By the express
wish of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments published a new Decree on the Solemnity of the
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, 3 June 2016, in which the celebration of Saint
Mary Magdalene was elevated and inscribed in the General Roman Calendar with
the rank of Feast. This decision,
in the current ecclesial context, seeks to reflect more deeply upon the
dignity of women, on the new evangelisation and on the greatness of the
mystery of God’s Mercy. Saint John
Paul II paid great attention not only to the importance of women in the
mission of Christ and the Church, but also and with special emphasis on the
particular role of Mary of Magdala as the first witness who saw the risen
Christ, and as the first messenger who announced the Lord’s resurrection to
the Apostles (
Mulieris dignitatem n.
16). The importance of this continues
today in the Church, as is evident in the new evangelisation, which seeks to
welcome all men and women “of every race, people, language and nation” (Rev
5: 9), without any distinction, to announce to them the Good News of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ while accompanying them on their earthly pilgrimage,
and offering them the wonders of God’s salvation. Saint Mary Magdalene is an example of a
true and authentic evangeliser, that is an evangelist who announces the
central joyful message of Easter (cf. Collect for 22 July and the new Preface).
It is precisely in the context of the
Jubilee of Mercy that our Holy Father Pope Francis has taken this decision,
in order to underline the relevance of this woman “who so loved Christ and
was so greatly loved by Christ”, as Rabanus Maurus affirms on various
occasions when he speaks of her (“dilectrix Christi et a Christo plurimum
dilecta”:
De vita Mariae Magdalenae,
Prologus
), as well as Saint Anselm of Canterbury who says of her “chosen
because you are beloved and beloved because you are chosen of God” (“electa
dilectrix et dilecta electrix Dei”:
Oratio
LXXIII ad sanctam Mariam Magdalenam
).
It is true that ecclesial tradition in the West, especially since the
time of Gregory the Great, has identified Saint Mary Magdalene, and the woman
who anointed Christ’s feet with perfume in the house of Simon the Pharisee,
and the sister of Lazarus and Martha, as one and the same person. This interpretation continued to influence
western ecclesiastical authors, Christian art and liturgical texts relative
to this Saint. The Bollandists made a
detailed study of the problem of identifying these three women and prepared a
path for the liturgical reform of the Roman Calendar. The outcome of this reform of the Second
Vatican Council led to the texts of the
Missale
Romanum
, the Liturgia Horarum and
the
Martyrologium referring to Mary
of Magdala. What is certain is that
Mary Magdalene was part of the group of Jesus’ disciples, she accompanied him
to the foot of the Cross and, in the garden where she met him at the tomb,
was the first “witness of Divine Mercy” (Gregory the Great,
XL Hom.
In Evangelia, lib. II Hom. 25,10
).
The Gospel of John tells us that Mary Magdalene wept because she could
not find the body of the Lord (Jn 20:11); and that Jesus had mercy on her by
letting himself be known as her Master, thus transforming her tears into
paschal joy.
Taking advantage of this opportune
moment, I would like to underline two ideas inherent in the biblical and
liturgical texts of this Feast which assist us to better grasp the importance
of this holy woman for today.
On the one hand, she has the
honour to be the first witness of the Lord’s resurrection (“prima testis” –
Hymnus, Ad Laudes matutinas ), the
first who saw the empty tomb and the first to hear the truth about his
resurrection. Christ showed special consideration
and mercy to this woman who showed her love for Christ by seeking him in her
anguish and suffering in the garden, or as Saint Anselm says in the prayer
mentioned above with “lacrimas humilitatis” (“the tears of humility”). In this way it is possible to highlight the
contrast between the woman present in the garden of paradise and the woman
present in the garden of the resurrection.
The first spread death where there was life; the second announced life
from a sepulchre, the place of death.
As Gregory the Great underlines: “Quia in paradiso mulier viro
propinavit mortem, a sepulcro mulier viris annuntiat vitam” (“Indeed because
a woman offered death to a man in Paradise, a woman announces life to the men
from the tomb”:
XL Hom. In Evangelia,
lib. II, Hom. 25
). Yet, there is
more, as we see precisely in the garden of the resurrection where the Lord
says to Mary, “Noli me tangere” (“Do not cling to me” Jn 20:17). This is an invitation to enter into an
experience of faith that goes beyond materialistic assumptions and the human
grasping after the divine Mystery which is not simply addressed to Mary but
to the entire Church. This is an
ecclesial moment! This is an important
lesson for every disciple of Jesus Christ to neither seek human securities
nor the vainglory of this world, but in faith to seek the living and risen
Christ!
On the other hand, precisely
because she was an eyewitness to the risen Christ, she was also the first one
to bear witness to him before the Apostles.
She fulfils the command of the Risen Lord: “‘Go to my brethren and say
to them, I am ascending 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 she told them that he
had said these things to her” (Jn 20:17-18).
Thus, as already indicated she becomes an evangelist, that is a
messenger who announces the Good News of the Lord’s resurrection or, as
Rabanus Maurus and Saint Thomas Aquinas say, she becomes the “apostolorum
apostola” because she announces to the apostles what in turn they will
announce to the whole world (Rabanus Maurus
, De vita beatae Mariae
Magdalenae, XXVII;
Saint Thomas Aquinas , In Ioannem Evangelistam Expositio, c. XX, L. III, 6 ). It was with good reason that the Angelic
Doctor applied this term to Mary of Magdala, for she is the witness to the
risen Christ and announces the message of the Lord’s resurrection just like
the rest of the Apostles. For this
reason it is right that the liturgical celebration of this woman should have
the same rank of Feast as that given to the celebration of the Apostles in
the General Roman Calendar and that the special mission of this woman should
be underlined, she who is an example and model for all women in the Church.
Arthur Roche, Archbishop Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and
the Discipline of the Sacraments
…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis told leaders of the Reformed Churches on Friday that there is an urgent need for an ecumenism capable of promoting “a shared mission of evangelization and service”. Unless people find in the Church a spirituality offering healing and liberation, he said, they will end up being taken in by solutions which “neither make life truly human, nor give glory to God”.
Philippa Hitchen reports:
In his meeting with the delegation from the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the Pope said we must be grateful to God for our rediscovered brotherhood. Quoting from his predecessor, Saint John Paul II, he said this is not the consequence of a big-hearted philanthropy or “a vague family spirit”, but rather it is rooted in recognition of “the oneness of Baptism” which compels us to strive to “grow together in order to better serve the Lord”.
Speaking in Spanish, Pope Francis noted especially the recent conclusion of the fourth phase of theological dialogue between the WCRC and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, which dealt with ‘Justification and Sacramentality: the Christian Community as an Agent for Justice’.
Justification and Justice
Stressing the necessary link between justification and justice, the Pope said our faith in Jesus impels us to live charity through concrete gestures capable of affecting our way of life, our relationships, and the world around us. On the basis of an agreement on the doctrine of justification, he said, there are many areas in which Reformed and Catholics can work together bearing witness to God’s merciful love as a “remedy for the confusion and indifference that seems to surround us”.
Christians, the Pope insisted, are called to receive and rekindle God’s grace, to overcome self-centredness and to be open to mission, rather than living in self-referential communities that are resistant to change. Some new forms of religiosity, he warned, at times risk encouraging concern for oneself alone and promoting a kind of spiritual consumerism. Instead, the Pope called for a shared mission of evangelisation and service, enouraging Reformed and Catholic communities to work together to bring the joy and peace of the Gospel to all men and women of our time.
Please find below the full address of Pope Francis to the World Communion of Reformed Churches
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I offer you a warm welcome and I thank you for your visit: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Cor 1:3). I especially thank the Secretary General for his kind words.
Our meeting here today is one more step along the journey that marks the ecumenical movement, a blessed and hope-filled journey whereby we strive to live ever more fully in accord with the Lord’s prayer “that all may be one” (Jn 17:21).
Ten years have passed since a delegation of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches visited my predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. Since then, in 2010, the historic unification between the Reformed Ecumenical Council and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches took place. This union offered a tangible example of progress towards the goal of Christian unity, and was a source of encouragement to many on the path of ecumenism.
Today, we must above all be grateful to God for our rediscovered brotherhood, which, as Saint John Paul II wrote, is not the consequence of a large-hearted philanthropy or a vague family spirit, but is rooted in recognition of the oneness of Baptism and the subsequent duty to glorify God in his work (cf. Ut Unum Sint, 42). In this spiritual fellowship, Catholics and Reformed Christians can strive to grow together in order to better serve the Lord.
A specific motive of gratitude is the recent conclusion of the fourth phase of the theological dialogue between the World Communion of Reformed Churches and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, dealing with Justification and Sacramentality: The Christian Community as an Agent for Justice. I am happy to note that the final report clearly emphasizes the necessary link between justification and justice. Our faith in Jesus impels us to live charity through concrete gestures capable of affecting our way of life, our relationships and the world around us. On the basis of an agreement on the doctrine of justification, there are many areas in which Reformed and Catholics can work together in bearing witness to God’s merciful love, which is the true remedy for the confusion and indifference that seem to surround us.
In effect, today we often experience “a spiritual desertification”. Especially in places where people live as if God did not exist, our Christian communities are meant to be sources of living water quenching thirst with hope, a presence capable of inspiring encounter, solidarity and love (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 86-87). They are called to receive and rekindle God’s grace, to overcome self-centredness and to be open to mission. Faith cannot be shared if it is practiced apart from life, in unreal isolation and in self-referential communities resistant to change. Thus it would be impossible to respond to the insistent thirst for God that nowadays finds expression also in various new forms of religiosity. These at times risk encouraging concern for oneself and one’s needs alone, and promoting a kind of “spiritual consumerism”. Unless people today “find in the Church a spirituality which can offer healing and liberation, and fill them with life and peace, while at the same time summoning them to fraternal communion and missionary fruitfulness, they will end up by being taken in by solutions which neither make life truly human nor give glory to God” (cf. ibid., 89).
There is urgent need for an ecumenism that, along with theological dialogue aimed at settling traditional doctrinal disagreements between Christians, can promote a shared mission of evangelization and service. Certainly many such initiatives and good forms of cooperation exist in many places. Yet clearly we can all do more, together, “to offer a convincing reason for the hope that is in us” (cf. 1 Pet 3:15), by sharing with others the Father’s merciful love that we graciously receive and are called generously to bestow in turn.
Dear brothers and sisters, in renewing my gratitude for your visit and your commitment in service to the Gospel, I express my hope that this meeting may be an effective sign of our resolution to journey together towards full unity. May it encourage all Reformed and Catholic communities to continue to work together to bring the joy of the Gospel to the men and women of our time. God bless you all.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) It was announced on Friday Pope Francis has decided to raise the celebration of the memorial of St. Mary Magdalene to the dignity of a liturgical Feast.
In the modern Church calendar, saints may be commemorated with a memorial (optional or obligatory), feast, or solemnity.
The decree was signed on 3 June 2016, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart.
In a letter announcing the change, the Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Arthur Roche, writes the decision means one “should reflect more deeply on the dignity of women, the New Evangelization, and the greatness of the mystery of Divine Mercy.”
Archbishop Roche drew attention to the fact Mary Magdalene was the first witness to the Resurrection, and is the one who announced the event to the Apostles.
“Saint Mary Magdalene is an example of true and authentic evangelization; she is an evangelist who announces the joyful central message of Easter,” he writes.
“The Holy Father Francis took this decision precisely in the context of the Jubilee of Mercy to signify the importance of this woman who showed a great love for Christ and was much loved by Christ,” writes Archbishop Roche.
He also notes Saint Magdalene was referred to as the “Apostle of the Apostles” (Apostolorum Apostola) by Thomas Aquinas, since she announced to them the Resurrection, and they, in turn, announced it to the whole world.
“Therefore it is right that the liturgical celebration of this woman has the same grade of feast given to the celebration of the apostles in the General Roman Calendar, and shines a light on the special mission of this woman, who is an example and model for every woman in the Church.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta on Friday morning. In remarks to the faithful following the Readings of the Day, the Holy Father focused on three attitudes that are characteristic of the Christian: “standing” before God in “silence” to hear His voice and readiness to “go out” into the world to proclaim what one has heard to others. The Pope also warned against the danger of paralyzing fear in Christian life, no matter where one is in one’s journey with God and regardless of one’s state of life in the Church:
Standing upright and walking
To explore this issue, and how to escape the tunnel of fear, the Pope focused on the the prophet Elijah, from whose book the First Reading of the Day was taken. The Holy Father recalled how Elijah was victorious, how he “fought so much for the faith,” and defeated hundreds of idolaters on Mount Carmel. Then, he reaches a breaking point: one of the many acts of persecution aimed at him finally hit its mark, and he collapses in discouragement under a tree, waiting to die – except that God does not leave him in that state of prostration, but sends an angel with an imperative: get up, eat, go out:
“To meet God it is necessary to go back to the situation where the man was at the time of creation, standing and walking. Thus did God created us: capable of standing full upright before Him, in his image and likeness, and on our way with Him. ‘Go, go ahead: cultivate the land, make it grow; and multiply.’ [Then, to Elijah], ‘Enough! Go out and go up to the mountain and stand on the mountaintop in my presence.’ Elijah stood up on his feet, he set off on his way.”
The strain of a sonorous silence
Go out, and then to listen to God: only how can one be sure to meet the Lord on the way? Elijah was invited by the angel to go out of the cave on Mount Horeb, where he found shelter to stand in the “presence” of God. However, it is not the “mighty and strong” wind that splits the rocks, nor the earthquake that follows, nor even the fire that follows, which finally induces Elijah to go out:
“So much noise, so much majesty, so much bustle – and the Lord was not there. ‘After the fire, the whisper of a gentle breeze’ or, as it is in the original, ‘the strain of a sonorous silence’: and the Lord is there, speaking to us in it.
The hour of the mission
The angel’s third request to Elijah is: “Go out.” The prophet is invited to retrace his steps, to the desert, because he was given an assignment to fulfill. In this, emphasizes Francis, is captured the stimulus “to be on the way, not closed, not within the selfishness of our comfort,” but “brave” in “bringing to others the message of the Lord,” which is to say, “[to go on a] ‘mission’”:
“We must always seek the Lord. We all know how are the bad moments: moments that pull us down, moments without faith, dark, times when we do not see the horizon, we are unable to get up. “We all know this, but but it is the Lord who comes, who refreshes us with bread and with his strength and says: ‘Arise and be on your way! Walk!’ In order to meet the Lord we must be so: standing upright and on our way; then waiting for Him speak to us, with an open heart; and He will say, ‘It is I’ and there faith becomes strong – [and] is this faith for me to keep? No: It is for us to bring to others, to anoint others with it – it is for mission.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) On Thursday in the Holy See Press Office a press conference was held to present the Jubilee of the sick and disabled (10 to 12 June). The panel was composed of Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, Bishop José Octavio Ruiz Arenas and Msgr. Graham Bell, respectively secretary and under-secretary of the same dicastery.
The Jubilee was scheduled to begin on Friday with a pilgrimage from Castel Sant’Angelo to the Holy Door. Later, at 5 p.m., in the Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, there will be a catechesis addressed to all and in particular to the deaf and blind, given by the Redemptorist Fr. Cyril Axelrod, also deaf and blind and known throughout the world, especially in China, the United Kingdom and South Africa, for his full commitment to disability issues. The catechesis will be made available in International Sign Language (ISL), in Italian sign language and in tactile sign language.
On Saturday 11 there will be two special moments. The first, of a religious nature, will be an appointment in various churches in the city centre from 10 to 11 am., for catechesis offered in various languages and methods of communication, entitled “Mercy, source of joy”. In the Church of Sant’Andrea della Valle there will be, in Italian, a symbolic catechesis with a dramatisation of the Gospel reading and various simple gestures to accompany prayer, which will enable those with intellectual disabilities to participate.
The second will be a celebration in the gardens of Castel Sant’Angelo, from 6 to 8 p.m., entitled “Beyond the Limit”, to be attended by a number of well-known artists, singers and dancers performing alongside the sick and disabled. From 2 p.m., also in the gardens, seven tents will be set up with stands representing various pastoral and volunteer associations and organisations, who will share their experience of evangelisation for and with the world of sickness and disability.
On Sunday 12 June in St. Peter’s Square pilgrims will have the opportunity to listen to testimonies from people affected by sickness or disability, and from those who live in close contact with it, on the theme “When I am weak, I am strong”. At 10.30 the Pope will preside at the Eucharistic celebration which will be accessible worldwide via live streaming with sign language. The liturgical service and the readings will have as their protagonists people with disabilities, and in particular among the altar servers there will be a number of people with Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities. One of the deacons, German, is deaf, the first reading will be read by a disabled Spanish person, and the second will be read in English in Braille by a blind child. All the readings will be translated into international sign language by deaf people from various countries, and the prayers of the faithful in different languages will be read by sick and disabled people of various nationalities. Then, for the first time in St. Peter’s Square, the Gospel reading will be dramatised by a group of people with intellectual disabilities, to enable the text to be understood by pilgrims with mental and intellectual disabilities. At the moment of communion, the Sistine Chapel Choir will be substituted by the “Amoris Laetitia” Choir which, long with other choirs that also use sign language, made up of people with disabilities, will sing Pane del Cielo (Bread of Heaven).
During the Mass, the painting of the Virgin Salus infirmorum, conserved in the Church of St. Mary Magdalen in Campo Marzio, Rome and venerated and invoked as help of the sick, will be displayed.
The initiative of the Med Tag Foundation merits special attention. From Friday 10 June, in the vicinity of the Vatican basilicas, there will be four “Health Points”, which will offer specialised health care free of charge, especially to the city’s many homeless. Around 350 volunteers, including women religious, Red Cross nurses, military staff and health care workers, will offer to more than 700 homeless people the possibility of a specialised examinations in the fields of general medicine, dermatology, senology, paediatrics and gynaecology. Vaccines will be administered against pneumonia, which is one of the most serious health risks for such people. Women will be offered PAP tests free of charge.
After presenting the Jubilee for the sick and disabled, Archbishop Fisichella provided further information on the development of the Jubilee Year. “According to the data available today, the number of pilgrims who have visited Rome for the various Jubilee initiatives and who have visited the four basilicas, as well as the Holy Door of the Shrine of Divine Love, is 9,100,935. It is a significant number for the first six months of the Jubilee, which confirms the great desire of many faithful from all over the world to come to Rome to meet Pope Francis, even though there are many Doors of Mercy around the globe”.
(from Vatican Radio)…