Living in the “Fifth Gospel,” the Holy Land, tantalizes the imagination. Recently it brought about a line of thought I never imagined my mind would take. I asked this question: When we think of the exalted vocation of motherhood, we immediately think of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, as model. But could we also look to Mary of Magdala as a woman with an expansive, maternal heart? What ultimately constitutes “motherhood,” beyond the evident physical bearing of children? Pope St. John Paul II summed it up for me:

“The moral and spiritual strength of a woman is joined to her awareness that God entrusts the human being to her in a special way . . . Our time in particular awaits the manifestation of that ‘genius’ which belongs to every woman, and which can ensure sensitivity for human beings in every circumstance.” (Mulieris Dignitatem 30)

Mary, the Mother of God, is a model of sensitivity for all persons in all circumstances. Her sensitivity to the human details at the wedding of Cana becomes a catalyst for launching Jesus’ public ministry, where we see the fecundity of a Mother’s request: a transformation of water to wine. Her bleeding and suffering heart accompanies her Son to the foot of the Cross, bearing fruit in her vocation as universal Mother of the Church. The body of Jesus taken down from the Cross and received by his Mother summons the image of the Mystical Body of Christ embraced by the New Eve.

Do I dare speak of the motherhood or maternal heart of Mary Magdalene in the same page as the Mother of God? Without usurping our Blessed Mother’s role in the history of salvation, I can’t help but ponder the testimony of Mary Magdalene in this vein. I look upon the mosaic image in Magdala’s Duc In Altum worship center, depicting Jesus expelling seven demons from Mary Magdalene.

The artist, Maria Jesús Fernandez, crafted six small demons and one large serpent fleeing away from her person. The serpent brings us to the Garden of Eden, from which the first Eve fled after having eaten the “forbidden fruit.” Now the serpent flees from a “New Eve” who is permitted into the Kingdom of God.  Jesus’ pointing finger recalls his own words in Luke 11:20, “But if it is by the finger of God that [I] drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you..”

Mary Magdalene is restored to a new woman in Christ. The formation of her heart begins through a powerful encounter with unconditional love. Her initial receptivity to the gift of grace expands her heart.  The desire to offer gratitude and love in return pours forth as the balsam that anoints Jesus, prophesying the birth pains to be born for all God’s children in Jesus’ passion and death. Mary Magdalene then becomes one of the few to suffer in solidarity with her beloved and is privileged to be the first recorded witness of the resurrection, a sure sign of New Life for all.

Mary Magdalene . . . becomes one of the few to suffer in solidarity with her beloved and is privileged to be the first recorded witness of the resurrection, a sure sign of New Life for all.

John’s account of Mary Magdalene seeking her beloved in the garden evoked reflections in early Christianity of this Mary as a New Eve. She is the expectant bride longing for the presence of her beloved, echoed in the Song of Songs. Yet that longing is rewarded with the words, “Do not touch me!” The beginning of a deep, spiritual spousal relationship with Jesus must be lived in faith. From faith, her spiritual maternal vocation will bear fruit. She had accompanied and provided for Jesus and His apostles (Lk 8:2-3). She had born suffering at the foot of the Cross and reverently sought out Jesus on the third day. She is a woman forged through her response to life’s circumstances. She possesses an expansive, sensitive heart. But how does that play out?

Tradition bears witness to Mary Magdalene’s contemplative vocation as a penitent hermit in southern France. We can imagine her spirit of oblation taking the form of repentance for the salvation of souls. It is a vocation mocked and little understood in today’s culture. Yet, when embraced, it becomes a hidden, sacrificial, and life-giving motherhood in the eyes of God. As a saint, she becomes a model of “genius” that belongs to every woman desiring to form a sensitive, expansive, and maternal heart.

Mary, Mother of God and Mary Magdalene, pray for us, that we may grow in an ever deeper intimacy with our beloved Jesus that bears fruit in an expansive maternal heart.

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on Regnum Christi in August 2017.