Tuesday—Feast Day of Saint Mary Magdalene
We will climb the mountain through the forest to La Sainte-Baume, the Cave of Saint Mary Magdalene, with several hundred pilgrims in a special Feast Day Procession led by the Dominican brothers who will carry the relics (her tibia & hair) with them. In 1295 Pope Boniface VIII entrusted the Dominican Order with the care of the relics and the Dominicans took Saint Mary Magdalene as co-patroness of their Order. The Dominicans have guarded these relics ever since. After the 11 am Mass in the Cave we will come down the mountain to have a picnic lunch served outside on the prairie. There will be some time to relax in the afternoon on the grounds of the hostellerie and then have dinner at the hostellerie restaurant.
FEAST DAY PROCESSION UP TO THE CAVE
FEAST DAY MASS INSIDE THE CAVE
PRAYER PETITIONS LEFT IN THE CAVE
Novena to Saint Mary Magdalene—Day 4
Opening Prayer—Saint Mary Magdalene, you who were pardoned by Jesus, you who greatly loved; show us the way to true conversion and purity of heart. With love you followed Jesus to serve him; teach us to freely offer our lives for our brothers and sisters. You stood at the cross of Jesus with Mary and John. Obtain the grace of faith and hope in our sufferings. On Easter morning, you received from Jesus the mission of announcing the resurrection to His disciples. Help me to believe that life is stronger than death, that love triumphs over all. Dearest Saint Mary Magdalene, please intercede on behalf of my special intention (recite your special intention here). Through your intercession, I trust in the Lord, AMEN.
Gospel of John 11:1-45—The Death of Lazarus
1 Now there was a certain man sick, named Lazarus, of Bethania, of the town of Mary and Martha her sister. 2 (And Mary was she that anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair: whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 3 His sisters therefore sent to him, saying: Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 4 And Jesus hearing it, said to them: This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God: that the Son of God may be glorified by it. 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus. 6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he still remained in the same place two days. 7 Then after that, he said to his disciples: Let us go into Judea again. 8 The disciples say to him: Rabbi, the Jews but now sought to stone thee: and goest thou thither again? 9 Jesus answered: Are there not twelve hours of the day? If a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world: 10 But if he walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him. 11 These things he said; and after that he said to them: Lazarus our friend sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. 12 His disciples therefore said: Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. 13 But Jesus spoke of his death; and they thought that he spoke of the repose of sleep. 14 Then therefore Jesus said to them plainly: Lazarus is dead. 5 And I am glad, for your sakes, that I was not there, that you may believe: but let us go to him. 16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples: Let us also go, that we may die with him.
Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus
17 Jesus therefore came, and found that he had been four days already in the grave. 18 (Now Bethania was near Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off.) 19 And many of the Jews were come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. 20 Martha therefore, as soon as she heard that Jesus had come, went to meet him: but Mary sat at home. 21 Martha therefore said to Jesus: Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 22 But now also I know that whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. 23 Jesus saith to her: Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith to him: I know that he shall rise again, in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live: 26 And every one that liveth, and believeth in me, shall not die for ever. Believest thou this? 27 She saith to him: Yea, Lord, I have believed that thou art Christ the Son of the living God, who art come into this world. 28 And when she had said these things, she went, and called her sister Mary secretly, saying: The master is come, and calleth for thee. 29 She, as soon as she heard this, riseth quickly, and cometh to him. 30 For Jesus was not yet come into the town: but he was still in that place where Martha had met him. 31 The Jews therefore, who were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary that she rose up speedily and went out, followed her, saying: She goeth to the grave to weep there. 32 When Mary therefore was come where Jesus was, seeing him, she fell down at his feet, and saith to him: Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 33 Jesus, therefore, when he saw her weeping, and the Jews that were come with her, weeping, groaned in the spirit, and troubled himself, 34 And said: Where have you laid him? They say to him: Lord, come and see. 35 And Jesus wept. 36 The Jews therefore said: Behold how he loved him. 37 But some of them said: Could not he that opened the eyes of the man born blind, have caused that this man should not die?
JESUS RAISES LAZARUS
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself, cometh to the sepulchre. Now it was a cave; and a stone was laid over it. 39 Jesus saith: Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith to him: Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he is now of four days. 40 Jesus saith to her: Did not I say to thee, that if thou believe, thou shalt see the glory of God? 41 They took therefore the stone away. And Jesus lifting up his eyes said: Father, I give thee thanks that thou hast heard me. 42 And I knew that thou hearest me always; but because of the people who stand about have I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43 When he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth. 44 And presently he that had been dead came forth, bound feet and hands with winding bands; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them: Loose him, and let him go.
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45 Many therefore of the Jews, who were come to Mary and Martha, and had seen the things that Jesus did, believed in him.
Novena Prayer Day 4—After the death of Lazarus, Martha is the first to meet Jesus and speaks with him. In his dialogue with her, Jesus leads her to be the first to acknowledge in faith that he is the Messiah, able to give life to the dead and to her brother, Lazarus. However, in front the tomb, she doubts: ‘There will be a stench. He has already been in the tomb four days…’ Mary does not challenge Jesus: she simply throws herself at the his feet and weeps. This is no longer the gesture of a sinful woman, but a gesture of intercession. Rather than the discussions of Martha, it is these tears which touches Jesus, which touches the heart of God and obtains the resurrection for Lazarus. This faith is not lip service, but a faith of action, which throws itself totally before God. By the perfume of her tears, Mary obtains life from death “which has a stench…” She is prostrate on the soil from which the Creator had drawn Adam, and from which the “new Adam” would raise the people broken by sin. The One who unbound Lazarus of his bindings will himself be wrapped in bindings, to break the chains of those dead because of sin, and to set them free. Martha and Mary both approach the Lord with the same words, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” But the gestures are different. The reactions are different. Martha questions, she confronts Jesus with the realities that she perceives. Isn’t that what we all do so often. We ought to pray more, but … there is the phone, there are appointments, there is a soccer game, there is this and that. We ought give Jesus more room in our lives … but there is work, family, job, recreation. There are all these things. Martha’s gesture and reaction is to let Jesus know, to inform him of what she thinks is the reality of the situation. We too feel the need to let Jesus know what is really important, what the conditions are that keep us from letting Jesus into our lives. We need to choose to be open to what the Lord has to say to us.
Closing Prayer—God of mercy, you who received the tears of Saint Mary Magdalene for her brother, Lazarus, lead us to recognize in your Son, who comes to save the world by offering his life to conquer our death, to live freely and confidently, in this world in your love and in your service. Through Christ our Lord, AMEN!
