Why Mary Magdalene

I was born into a buddhist family and have been deeply devoted to this path of awakening. Yet I was always also drawn towards Mother Mary (perhaps because my second name is Maria) and the wisdom of other spiritual traditions. A few years ago I came across the books of Meggan Watterson, a feminist theologian of the christian tradition and history. I started joining her online circles and have been studying the early christian Gospels ever since, finding them truly enriching to the spiritual path I was already on. Below is a reflection on why I feel inspired by Mary Magdalene and why I feel she brings a special blessing to todays world.

In the gospel of Mary Magdalene, Christ calls Mary wonderful. This statement to me really opens us to understand why we so many of us may be drawn to the figure of Miriam form Magdala. Why wonderful? What did Christ mean what was so special about Mary that 2000 years later we would be thinking of her so devotedly?

Mary stands for something unique for her times. Her path consisted of a unique bravery and determination to return to the love within her. Not that she would constantly be in divine union, blessed out 24-7 so to say. 

What made Mary unique among the apostles, what for me carries the blessings of connecting with Mary, and why she is so accessible to so many of us, is that she never lost her human side while also embracing her divinity. The Gospel of Mary is famous for the radical teachings she shares on the whole purpose of our spiritual path: the whole point for us as human beings is to realize that we are both "fully human and fully divine," all at once. There is no hierarchy, no authority outside of ourselves, no need to achieve or perfect anything, no need to get rid of sin - which according to the Gospel does not even exist. Just a humble recognition of what is already there, deeply held within.

This is what Mary seems to have perfected over all other disciples. Why she is seen as the apostles to the apostles.
She became adept at remembering her divinity, the infinite dwell of love within her, while remaining utterly human. She was fully human, with the vulnerabilities that entails, while she also remembered the love she carried within her. She learned the way of homecoming to her divinity even when losing herself in her humanity. 

Recognizing the Love, the "Good", within her made her obtain the eyes to see the same love within each one of us, how this is the proof that the divine lives within all creatures. "Love is the only inexhaustible resource", says Meggan. AND: There is no hierarchy! We can all work at remembering this! "It happens where no one else can see or validate for us that we're doing the inner work. This isn't something we need outside sources to confirm or people we love to validate for us," says she. Because it is the ultimate truth that no one can ever deprive us from. No matter how much the world may tempt us into believing that we are not worthy. We can become adept at remembering just as Mary did. 

"This is something that is in the bones. It feels like blood memory. It is the other side of education." 

Meggan Watterson