Lazarus Martha Mary

29 July, ST MARTHA, ST MARY AND ST LAZARUS, hosts of the Lord. This Memorial  is marked in our Cistercian Rite. The General Sanctoral Calendar has the Memorial names only St. Martha. The Cistercian Prayer after Communion mention Lazarus, Martha and Mary as the Saints by whom we grow in sincere love for you in this life, and for ever be gladdened by your presence in heaven. ENTRANCE ANTIPHON As Jesus entered a certain village, a woman called Martha welcomed him into her house. [see Lk 10,38] OPENING PRAYER Heavenly Father, your Son called Lazarus from the grave and sat at table in the house of Bethany. May we serve him faithfully in our sisters and brothers and with Mary ponder and feed upon his word. Grant . . . PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION Heavenly Father, may this sharing in the body and blood of your only-begotten Son lessen our taste for all passing things. By the example of your saints, Lazarus, Martha and Mary, may we grow in sincere love for you in this life, and for ever be gladdened by your presence in heaven. Grant this through Christ our Lord www.ocso.org Cistercian Ritual - Ordo  + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

 

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To “seek first the kingdom of God” among life's daily activities is a constant challenge for the spiritual life. One Gospel passage that invites us to fix our gaze on Christ comes from the tenth chapter of Luke. There Christ is welcomed into the home of two sisters, Mary and Martha. Jan Vermeer, tile master painter from Delft, bathes this domes­tic scene in radiant light and deep shadows. The immediacy of Vermeer's composition is a visual invitation into the home of Mary and Martha. There we too taste not only the hospitality of these friends of Jesus, but the wisdom they savor in the presence of their Divine Guest.   

Bridget a Patron of Europe

St. Bridget of Sweden was born in 1303 and died on July 23rd, 1373. Her father, Birger, was the royal prince of Sweden and her mother, Ingeborg, was a very pious woman. She received attentive religious training from a young age and liked to meditate on the Passion of Christ. In 1316, at age thirteen, she was married to Ulf Gudmarsson, who was eighteen. St. Bridget and her husband had eight children, the youngest of whom later became St. Catherine of Sweden.  

St Mary Magdalene

22 July

St Mary Magdalene Memorial Mass

Mary at first did not recognize the risen Jesus in the garden. She knew him when he spoke her name. Her great love bursts forth, echoing the first reading, "I took hold of him and would not let him go".

Jesus says, "Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father". Their now entirely new relationship is a much deeper one. It rests in faith rather than physical contact.

At first, the apostles did not believe Mary. Christ's followers, even today, meet disbelief in their witness to the Resurrection.

Opening Prayer

Father, your Son first entrusted to Mary Magdalene the joyful news of his resurrection.

By her prayers and example

may we proclaim Christ as our living Lord and one day see him in glory,

for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Prayer after Communion

Father, may the sacrament we have received fill us with the same faithful love

that kept Mary Magdalene close to Christ, who

Fr. Nivard

History of Mary Magdalene

For centuries, Christians have wondered about the real identity of this woman who was beloved by Jesus. Many false ideas about Magdalene persist today. For example, early church fathers incorrectly identified her with the sinful woman who anointed Christ's feet at the house of Simon the Pharisee, but there is nothing in the Bible to support this view and much to dispute it.
Others wrongly believed that she was Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. We may never know details about Mary Magdalene, but Bible gives us clues about her importance as a significant leader of early Christianity. According to the Gospel of John, after Jesus' resurrection, he first appeared to Mary Magdalene and not to Peter. In other scriptures, her name is first in the list of witnesses (Mk. 16:1-11; Mt. 28:1; Lk. 24:10; Jn. 20:11-18; 1 Cor. 15:5-8). As Mary wept in the garden where Jesus was buried, she did not recognize Jesus until he called her name. Her encounter with Christ that first Easter morning was the inspiration of the popular hymn, "I Come to the Garden." One tradition concerning Mary Magdalene says that following the death and resurrection of Jesus, she gained an invitation to a banquet given by Emperor Tiberius Caesar. When she met him, she held a plain egg in her hand and exclaimed "Christ is risen!" Caesar laughed, and said that Christ rising from the dead was as likely as the egg in her hand turning red while she held it. Before he finished speaking, the egg in her hand turned a bright red, and she continued proclaiming the Gospel to the entire imperial house. Mary Magdalene is considered by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican churches to be a saint, with a feast day of July 22.

Bringing a taste of the Kremlin to Jerusalem, the 19th-century Church of Mary Magdalene is a distinctive Jerusalem landmark on the Mount of Olives.

The Church of Mary Magdalene was built by Tsar Alexander III in 1888 in the traditional Russian style. Easily spotted from the Temple Mount, the Russian church's seven golden domes have been newly gilded and sparkle in the sun. Combined with its multiple levels and sculpted white turrets, the church looks like something out of a fairytale.

The church is worth a close-up visit as well, for it stands in a tranquil garden and is filled with Orthodox icons and wall paintings inside.

The crypt holds the remains of Tsar Alexander's mother, the Grand Duchess Elizabeth, who was killed in the Russian revolution of 1917.

Also buried here is Princess Alice of Greece (Queen Elizabeth's mother-in-law), who harbored Jews during the Nazi occupation of Greece.