Tag: Mary Magdalene

Religion & Society

Competing Myths of Mary Magdalene

Posted on by John W Gillis / 0 Comment

I’ve recently completed a short online mini-course from Boston College’s School of Theology & Ministry on Mary Magdalene. The idea was to “Explore the imagery of St. Mary of Magdala, her role as Apostle to the Apostles and the impact of her life on the ministry of women in the Church”, according to the course description. Offered at a nominal fee, I thought it looked like a nice opportunity to focus on a small but important part of the gospel story over the last few weeks of summer, and maybe help get my head out of the incessant political morass th...

Scripture

Mary Magdalene, Redux

Posted on by John W Gillis / 2 Comments

I kept thinking about Mary Magdalene today. I had a hard time finding an appropriate portrait of her to include in the post I wrote last night, and I got to thinking today that perhaps she hasn’t been very well represented over the years. She is often depicted in low-cut dresses, or in other ways linked to the idea of being a woman of loose morals. This is no doubt on account of her being associated with the woman of ill repute in Luke 7:36-50 who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears – of whom Jesus said she was forgiven because she loved ...

Scripture

Mary!

Posted on by John W Gillis / 0 Comment

The Gospel reading for Mass today (Jn 20.11-18) contains one of the great literary images in Scripture. Mary Magdalene, after having found the tomb of Jesus disturbed, and fetching Peter and John, stayed behind at the tomb, weeping, after the others had left. After conversing briefly with two angels she saw inside the tomb, she turned away from them in her tears, and in doing so, encountered the risen Jesus – whom she mistook for the gardener. After a few brief words, she turned away from him, too. And then Jesus spoke a single word to her that who...