I have just received news of a friend who passed away. She joins my daily prayer list, comprising names of the sick, suffering and recently deceased. Also recently added were the names of some of the children and adults who died in the Texas floods.
To whom do we pray for all these people?
The Holy Trinity is ultimately the focus of all our prayers for mercy and care: the Almighty Father, the compassionate Christ and the Holy Spirit, Lord of life and love.
We also, of course, have two great saints to assist us as our reliable intercessors for the sick and suffering: Mary, the Mother of God and Mother of our Creator, and St Joseph, Comfort of the Afflicted and Patron of the Dying.
Might we enlist a third, St Mary Magdalen, on her feast day, as a further ally in our Christian task of praying for those in need, and for those who have died?
As the People of God, praying for others is our business. When confronting the mystery of cosmic events, like the Texas tragedy on the Guadalupe River or more personal losses closer to home, we are reminded that our task is not to understand the mystery; it is to pray for the suffering ones.
What part might St Mary Magdalen play in this undertaking?
The Church’s prayer on her feast day gives us a clue:
Almighty, ever living God,
your Only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
made Mary Magdalen
the first herald of Easter joy.
Grant that by following her example and helped by her prayers
we may, in this life, proclaim the living Christ
and come to see him reigning with you in glory.
Following her example: hearing and living Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount
St Mary Magdalen was a key figure in the group of women who followed Jesus and joined his mission. Her most significant appearances in the gospels take place at Jesus’ suffering, death and burial, and then as she takes the foremost position at the empty tomb, heralding the news of Easter joy: Jesus Christ is risen.
Jesus’ words offered a glimpse of the transcendent reality of God—a reality capable of refashioning not only her interior spirituality but her whole life.
Given her proximity to Jesus, one imagines that she heard, with the other disciples, the repeated teachings of Jesus found in his Sermon on the Mount, embracing his message that God’s kingdom has come and his call to accept and acknowledge it. His words offered a glimpse of the transcendent reality of God—a reality capable of refashioning not only her interior spirituality but her whole life.
What impact would the Sermon on the Mount—found in chapters 5–7 of Matthew’s Gospel—have had on Mary of Magdala?
Jesus mentions the Father 14 times in the sermon. Well-schooled by Jesus, Mary would have learnt not only the Our Father but also the habit of praying to the Father constantly, as Jesus did.
Jesus, the teacher of great words, follows them up with immediate action. In chapter 8, we see him acting out the content of his message by curing a leper and a centurion’s servant before healing Peter’s mother-in-law. All these people have suffered very disturbing sicknesses, but Jesus restores them to health.
Mary Magdalen clearly paid attention, following Jesus’ example and living out his teaching in her own life and actions.
Following her example: remaining present to suffering, death and grief
Unlike many of the disciples, Mary Magdalene remained present to Jesus in his suffering and death on the Cross, and at his burial in a borrowed tomb.
Inspired and fortified by Jesus’ saving words, she stayed close to him, witnessing every torment, right up to his final breath. She and the other women stood at a distance from the cross of Christ. They probably saw soldiers casting lots for his clothes and possibly heard the taunts of the bystanders and chief priests goading the dying Christ to prove himself to be the Son of God.
The death of God on the cross still echoes through the Milky Way and the whole of the Cosmos.
Mary was engulfed in the darkness from noon to mid-afternoon, when Jesus’ cry of desolation combined with a great noise as he yielded up his spirit.
Mary was there to hear this cry at the very moment of his death—a cry heard on Calvary and through Jerusalem. A cry that would reverberate throughout the Roman Empire and continue to sound through the hemispheres of the earth. The death of God on the cross still echoes through the Milky Way and the whole of the Cosmos.
As Pope Benedict XVI put it, ‘God surrendered himself into our hands and bears the whole horror of history with us’ (Salt of the Earth, 1997, Ignatius Press, p. 27).
The Father’s love for the whole of humankind and for each sinner was expressed in the cry of Christ as he died, and was witnessed by St Mary Magdalen as she stood at the cross.
Her presence at Jesus’ death and burial affords her a privileged place as an intercessor for the sick, suffering and dying among us. As someone who steadfastly remained with the suffering, dying Jesus, not looking away, her example is a profound encouragement to the many people who quietly and faithfully minister in hospitals and nursing homes.
Following her example: allowing the sick and suffering ones to be our blessing
Several years ago, the sacramental theologian Fr David Power OMI addressed a gathering of laypeople who minister to the sick. Listening to their stories of parish visitation—of taking Holy Communion to the homebound, bringing the parish newsletter and sharing a cup of tea—he asked them a simple question: Who receives a blessing in this ministry?
The general consensus was that the gift of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist was the best blessing anyone could receive.
He agreed. Then he began to guide the group to consider another, less obvious gift.
When the sick ones unite their pain to Jesus’ suffering, they become Christ for us, by virtue of their situation, he said. As well as receiving a blessing from the minister, they can mysteriously and profoundly become a blessing to the minister.
Recognising that visiting or caring for the sick brings forth a twofold graced moment for both the carer and the dying person, Fr David suggested an addition to the Rite of Communion of the Sick: the sick could give the visitor their blessing.
Real faith strengthens us to stand in the darkness, to hear the cries of the dying, and to love and accompany them.
St Mary Magdalen knows very well the grace given by attending the dying moments of a loved one. She has given us her example and can assist us by her prayers.
Faith comes with no guarantees of health, success, wealth or wellbeing. But real faith strengthens us to stand in the darkness, to hear the cries of the dying, and to love and accompany them.
Mary Magdalen is a model of real faith in God. Her presence on our spiritual journey, especially at crucial times, is a great gift.
St Mary Magdalen, pray for the sick, suffering and dying in our lives, and pray for us as we accompany them, that we might each be a blessing to the other.
Banner image: George Frederic Watts (1817–1904), The Magdalen at the Foot of the Cross, oil on canvas, Walker Art Gallery. (Photo: Walker Art Gallery, Creative Commons licence.)
