Dear Parishioners of Mary Immaculate and Saint Rose,
The Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene is July 22. The rank of memorials, feasts, and solemnities in the Church calendar is very confusing, especially since we tend to refer to all of them generically as feast days. However, in the calendar of the Church, there is a hierarchy of all liturgical celebrations. Recently, in 2016, Pope Francis raised the memorial of St. Mary Magdalene to the rank of a feast. This means that the celebration is raised in important in the Church’s liturgical year. It recognizes the importance of Saint Mary Magdalene’s role in the Scriptures and in the life of the early Church.
In the Gospels, it is often difficult to distinguish who is part of the story.  Many people have the same names, so it is confusing to figure out how many Marys there are. Adding to the difficulty, in many places the person is not referred to by name.
In Church tradition, Mary Magdalene, Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus, and the sinful woman who bathed the feet of Jesus with her tears and dried them with her hair, are all seen as the same person. As much as we don’t know about Mary Magdalene and who she is, we do know that Jesus cast out seven demons from her.  What this means is not so clear. We know that there are seven deadly sins, so perhaps it is a symbolic reference to cleansing her from serious sin. She is often portrayed in art as a fallen woman, or even as a prostitute. There is no basis for this in Scripture. This is just the lowest state a woman of the time could come to.
In a sense, the sinfulness of Mary Magdalene represents the fullness of all humanity. Jesus came to cast out the demons of sin from all of us, to bring us back to life to restore us to grace.
We know that Mary Magdalene did not leave Jesus at His hour of need. She remained with Him at the foot of the Cross. She is there with Mary the Mother of Jesus and John the Beloved Disciple.
Mary Magdalene discovered the empty tomb on Easter morning, and she rushes back to tell the disciples. Later that morning she encounters someone that she thinks is a gardener. She begs him to tell her where they have taken the body of the Lord. As soon as He speaks, she recognizes that it is Jesus! She runs to announce to Peter and the other apostles that Jesus is risen. Because she is the first to announce the joy of the Risen Lord, she is given the title of Apostle to the Apostles.
Blessings to you on the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene!
Msgr. Cox

Crucifixion with Mary Magdalene Kneeling and Weeping Francesco Hayez 1827