Yesterday was the Feast Day of Mary Magdalene, who is now revered as the Patron Saint of Provence.
She is the one who was historically scorned by the Church as being a penitent, a harlot, a prostitute, when in fact there is nothing in the historical record to indicate that.
There is however, plenty in the historical record to tell you of her leadership of the other apostles at a time when Jesus had left them and they were timorous and afraid. Mary was the one to provide them with comfort and guidance. She was also the one to convey to them clearly what the true intent of his message really was, a message of interior splendor and beauty, and of ultimate return to the Divine. She was the one mentioned in the Gnostic Gospels as being Christ's companion which in those days, meant "wife". She was loved by him and was always, always, by his side. She was the one who never left him when he was dying. She did not run away but braved scorn and possible death to stand beside him and his mother at the end of his life. She is defined by the word "loyalty."
She is also the one that he appeared to after his death, and the one that clearly loved him deeply and profoundly.
So what happened to those teachings? Why did the church evolve in the way that it did, a repressive patriarchy of rules and dogma, staunchly opposed to mysticism and revelation, the beauty of the interior life? Why, in fact, did it establish an edifice that was contrary in every way to his message. Power, of course, temporal power, there is no other answer.
And yet, what is interesting now is that in our rapidly changing world, this church, the church of external form, a corporation in effect, is disintegrating, along with other structures in our "old world" that can no longer be sustained. It is now the interior world of the Spirit which is of overwhelming relevance, as Jesus taught.
She is the one who was historically scorned by the Church as being a penitent, a harlot, a prostitute, when in fact there is nothing in the historical record to indicate that.
There is however, plenty in the historical record to tell you of her leadership of the other apostles at a time when Jesus had left them and they were timorous and afraid. Mary was the one to provide them with comfort and guidance. She was also the one to convey to them clearly what the true intent of his message really was, a message of interior splendor and beauty, and of ultimate return to the Divine. She was the one mentioned in the Gnostic Gospels as being Christ's companion which in those days, meant "wife". She was loved by him and was always, always, by his side. She was the one who never left him when he was dying. She did not run away but braved scorn and possible death to stand beside him and his mother at the end of his life. She is defined by the word "loyalty."
She is also the one that he appeared to after his death, and the one that clearly loved him deeply and profoundly.
So what happened to those teachings? Why did the church evolve in the way that it did, a repressive patriarchy of rules and dogma, staunchly opposed to mysticism and revelation, the beauty of the interior life? Why, in fact, did it establish an edifice that was contrary in every way to his message. Power, of course, temporal power, there is no other answer.
And yet, what is interesting now is that in our rapidly changing world, this church, the church of external form, a corporation in effect, is disintegrating, along with other structures in our "old world" that can no longer be sustained. It is now the interior world of the Spirit which is of overwhelming relevance, as Jesus taught.