In today's Gospel, St. Mary Magdalene gives us an example of why it can truly be said
with the psalmist that the Lord is the hope of all the land and a far distant coast.
And so we reflect because today St. Mary Magdalene is presented to us as the model of a penitent sinner.
But if we are to understand the magnitude of the forgiveness she received,
we must understand the present state of the land and the coast.
For our modern culture is pockmarked by sin and the ravages.
It causes on the human family.
Contraception is practiced at the same level within the mystical body as it is outside.
The rate of abortion is no different for the members of the mystical body than they are for the secular world.
And let us not fool ourselves.
For in this sin there is always a mortal sin because it is always grave matter.
There is no soul who believes in the depths of their heart
that they are merely eliminating a blob of tissue.
All know that it is a child and it is ultimately murder.
And when a society is unrepentant, the murder increases.
And so we have euthanasia and infanticide and all manner of sin
that come about when mankind refuses to accept the gift that the Magdalene received this day.
We see very clearly that sin is not a sin.
Sin has an effect on the whole of society.
David thought his sin was private, but he jeopardized the very safety of the land.
For Uzziah the Hittite was not merely a good soldier, but he was a great soldier
who dedicated himself to defending the homeland,
so much so that while his troops were in battle, he would not even spend the night with his wife.
And so when David first committed adultery,
and then sent him to the front land in order to be slain,
he jeopardized the whole nation because
it is very rare that one soldier has that gift by which he can command others.
The leaders in military conquest are rare and they are often noble men.
And so David's sin was not merely a private sin because it jeopardized the whole land.
And so all sin puts the whole nation and the Father in danger.
It puts the whole nation and the far distant coast in peril.
That is, it puts our time in peril and future times in peril.
And the answer can be found in the Magdalene because in the text she is first described
to us as a sinner.
And in the biblical sense, we must understand the depths of this title because here it means
not only one who sins themselves, but who also leads others into sin.
And Magdalene, according to tradition, was a prostitute, and hence she was entangled
in all the filth that comes from a wanton life.
That is, the happy-go-lucky mentality of the modern world.
For often we mistake the true nature of despair, but it is explained to us in Scripture in
a way that often in our modern society we never reflect on.
For it says in Scripture,
1.
Despair, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die.
And so it is not the same as the psychological effect of depression which each and every
human being undergoes because we are victims of original sin.
Despair is that form of life by which we truly go about, not even aware of our sins.
St. Paul describes it so well in his letter to the Romans, in which he describes the natural
relations between a man and a woman were given up to those unnatural vices that cause
complete destruction of a society and its ultimate downfall.
And he says, and according to St. John Christendom, in commenting on St. Paul's passage from the
Romans, he says their punishment was they didn't even know the state of their sin because
they had become so blinded by their depravity.
2.
So we turn to the Immaculate, we turn to St. Mary Magdalene in order to understand
this nature of true repentance.
For up until this incident in the Gospel, for the most part those who sought the Lord
sought him, because he fed them tasty bread, or he restored to them withered limbs or restored
other forms of health, and indeed, in some cases, he even restored life after death.
And so, most were seeking, in some way or in some shape, bodily health.
And we see very clearly this error creeping in even within the bosom of Christ.
For it is often said that we must emphasize the social doctrine of the Church.
No one can deny the reality of the social doctrine of the Church.
But there is a specific reason why we go about feeding the poor and doing all those works
that are called social doctrine.
We have a very little responsibility not to feed the
oppressed.
Well for three times, for what?
Shadda, ye have become a slave without a soul, and you are fruits from the sea?
marshall?
amen.
Yes, şeyi.
the Apostolic?
It isn't necessary.
but M.: This does not mean that해주 don't think that those works of mercy, or the social work of mercy, or the creature works of mercy, they are always in everywhere part of the apostolic mission of the Church to bring all souls into repentance, and so, it is not permissible for us as members of the mystical body to simply leave people in their depraved state, in their sinful state because we have not been left in that state by the Lord himself.
human heart truly yearns for all that Magdalene would receive this day. And so it was given to
the Magdalene to be seen the state of her soul. It was given to her by the Lord to have that vision
of her soul and its depravity. And so she could no longer bear the wretched state that she saw
herself in. And so she comes seeking not bodily health, but according to some traditions, because
of her practices, St. Mary Magdalene at this time had contracted that most vile of disease of its
age, leprosy. And in her repentance, the Lord would deliver her from this bodily affliction.
But she does not come seeking her bodily health, but unable to bear for another moment,
the weight of her sins. She seeks pardon and release from slavery to sin. She seeks deliverance
from slavery to Pharaoh, that is from Satan, and to Egypt, his kingdom. And so, inspired no doubt
by the words of St. John the Baptist, behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins
of the world. She comes and she seeks that which the human soul,
truly yearns for. What are the characteristics that set Mary Magdalene apart as the great
example of a penitent? First, it is her undying faith in believing that Christ could forgive sins,
a power that was denied to him by the leaders of the people, indeed, even by Simon the Pharisee
today. And it was a power that was not possessed by even the greatest of prophets, not by the
patriarchs, Abraham, or Joseph, but by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Son of God, the Son of God,
the Son of God, the Son of God, the Son of God, the Son of God, the Son of God, the Son of God, the Son of God,
or Moses, or any of the Old Testament. And one knew very clearly that he who accrued to himself
the power to forgive sins was also declaring to be divine. And so, in her undying faith in seeking
forgiveness from Christ, the Magdalene declares that he is also God. And so, she recognizes
God in human form. She recognizes in the child of Mary, that he is also God. And so, she recognizes
in the child of Mary, that he is also God. And so, she recognizes in the child of Mary, that he is also God. And so, she recognizes
the Son of the Eternal Father, and she knows that that is the only place in which her hope lies.
And so, she gives to us an example of almost perpetual devotion, by which she implores the word
until she hears those words, your sins are forgiven, go in peace. And after she receives
these words, she will give her life in complete dedication and devotion to the Lord. She manifests
these words, she will give her life in complete dedication and devotion to the Lord. She manifests
the most profound wisdom in not seeking pardon by the words of her lips, but by the yearning
of her heart, always and everywhere, pouring herself out, giving everything she has to
the Lord, from whom this day she is delivered from her sin and brought into the life of
grace. And we also reflect how deeply rooted was her repentance. According to tradition,
after the public sorrow manifested by St. Mary Magdalene this day, she would spend nearly 30 years
in dedicating herself to severe austerities, indeed, so severe that it is often recommended
not to mention them in the presence of the weak, that is, in us, because they show to us
how far we have to go in order to acquire that disposition of the Magdalene. And so,
in addition to dedicating herself to the most severe of austerities, she would practice the
good works, and she would do this in imitation of the example given to her by the Most Holy Mother
of God and the woman of her company, those women who were mentioned at the end of today's Gospel.
And so, she recognizes also the complementarity between man and woman. Men were not created to do
what woman can do. Men were not created to do what woman can do. Men were not created to do what woman
can do, and women were not created to do what men can do, as our modern society tells us. The
essence of a man is to protect, and certainly, Christ protects her this day. He further protected
her when she was confronted in her sin by the Pharisees and scribes, that day in which the Lord
laid down the gauntlet and drew the line in the sand. That is, he laid down the gauntlet because
that day, when they publicly accused her of being a woman, she was not created to do what men can do.
The Lord said, you can cross that line under one condition. If you can accuse me of even the slightest
fault of the slightest sin, then have your way with her. But if you cannot show that I have
committed even the slightest fault, that is, simply by forgetfulness, where I forgot to place
my sandals, where my mother told me at Nazareth to place them, that is, manifestly, that is,
that I too am a victim of original sin, you cannot cross that line. You cannot stone this woman
because I will defend her, and when God defends, that defense is a stalwart defense. It is
impenetrable. It is incapable of being penetrated. They may have even gone through the act of throwing
the stones, but the Lord would not have allowed them to reach their victim, just as he would
manifest on that day when they saw him.
They sought to push him over the edge of the cliff because he again declared himself to be not holy
man, but God and soul. Even though they tried to push him over the precipice, he would pot them
like the Red Sea and walk right through their mist. Even when they came to lay hands on him
on the night whereby his passion, he would purchase for us forgiveness. First, they were all forced
to their knees to recognize this is the end of the world.
This is God, and you can only lay hands on him if he gives the permission, and you can only touch a
sinner if he gives the permission, so eloquently pointed out to us by the Holy Spirit in the story
of Job. And so, Jesus Christ is the defender of repentant sinners, and his mother gives us the
example of the life we are to live. And so, let us take joy in this day.
For today, on earth, we see a penitent sinner, but in heaven, in the Magdalene, we see a penitent
saint, the place that we are all called to dwell for all eternity. And so, let us resolve in the
example of Saint Mary Magdalene to show ourselves penitent sinners in this life, trusting always in
he who alone can defend us. And no matter what it seems, let us take up the yoke of our faith,
preaching that faith in season and out of season, because we are called after our repentance into
the mystery of trying to claim all souls for the kingdom of God. And so, we cannot do this by way
of compromise. We cannot do this by claiming ignorance when clearly sin is present. For a
girl who delivers her child to death by the sin of abortion, if she is ignorant,
it is willed ignorance. And it is not simply enough to say that because of a psychological
trauma, she is not culpable. The psychological trauma, as with all of us when we commit sin,
simply indicates a weak soul, unable to stand up and do what is right, either by human respect
or for whatever other reason. And so, let us call our sins, sins.
And let us also remember that in our sin, we have deliverance, if we have that faith in Jesus
Christ. And let us always understand how depraved our modern society has become.
Formerly, the pagans of old at least tried to couch the murder of children in a religious practice,
the furnaces of Moloch, and all those places where human sacrifice took place.
They tried to couch it in religion. Our modern society merely takes the remains of a child
created in the image of God and disposes of them in a dumpster. And there can be no more
depraved culture than a culture that is involved in those practices. And so, let us truly learn
from the Magdalene what it means to have faith in Jesus Christ, who can proclaim those words
to all sinners, as he did to the Magdalene, as he would to Judas, if he simply had done
what the Magdalene did. There is no sin so great that God cannot forgive it if we show ourselves
to be like the Magdalene and ultimately be transformed from the penitent sinner into the
saint, in which we will join the mother of God and the angelic choirs, praising our good God together
for all.
For all eternity.
For all eternity.
For all eternity.