Memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene

We know little of Saint Mary of Magdala from the gospels but that has never stopped imaginative individuals from creating a marvelous tradition of stories about her. One of the latest was Dan Brown’s novel, in which he wove two ancient legends together: that of Mary Magdalene, the supposed wife of Jesus; and the Holy Grail, the original chalice from the Last Supper. Mr. Brown said she is the Holy Grail! Despite its silliness, that’s pretty cool!
But we can hardly blame romantic authors for their fantasies; there are plenty of inferences in the scriptures to suggest that God should have a wife. In today’s reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, we hear: I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved me as a bride, following me in the desert, in a land unsown.
The prophets Hosea, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah imagine Jerusalem as the Bride of God. It is a marvelous image and very appropriate. So when the Son of God appears among us, who is his bride? Saint Paul told us: it is the Church.
But some people want a more exciting answer. They cannot imagine a robust fellow like Jesus not having a wife and, presumably, semi-divine children, and semi-semi-divine grandchildren, and so forth; as the strain gets weaker.
To that Jeremiah would say, Be amazed at this, O heavens, and shudder with sheer horror, says the Lord. Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; they have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that hold no water.
The apostolic tradition of our church is creative; it enjoys many legendary stories of the saints. But it’s disciplined; it despises any stories that shortchange the gospel. They are broken cisterns that hold no water. Saint Paul warned us about such imaginary interpretations when he wrote to his disciple Timothy:
For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

Meanwhile, we should not neglect the reliable stories of St Mary Magdalene. Saint John describes her as that devout soul who continues to love and honor Jesus after all hope is lost. She cannot keep herself from visiting his grave. Whatever common sense may say about the failure of his mission and the debacle of his end, she must still attend his ruined corpse. Even when she sees two brilliantly shining angels sitting in his tomb she still mourns over Jesus. 
It is ironic that a no-nonsense woman like Mary Magdalene has inspired so much nonsense. Like her, we should be satisfied with nothing less than God.