The model for our love

Today the Gospel was the story of Jesus' visit to Martha and Mary, which beautifully leads us into tomorrow's feast of St Mary Magdalen. Popular devotion has traditionally merged the two women, probably because they are both women who clearly loved Jesus with great strength and passion. Whether sitting at his feet, standing at his Cross or bending over his body, all they wanted was to be with him and to show him the depth of their love.

Mary Magdalen would also have been the patron saint of our founder, Madeleine Sophie Barat. Although she was known as Sophie in her family she had a great fondness for her patron, and on her feast once said this: -

Mary Magdalen is the first adorer of the Heart of Jesus, and she must be the model for our love, a tender and generous love that refuses nothing and is always ready for the complete gift of self.

A love that refuses nothing and is always complete gift of self... a love clearly modelled on Jesus, to whom she was so close. Her adoration of his Heart was no act of distant worship, but an intimate study of his feelings and dispositions, through which she was united and conformed to them, and to his Heart. That unity and conformity with the Heart of Jesus is the central aim for every RSCJ, and indeed for every person who knows they are called to love as Jesus loves.

Yes, Mary Magdalen is indeed the model for our love... may she pray for us, as we strive for closer union with the One she loved so much.

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