Prayers to St. Mary Magdalene
Posted on July 22, 2019 by admin No comments
Prayer to St. Mary Magdalene
Saint Mary Magdalene, Woman of many sins, who by conversion became the beloved of Jesus, thank you for your witness that Jesus forgives through the miracle of love.
You, who already possess eternal happiness in His glorious presence,
please intercede for me, so that some day I may share in the same
everlasting joy.
Amen.
Prayer to St. Mary Magdalene
O Glorious St. Magdalene,
Mold of penitents, obtain for me the grace of perseverance in the practices of self-denial according to the spirit of my vows:
Pray to God for me that I may appear before Jesus, Our Lord and Master, at the moment of my death, with my lamp filled with the oil of faith and hope, and burning with the pure flame of charity, and thus merit to be received with thee into His eternal kingdom. Amen.
Prayer to St. Mary Magdalene
Saint Mary Magdalene, You heard from the loving lips of Jesus that your many sins were forgiven because you loved much. Pour out your love at His sacred feet on our behalf. Your tears of repentance and of love won for you the pardon of your sins and the vision of your Risen Jesus on Easter morning. Surely, dear Saint, He who refused nothing to your love on earth, will graciously replenish us with those blessings for which we implore your prayers. Amen.
Prayer to St. Mary Magdalene
Praise be to Thee, O Christ, Creator, Redeemer, and Saviour, Of
heaven and earth and seas, of angels and of men, Whom we confess to be
both God and Man, Who didst come in order to save sinners, Thyself
without sin, taking the appearance of sin.
Among this poor
flock, Thou didst visit the Chanaanite woman and Mary Magdalen. From
the same table Thou didst nourish the one with the crumbs of the Divine
Word, the other with Thy inebriating cup.
While Thou art seated
at the typical feast in the house of Simon the Leper, the Pharisee
murmurs, while the woman weeps, conscious of her guilt. The sinner
despises his fellow-sinner, Thou, sinless one hearest the prayer of the
penitent, cleanses” her from stains, lovest her so as to make her
beautiful. She embraces the feet of her Lord, washes them with her
tears, dries them with her hair: Washing and wiping them, she anoints
them with sweet ointment, and covers them with kisses.
Such, O
Wisdom of the Father, is the banquet that delights Thee! Though born of
a Virgin, Thou cost not disdain to be touched by a sinful woman. The
Pharisee invited Thee but it is Mary that gives Thee a feast.
Thou
forgives much to her that loves much, and that falls not again into
sin. From seven devils cost Thou free her by Thy seven-fold Spirit. To
her, when Thou rises from the dead, Thou showest Thyself first of all.
By her, O Christ. Thou cost designate the Gentile Church, the stranger
whom Thou callest to the children’s table; Who, at the feast of the Law
and at the feast of grace, is despised by the pride of Pharisees, and
harassed by leprous heresy.
Thou knowest what manner of woman
she is, it is because she is a sinner that she touches Thee, and because
she longs for pardon. What could she have, poor sick one, without
receiving it, and without the physician assisting her? O King of kings,
rich unto all, save us, wash away all the stains of our sins, O Thou
the hope and glory of the saints.
Congratulate me, all ye that
love the Lord; for He whom I sought appeared to me: and while I wept at
the tomb I saw my Lord, alleluia.
v. When the disciples withdrew, I
did not withdraw, and being kindled with the fire of His love, I burned
with desire. And while.
We beseech Thee, O Lord, that we may
be helped by the intercession of blessed Mary Magdalen, entreated by
whose prayers Thou didst raise up again to life her brother Lazarus, who
had been dead four days. Thou Who livest and reigns forever. Amen.
St. Anselm’s prayer to St. Mary Magdalene
St Mary Magdalene, you came with springing tears to the spring of
mercy, Christ; from him your burning thirst was abundantly refreshed;
through him your sins were forgiven; by him your bitter sorrow was
consoled.
My dearest lady, well you know by your own life how a
sinful soul can be reconciled with its creator, what counsel a soul in
misery needs, what medicine will restore the sick to health. It is
enough for us to understand, dear friend of God, to whom were “many sins
forgiven, because she loved much”.
Most blessed lady, I who am
the most evil and sinful of men do not recall your sins as a reproach,
but call upon the boundless mercy by which they were blotted out. This
is my reassurance, so that I do not despair;this is my longing, so that I
shall not perish.I say this of myself, miserably cast down into the
depths of vice, bowed down with the weight of crimes, thrust down by my
own hand into a dark prison of sins, wrapped round with the shadows of
darkness.
Therefore, since you are now with the chosen because
you are beloved and are beloved because you are chosen of God, I, in my
misery, pray to you, in bliss; in my darkness, I ask for light;in my
sins, redemption; impure, I ask for purity.
Recall in loving
kindness what you used to be, how much you needed mercy,and seek for me
that same forgiving love that you received when you were wanting it. Ask
urgently that I may have the love that pierces the heart; tears that
are humble; desire for the homeland of heaven; impatience with this
earthly exile; searing repentance; and a dread of torments in eternity.
Turn
to my good that ready access that you once had and still have to the
spring of mercy. Draw me to him where I may wash away my sins; bring me
to him who can slake my thirst;pour over me those waters that will make
my dry places fresh.
You will not find it hard to gain all you
desire from so loving and so kind a Lord,who is alive and reigns and is
your friend. For who can tell, beloved and blest of God, with what kind
familiarity and familiar kindness he himself replied on your behalf to
the calumnies of those who were against you? How he defended you, when
the proud Pharisee was indignant, how he excused you,when your sister
complained, how highly he praised your deed, when Judas begrudged it.
And,
more than all this, what can I say, how can I find words to tell,about
the burning love with which you sought him,weeping at the sepulchre, and
wept for him in your seeking? How he came, who can say how or with what
kindness, to comfort you, and made you burn with love still more; how
he hid from you when you wanted to see him, and showed himself when you
did not think to see him; how he was there all the time you sought him,
and how he sought you when, seeking him, you wept.
But you, most
holy Lord, why do you ask her why she weeps? Surely you can see; her
heart, the dear life of her soul, is cruelly slain. O love to be
wondered at; O evil to be shuddered at;you hung on the wood, pierced by
iron nails, stretched out like a thief for the mockery of wicked men;
and yet, ‘Woman,’ you say, ‘why are you weeping?’ She had not been able
to prevent them from killing you,but at least she longed to keep your
body for a while with ointments lest it decay.
No longer able to
speak with you living, at least she could mourn for you dead. So, near
to death and hating her own life,she repeats in broken tones the words
of life which she had heard from the living. And now, besides all this,
even the body which she was glad, in a way, to have kept, she believes
to have gone. And can you ask her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ Had she
not reason to weep? For she had seen with her own eyes if she could
bear to look what cruel men cruelly did to you; and now all that was
left of you from their hands she thinks she has lost. All hope of you
has fled,f or now she has not even your lifeless body to remind her of
you. And someone asks, ‘Who are you looking for? Why are you weeping?’
You, her sole joy, should be the last thus to increase her sorrow.
But
you know it all well, and thus you wish it to be,for only in such
broken words and sighs can she convey a cause of grief as great as hers.
The love you have inspired you do not ignore, And indeed you know her
well,the gardener, who planted her soul in his garden. What you plant, I
think you also water. Do you water, I wonder, or do you test her? In
fact, you are both watering and putting to the test.
But now,
good Lord, gentle Master, look upon your faithful servant and disciple,
so lately redeemed by your blood,and see how she burns with anxiety,
desiring you, searching all round, questioning, and what she longs for
is nowhere found. Nothing she sees can satisfy her, since you whom alone
she would behold, she sees not. What then? How long will my Lord leave
his beloved to suffer thus? Have you put off compassion now you have put
on incorruption? Did you let go of goodness when you laid hold of
immortality? Let it not be so, Lord. You will not despise us mortals now
you have made yourself immortal, for you made yourself a mortal in
order to give us immortality.
And so it is; for love’s sake he cannot bear her grief for long or go on hiding himself. For the sweetness of love he shows himself who would not for the bitterness of tears. The Lord calls his servant by the name she has often heard and the servant knows the voice of her own Lord. I think, or rather I am sure, that she responded to the gentle tone with which he was accustomed to call, ‘Mary’. What joy filled that voice, so gentle and full of love. He could not have put it more simply and clearly: ‘I know who you are and what you want;behold me; do not weep, behold me; I am he whom you seek.’ At once the tears are changed; I do not believe that they stopped at once,but where once they were wrung from a heart broken and self-tormenting they flow now from a heart exulting.
How different is, ‘Master!’from ‘If you have taken him away, tell me’;and, ‘They have taken away my Lord,and I do not know where they have laid him,’has a very different sound from,‘I have seen the Lord, and he has spoken to me.’
But how should I, in misery and without love,dare to describe the love of God and the blessed friend of God? Such a flavour of goodness will make my heart sick if it has in itself nothing of that same virtue. But in truth, you who are very truth, you know me well and can testify that I write this for the love of your love, my Lord, my most dear Jesus. I want your love to burn in me as you command so that I may desire to love you alone and sacrifice to you a troubled spirit, ‘a broken and a contrite heart’.
Give me, O Lord, in this exile,the bread of tears and sorrow for which I hunger more than for any choice delights.Hear me, for your love,and for the dear merits of your beloved Mary,and your blessed Mother, the greater Mary.Redeemer, my good Jesus,do not despise the prayers of one who has sinned against you but strengthen the efforts of a weakling that loves you.Shake my heart out of its indolence, Lord,and in the adore of your love bring me to the everlasting sight of your glory where with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, God, for ever. Amen.