Whether you are of the Catholic Religion or not – I am sure you will be overjoyed to know that Pope Francis has made a new decree bumping the liturgical celebration honouring St. Mary Magdalene from a memorial to a feast, putting her on par with the apostles. The feast day is July 22nd – Today!
When John and I were in France last year we were aware the Knight’s Templars revered her and all along the South of France many churches we visited, depicted her with long red hair along with an equal sided cross somewhere on the church walls – connecting it to the Knights Templars. My father was a Freemason – a Grand Master – who also knew her to be an apostle. His birthday was July 22nd. Let us rejoice that at last St. Mary Magdalene has been recognised for who she truly is.
We have shared with you in our Newsletter that Mary Magdalene, twin-soul to Jesus of Nazareth, has been elevated in the Roman Church and placed on the same pedestal as the Apostles of Jesus. This day, 22 July, is the Feast of Mary Magdalene, and so we bring you a glimpse of the Journey of Mary Magdalene. We honour those who give the teachings from the Source of All Creation, and Mary Magdalene was such a one. She is popularly thought of as the author of a sacred document known as the Book of Love. This book has had a mysterious journey through time and space and has weaved its way in and out of the lives of John and Valerie Barrow. There is much on this website which illumines many dimensions of the contents of this book.
And so, in a small way, we observe this Feast Day of Mary Magdalene. We begin with Valerie and John’s first encounter with the Story of Saint Mary Magdalene, twin-soul to Jesus.
Valerie Barrow and her husband John spent the end of September, all of October and the early part of November 2010 travelling through the UK, France and parts of Egypt. What follows is the narrative of the visit to the Bay of Mary’s, South of France and the sacred event that was to unfold, unbeknownst, for them.
John and Valerie Barrow went to the Camargue; they arrived (unknown to them) on the occasion of the re-enactment of the arrival of the Marys (called the evocation of Les Saintes Maries de la Mer). Valerie took photographs – at night – somewhat valiantly, for phone cams were not up to that wide f-stop capacity and resolution in those days. Yet, Valerie managed to capture Orbs in her photos. These were angelic beings who accompany the re-enactment of the arrival, each year.
Valerie was non-nonplussed by the number of people on the one boat. We take up Valerie’s narrative:
So I later asked Alcheringa, and his answer was:
Over two thousand years ago, there were more than one boat that landed, I can assure you. The Gypsies welcomed the family and they, on the boats, knew all the people that were there waiting for them to land
Brother James, John the Divine, and Joseph of Arimathea were with them
They moved on to other places … Mother Mary, her two daughters were also with them … and of course Mary Magdalene who stayed in the area … moving from the shore to the mountains and spreading the teachings as she went. The teachings were not a religion, they were teachings from the Source, the Source of Creation. They were merely passing on a ‘way of life’; a ‘way to live.’ For at the time there were sacrifices and slavery going on and this is what they wanted to stop and to encourage people to love one another, to love the animals, to love all that was upon the earth and to appreciate and love Mother Earth – these are the teachings that were passed on. Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you.”
Sai Baba says a similar thing in that God is Love, and that you are God.)
The disciples of Jesus, as they were known, were simple people loyal and God loving . they had a special energy around them … they had all been enchristed … and people recognised that … so that when they spoke and put their hands out to communicate with people – people recognised that energy of Holy Spirit that went with them.
The Nine members of the small boat – surrounded by bonfires, facing the cross at the evocation of Les Saintes Maries de la Mer
Mary Magdalene – ‘Apostle to the Apostles’ – gets upgraded feast day
Vatican City, Jul 22, 2016 / 03:57 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Faithful to the wish of Pope Francis, a new decree has bumped the liturgical celebration honouring St. Mary Magdalene from a memorial to a feast, putting her on par with the apostles.
The reason, according to Archbishop Arthur Roche, is that she “has the honour to be the first witness of the Lord’s resurrection.”
“She is the witness to the risen Christ and announces the message of the Lord’s resurrection just like the rest of the Apostles,” he said, explaining that 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.”
Archbishop Roche is secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. He issued a letter on the decision June 10, the same day as the decree officiating the decision was published.
Calling Mary Magdalene “an example and model for all women in the Church,” the archbishop said she had a special mission, to which the new rank of feast does justice.
The decree, dated June 3 and published in Latin, was signed by both Archbishop Roche and the congregation’s president, Cardinal Robert Sarah. It says Mary Magdalene can be seen as “the paradigm of the ministry of women in the Church.”
On the Church’s liturgical calendar, saints are honoured with either a “memorial” a “feast,” or a “solemnity.” Solemnities rank the highest, with feasts coming in second and memorials in third.
While there are 15 other memorials on Mary Magdalene’s July 22 feast, hers was the only obligatory one to celebrate. Now, after being elevated to the level of a feast, the celebration bears a more significant weight.
For example, when Mass is celebrated on her feast day, rather than using the normal formula for a daily Mass, as is done with memorials, the Gloria will be sung and special prayers dedicated specifically to Mary Magdalene will be offered, which only happens on feasts and solemnities.
In his letter, Archbishop Roche said that given the current ecclesial context, the decision to honour Mary Magdalene with a feast “seeks to reflect more deeply upon the dignity of women, on the new evangelization and on the greatness of the mystery of God’s Mercy.”
As the first person to see the empty tomb, to hear the truth about the Lord’s resurrection from Jesus himself, and as the first person to announce this message to the apostles, Mary “is an example of a true and authentic evangeliser.”
While some have imagined Mary Magdalene as either a prostitute or the wife of Jesus, Western Christianity since the time of St. Gregory the Great has traditionally identified her with three women in the New Testament: the sinful woman who anoints Jesus’ feet with fragrant oils and washes them with her tears; Mary of Magdala; and Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha of Bethany.
While opinions vary on just exactly who she was, Archbishop Roche said that “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.”
Pope Francis’ decision to elevate her memorial to a feast during the Jubilee of Mercy, he said, was done in order to emphasise the importance of this woman, “who so loved Christ and was so greatly loved by Christ.”
Noting how Mary Magdalene was the first eyewitness to the Risen Christ and the first to announce his resurrection to the apostles, Archbishop Roche hailed her as “the Apostle to the Apostles” – a phrase coined by St. Thomas Aquinas.
St. Mary Magdalene, the archbishop said, “announces to the apostles what in turn they will announce to the whole world.”
