Today is the feast day of Mary Magdalene, who is one of most misunderstood and misrepresented people in the New Testament, in part because of wild theories made wildly popular by Dan Brown. Below is an excerpt from The Da Vinci Hoax, which I co-authored with Sandra Miesel a few years ago; you can read more excerpts on Ignatius Insight. Also see this interview with Amy Welborn, who wrote a book about Mary Magdalene.
Chapter 2: The Magdalene: Saint, Sinner, or Goddess?
Any supposed attempts to rid the Church of Mary Magdalene or ban her name
from being mentioned did not succeed, simply because they didn’t
exist. In fact, many of the early Church Fathers remark about the Magdalene,
and she is described by Hippolytus (c. 170-c. 236) as "the apostle
to the apostles" in his commentary on the Song of Songs. Even feminist
theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether, hardly a supporter of the Catholic
hierarchy, scoffs at the notion of a conspiracy against Mary Magdalene,
pointing to the positive treatment she received from the early Church
Fathers:
"This high regard for Mary Magdalene continues in the fourth- and fifth-century Latin fathers of the church. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, associated Mary Magdalene with the New Eve who clings to Christ as the new Tree of Life, thereby reversing the unfaithfulness of the first Eve. Augustine maintains this view, pairing Mary Magdalene with Christ as symbol of the New Eve and the church in relation to Christ as the New Adam. Her faithfulness reversed the sin of the first Eve."
By the eighth century the Western Church was celebrating a feast day for
Mary Magdalene, the twenty-second day of July. By the ninth century there
were specific prayers for her feast day, and by the eleventh century there
was "a complete mass dedicated to the saint (with introit, gradual,
offertory, communion, and lessons)". It was also in the eleventh century
that devotion to the Magdalene began to noticeably increase. The cult of
Mary Magdalene was established at Vézelay, the Romanesque church
in Burgandy that had been founded in the ninth century and was originally
dedicated to the Virgin Mary. During the abbacy of Geoffrey (1037-1052)
Mary was recognized as the patron of that church in a papal bull dated April
27, 1050, by Pope Leo IX. At the same time, relics of the Magdalene were
being sought and gathered in earnest, and soon Vézelay became a major
destination for pilgrimages.
Numerous stories, almost all of them fanciful and legendary in nature, were
created to explain how Mary’s remains had arrived at Vézelay.
A leading tradition in the West held that Mary Magdalene, Martha, and Lazarus
were expelled from Palestine following the crucifixion of Christ. Floating
in an oarless boat, they eventually arrived at the southern coast of France.
In the East, a tradition stated that Mary had been the companion of the
Apostle John and Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and that they had all settled
in Ephesus. According to The Golden Legend, the Magdalene and John
were betrothed. Some legends depict Mary living her final days in a cave
in France, a hermit covered only by her long hair; these stories probably
date back no farther than the ninth century.
During the late medieval era it was common to hear sermons about Mary Magdalene
and how she fulfilled the apostolic life. She was also a model for Christians
seeking to leave behind a life of sensuality and luxury, an encouragement
to monks and nuns, as well as an exhortation to prostitutes. "But most
of all a Magdalene sermon was the vehicle by which preachers called people
to penance and offered them the hope of salvation. . . . We must not forget
that it is our own age that officially memorializes Saint Mary Magdalene
as a disciple; it was the ‘Dark Ages’ that honored her as a preacher
and apostle of the apostles."
Jesus Christ was a literate man.
This means that Jesus Christ could read & write.
"just like all the others"
Which tell me that Jesus Christ wrote.
Jesus Christ is the most important man that has ever walked this earth.
The fact that He - an obscure carpenter by trade - is still remembered today .......
The Lord God would have seen to the care of these written works of Jesus Christ.
The Holy Grail is/are the written works, by the sacred hand of Jesus Christ.
If &/or when these works come to light it will also be the second coming.
SO I ASK THIS ...
Where are the written works of Jesus Christ..
The Vatican, among other such places, is overloaded with all manner of "STUFF"
Is anyone looking for even a glimmer of anything pertaining to Christ that may have been overlooked or misinterpreted or misunderstood ... /?
Posted by: R Davis | Monday, July 22, 2013 at 09:31 PM