In the Gospel of St. John is the account that after Holy Saturday Mary Magdalene had gone to the tomb, had found it without the body of the Lord, and had begun to weep.
Editorial Staff (07/23/2026, Gaudium Press) Today the Church commemorates Saint Mary Magdalene, she who announced the Resurrection of the Lord to the apostles.
The Gospel of St. John relates that after Holy Saturday Mary Magdalene went to the tomb where the body of the Lord had been placed, and not having found it, she began to weep. But then two angels, whom she had not recognized as such, clothed in white, asked her why she was crying, to which she replied that it was because they had taken away her Master, her Lord.
It then happened that she turned her gaze backward and saw a man whom she believed to be the gardener. This man also asked her why she was crying, to which Magdalene responded by asking whether he had taken Him away, and if so, that he tell her where he had placed the sacred remains.
Jesus sends her to announce His Resurrection
At that moment Jesus, the Divine Gardener, said to her, “Mary”; she recognized Him and went to Him. Jesus ordered her to stop touching Him, for He had not yet ascended to the Father, and He commanded her to inform the disciples of His Resurrection and other “things that He told her.”
Thus Magdalene is the first person of whom the Scriptures tell that she saw Jesus risen, although there are many traditions indicating that the first person to whom the Risen One appeared was His Mother, the Virgin.
The Gospels speak to us of three Marys whom Western tradition, since the time of St. Gregory the Great, has identified as a single person: Mary Magdalene the sinner (Lk 7:37-50), Mary Magdalene one of those who followed the Lord and who saw Him risen for the first time (Jn 20:10-18), and Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus (Lk 10:38-42).
Although some claim that post-conciliar tradition distinguishes the three figures above, Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 continued speaking of the healing that Jesus worked in the soul of this disciple, who from the humility of weakness asked Him for help, transforming her into a great apostle: “The history of Mary of Magdala reminds everyone of a fundamental truth: a disciple of Christ is one who, in the experience of human weakness, has had the humility to ask Him for help, has been healed by Him, and has followed Him closely, becoming a witness to the power of His merciful love, which is stronger than sin and death.”
She was an admiring soul, capable of contemplation.
After she dedicated herself entirely to the service of the Lord, her contemplation was above all directed toward the divine figure of the Savior, and in that contemplation her love grew, her soul became even more enlightened. Surely she also carried out the work entrusted to the Holy Women, but she would certainly continue choosing “the better part” (cf. Lk 10:38-42), that is, contemplative admiration of the Lord.
Even though a sinner and before her full conversion, her love for the Lord already made her intuit God’s Messiah:
“A Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him. Jesus entered his house and sat at the table. A sinful woman of the city, when she learned that He was at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar full of perfume, and standing at His feet behind Him, began to weep. Soon her tears bathed the Lord’s feet, and she dried them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with perfume” (Lk 7:36-38).
Deliverance from seven unclean spirits
Scripture says that Jesus delivered Magdalene from seven demons (Lk 8:2). Although not a few people today wish to see in these seven unclean spirits a figure of a serious physical or moral illness from which Jesus Christ freed her, it is clear that tradition has always interpreted that text for what it is, the carrying out of a true exorcism by Jesus upon the soul of this great woman: “Afterward, Jesus went through the cities and villages, preaching and proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God. The Twelve accompanied Him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out.”
Jesus Christ had already spoken of ‘seven spirits’ that were evil: “Whoever is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters. When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it wanders through deserted places seeking rest, and finding none, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself; they enter and dwell there. And in the end, that man is worse off than at the beginning” (Lk 11:23-26).
In the previous text, which records the words of Jesus Christ Himself, one can see the struggle of the soul against the devil, who does not wish to release the one whom he had already trapped. Jesus shows in that passage how the action of the devil is a cause, not the only one, but a most special one, of disorder in the soul. And that makes us value even more the exorcism that Jesus performed on Magdalene, for He delivered her from a group of demons that tormented her more than the initial demon that attacked her.
Of course, all of the above is mere fantasy to one who does not believe in the existence and action of the spirit of evil. But that is the problem of the unbeliever, not of reality…
Magdalene, then, devoted herself to the service of the Lord; she followed Him with other holy women and accompanied Him to Calvary, where among the apostles only the beloved disciple was present, for the others had completely fled. In that final, dramatic, and sublime moment of Jesus’ death, she was not only the beloved disciple but also the one who, through her courage, made manifest her immense love for Jesus, for there she was, exposing herself to the possibility of being seized at any moment for following the Nazarene. After this comes the episode of the appearance of angels and of Christ at the open tomb, referred to above.
Traditions about her fate
After the death and resurrection of the Lord there are two traditions: one places Mary Magdalene in Ephesus, together with the Apostle John and the Blessed Virgin Mary. But another, stronger tradition takes her to France together with her siblings Martha and Lazarus, where they begin to carry out a fruitful apostolate.
With information from Aciprensa and Arautos.org
The post “Saint Mary Magdalene, who one day was possessed by 7 demons, who later became apostle of the apostles” appeared first on Gaudium Press Español.
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