MM - Imitate Her

(I got ahead of myself yesterday---vacation will do that...I think I'll just stay ahead for now;)

Feast of St Mary Magdalen
Wednesday of Week 16 in Ordinary Time

Three of the four gospels mention Mary of Magdala (MM) as witness to the crucifixion times three; Matthew, Mark, and John. She is witness to the burial times two; Matthew and Mark. She is one of the first to the empty tomb in all four gospel...THE first according to John. And she is one of the first to witness the resurrection in Matthew and THE first in John.

Luke's is the only gospel that mentions MM in the ministerial life of Jesus:
And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna and many others, who provided for them out of their means" 
Luke 8:1-3

So instead of remembering her incredible faith and steadfastness or how she bankrolled the enterprise from the start, the western tradition chose just part of this passage to interpret MM. In a certainly deliberate way, and unlike the East which reveres and honors MM's apostleship, the western tradition made her a prostitute.

All storytelling involves interpretation...and embellishment. I wonder who I turn into prostitutes?  I wonder whose excellence I diminish?  And then there is the question of Why?

For truth in our storytelling---St Mary Magdalen, pray for us!