Sermon by S. Gregory the Great: Homily 25 on the Gospels: St. Mary Magdalene

The Monastic Office had a somewhat different selection from the Liturgy of the Hours.

Sermon by S. Gregory the Great: Homily 25 on the Gospels: St. Mary Magdalene

MARY MAGDALENE, a woman of the city, which was a sinner, washed out the stains of her sins with her tears, by her love of the Truth; the Word of the Truth; and the Word of the Truth is fulfilled which says, her sins are forgiven, for she loved much. She who had previously been cold through sin, was afterward aflame with love.  She would not leave the Lord's sepulcher even when the disciples had left. She was seeking him and could not find him. As she sought, she wept, and enkindled with the fire of his love, she was aflame with longing for him whom she believed had been taken away. Whence it happened that she alone saw him, as she alone had stayed behind to seek him: for the power of good works lies in perseverance.

THE first time that she sought him she could in no wise find him: she persevered in seeking, and so it came about that she found him. And this happened, because longing increases when unsatisfied, and thus increased, can retain what it finds. For it is of him that the Church, the Bride in the Song of Solomon, says: By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth. We seek the Beloved on our bed, when, in the brief rest of this present life we pine with love for our Redeemer. We seek by night, because, although our mind is now watching for him, yet is our eye still in darkness.

BUT it remains for her who finds not her Beloved to rise and go about the city; that is, by thought and questioning to go through the Church of the elect: let her seek in the streets and in the broad ways; that is, let her look upon the passers- by in the narrow and the wide paths, to see whether there is any among them whose footprints she may follow: for there are some even in this present life whose virtuous deeds we may strive to follow.

BUT the watchmen that go about the city find us as we search: for the holy fathers who guard the bulwarks of the Church hasten to meet our good endeavors, that they may teach us either by word or writing. When we have passed from them but a little, we find him whom our soul loveth: for although by his humility our Redeemer became a man among men, yet by his Divinity was he above men.