rom. 12:4-5).  She knew she was fully part of the body of Christ. Her work and her service were entrusted to her by God and she wholly invested herself in the tasks He laid out for her. And she became a shining lamp for the Church.  Because she concerned herself with multiplying the talents she had received, she was not jealous of the talents or opportunities of the Apostles. She was more faithful than most of them during Christ’s crucifixion, and her missionary exploits are on par with St. Paul and St. Andrew. Yet she never demanded, much less thought, that she be given the same authority as them through ordination. In St. Mary we find a hard lesson for today’s progressives who think that a woman only has a voice in the church; she only has value, if she’s ordained. We see what envy and what clericalism betray this desire for “equality”.

Lest this be seen merely as a swipe against those who disagree with Church teaching, let us look more deeply into how grievous envy is. Envy questions God’s providence in His distribution of talents and abilities and opportunities. Envy sees what our brother is doing and thinks we could have done it better if only the task were rightfully given to us. Envy tells us the victory of our brother is our defeat because envy sees our brother as our enemy.  At bottom, envy shows us that we do not see ourselves as members one of another but rather as isolated individuals. We desperately grasp for what we cannot have or what belongs to others; we are eaten up inside at the recognition and opportunities our brothers receive because we do not experience in our hearts that we are one with them.  So what are we to do?

One of the ways to overcome envy is for us to stop obsessing about the talents, opportunities and recognition our brother gets and to focus on cultivating the talents and opportunities God gives each one of us. It’s not a question of pride in developing our talents, because God does not give them to us for our own sake.  Rather, that the whole Church might be edified and perfected, “till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).    If we really saw ourselves as united in the Body of Christ, we would put more effort and focus into our own talents in the service of our brothers. Lest we should despair that we have no talents, that we really aren’t good at anything, or that perhaps we squandered the opportunities given us, St. Nikon of Optina says that the talents God gives us also includes our illnesses and infirmities. If we can learn to say “Glory to God for all things” from our hearts in the midst of our sicknesses and inabilities and failures, we will be sanctified in the same way as those who use their eloquence and rhetoric to spread the Gospel, or those who supply the Church with its needs from their abundant wealth, or those who serve and minister to the poor and the infirm, or those who have the stamina and strength to labor.

If we are faithful to the talents God has given us, we will knit ourselves more closely into the Body of Christ. We will understand the unity we share with our brothers and see both them and ourselves as members, one of another.  May the Equal-to-the-Apostles St. Mary Magdalene help us to faithfully multiple the talents God has given us to the glory of His Name. Amen.