Episode Transcript  

One

Mary Magdalene 

There are strong reasons to believe Mary Magdalene was the same Mary as the sister of Martha and Lazarus.

First, there is an ancient tradition that Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were from a wealthy family. Their father Syrus, owned property all over Israel. Upon the death of their father, her brother Lazarus remained in Jerusalem, while Bethany became the home of Martha, and Mary lived in a family property by the Sea of Galilee, in a coastal town called Magdala. 

Second, Church Fathers such as Augustine, Jerome, John Chrysostom, and Gregory the Great, as well as Thomas Aquinas, believed the sister of Martha and Lazarus is Mary Magdalene, from whom Jesus drove out seven demons.

Third, in 415 A.D., St. John Cassian went to Marseille, France, and was shown the tombs of Martha and Mary Magdalene. It was well known at that time that Lazarus was considered the first Bishop of the Church there. The religious order founded by St. John Cassian became the first protectors of the grotto of St. Mary Magdalene. So, if Mary Magdalene is not the Mary who is the sister of Martha and Lazarus, then where is that Mary? Why wasn’t she with her siblings? Why is she lost to history?

Finally, the Basilica of St. Mary Magdalene which claims her relics and the Cave in which she lived are located in a region of France called Sainte Maxim-Sainte Baume (meaning holy cave). The region is named after St. Maxim, a disciple of Jesus who came with Mary Magdalene and Martha to France in the 1st century AD. St. Baume means “holy cave,” where Magdalene lived. This region has had this name since the Roman era. 

Two

Divine Mercy and Healing

In 2024, I had the privilege of going twice to the Basilica of Mary Magdalene, where you come face to face with Mary Magdalene, her skull on display in the crypt of the Church where she died and is buried.

There are three things we should learn from Mary Magdalene. The first is that only Jesus can heal our souls. From Luke 8, we learn, “Now after this he made his way through towns and villages preaching and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve, as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, Susanna, and several others who provided for them out of their own resources.”

Because of the original sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, we all receive a wounded human nature that inclines us strongly to do things to ourselves and to others that are destructive. Honestly, most of the things I suffer are self-imposed. The consequences of my sinful or stupid decisions. God makes us, and we keep unmaking ourselves. 

We can’t heal the wound and the effect of original sin. No human and no human means can heal us at our core. Only Jesus! He begins to heal us with the sacrament of Baptism, where the Father, Son, and Spirit take up their home within us and we begin to participate in God’s divine life. But Jesus knew that would not be enough, that we would continue to unmake ourselves by sin, wound ourselves and others by sin. 

So, Jesus gives us the greatest remedy to heal our soul. The Sacrament of Reconciliation. And Mary says, “Listen to your mother. I know what you need to be healed. Please go to my Son Jesus the Healer in Confession at least once a month.”

Has it been a while? Do you ache to be healed? Go to Jesus. He is waiting for you. But He is in disguise. I’ll tell you how to identify Him. He looks like a Catholic priest. 

Three

Friendship with Jesus 

The second thing we should learn from Mary Magdalen is that the most important thing we need, the one thing necessary for happiness, is a deep friendship with Jesus in prayer. 

Luke 10:38–42, “Jesus came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord's feet and listened to him speaking. Now Martha who was distracted with all the serving said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.' But the Lord answered: 'Martha, Martha,' he said 'you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part; it is not to be taken from her.’”

The definition of prayer is simple: it is friendship with Jesus. And what does friendship take? Time. Listening, talking to your friends from the heart, and just being together. That is prayer. Without it, we have nothing. With it, we have everything, everything.

So, let me suggest a little challenge: spend your free time binge watching news, shows, YouTube shorts, sports, whatever you like. When it’s over, pay attention to how you feel. Probably empty and restless. Then spend time with Jesus in friendship in prayer. When that is done, reflect. How do you feel? Probably at peace and fulfilled. Then you decide how to spend your time. 

Four

Apostle to the Apostles 

John Chapter 20 tells us that Mary Magdalene was the first person He appeared to after the Resurrection. Jesus said to her, “Go and find the brothers and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” So Mary went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had said these things to her.”

To be an Apostle means to be sent. Mary becomes the Apostle to the Apostles because Jesus sends her to proclaim the Resurrection to the Apostles! It is only natural that when you have been given something amazing or something wonderful has happened to you that you want to share it with others. Our faith is supposed to be personal, but it was never meant to be kept private. 

We are invited by Jesus to be like Mary Magdalene and to invite the people in our lives to an encounter with Jesus. Invite them to pray the Rosary with you, invite them to go to confession with you, invite them to Mass, invite them to become Catholic. We don’t force. We invite and we leave them free. But we always invite. 

Five

Apostle to France 

In 42 AD, King Herod began to violently persecute the Christians in Jerusalem. He had the Apostle James the Greater put to death by the sword, and Peter was placed in prison, from which angels set him free, and he fled the country, probably to Rome. 

It was then that Herod arrested some of Jesus’ closest friends: Magdalene, Martha, and her maid Martilla, Lazarus, Maximin, and Cedonis (pronounced “Sidiwan”, the man born blind, healed by Christ and told to wash in the Pool Siloam in John 9), and others, twelve in all. Not wanting to create a cult of martyrs in Jerusalem, Herod decided to banish these friends of Jesus and kill them in the process. So, they were placed in a boat with no sail, oars, or rudder and cast off into the sea so that they would die a horrible death of starvation. But their boat was guided by the currents of the sea and landed near what is today Marseille, France. 

They took refuge under the portico of a temple there. When the people came to offer sacrifice, Mary Magdalene calmly but boldly told them about Jesus, who was the true God and Savior. Soon after, Magdalene appeared in a dream to the wife of the Governor of the region, asking for help. The Governor ordered that the followers of Christ should be cared for from his own expenses. 

By her intercession, the Governor and his wife conceived a son, since prior to this, they were childless. Lazarus became the first Bishop of Marseille, and Maxim the bishop of Aix in Provence.

Wanting to spend time alone with Jesus in prayer, Mary Magdalene went to live in a grotto halfway up the mountain of Saint Baume. For the next 30 years, she lived a life of prayer and evangelization. When Jesus revealed she was near death, she went to the Church of St. Maximin, and there she died, and there she is buried. Over that original Church was built the Basilica of Mary Magdalene where you can go and look into the face of Mary Magdalene and she will ask you what she asked me: Have you gone to Jesus to be healed in Confession? Have you made friendship with Jesus the one thing necessary, and do you invite your loved ones to encounter Jesus? 

Suggested Resolutions:

Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you. 

• This week, whenever you spend time on your phone or laptop, whenever you’re binge-watching YouTube or Netflix, take a moment afterward to assess how you feel, whether or not you feel better or worse. Then, spend some time in prayer, in Adoration or daily Mass, and ask yourself how it makes you feel.

• Be like Mary Magdalene and invite the people in our lives to an encounter with Jesus. Invite them to pray the Rosary with you, invite them to go to confession with you, invite them to Mass.

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