This week my home parish celebrates our patroness, St. Mary Magdalen. There is much speculation about just who Mary Magdalen was, but it is certain that she was a model disciple of Christ. Here are seven steps to becoming a disciple and some examples of how Mary Magdalen lived those out in her own life. These steps may look simple, but they are not easy, nor are they meant to be. Being a Christian disciple is the work of a lifetime.
1. Saved and Forgiven by the Lord
Each and every one of us are in need of a savior. Just look around and you can see countless examples of the brokenness in our world. It’s true that there is much that is true, good, and beautiful in the world, but we are definitely not in heaven yet. And we can’t make it there alone. We need someone else to save us. Someone with the power of life itself. The author of life, God the Father, sent His Son to save us: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
We need saving because our world is fallen. The world’s captivity to Satan began at the Fall of Man. Freeing and saving us from this woundedness cost the life of our Lord. The very King of the Universe had to die to set us free: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Christ purchased us, His Church, with His own precious blood (c.f. Acts 20:28). His blood, our ransom price, set us free.
Mary Magdalen knew the saving power of Christ. She was wounded, and Jesus freed her from seven demons (Lk 8:2). She proved her recognition of the mercy she received when she anointed His feet: “Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he (Jesus) was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment” (Lk 7: 37-38). Her reward for this beautiful act of conversion and repentance was forgiveness. Jesus told the Pharisee: “So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love” (Lk 7:47).
2. Belonging to the Lord
Because Jesus has saved us, we belong to Him: “You are not your own; you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We belong to God our Father as His beloved children: “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God” (1 John 3:1). We belong to Christ because He bought our salvation with His own blood (1 Corinthians 6:20). We belong to the Holy Spirit because His breath is our breath of life (Genesis 2:7).
What’s amazing to me is that belonging to God means that because we are His, He LOVES us beyond measure. Jesus loves us as much as the Father loves Him (John 15:9)! He asks us to respond to this incomprehensible love with our own love for Him and others (more on that later).
Mary Magdalen knew she belonged to the Lord. Her recognition of her own restoration and her loving service to Jesus and the apostles proves it: “Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, preaching and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means” (Luke 8:1-3).
3. Following the Lord
Christian disciples follow Jesus wherever He leads them. Even to the foot of the cross. Jesus Himself told us the cost of discipleship: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). To follow Jesus—to truly be His disciples, day-in and day-out—we must bear the crosses that come to us: sickness, failure, persecution, pain, and grief, to name only a few. Following the Lord is costly, but it is worth it. It is the “great treasure” and “pearl of great price” that is worth selling all that we have to gain (Matthew 13:44-46). It means inheriting the abundant life that Jesus came to give us, both now on earth and forever in heaven (John 10:10).
Mary Magdalen followed Jesus throughout Galilee in service. She was one of only a few who followed Him until the end: “Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala” (John 19:25). Imagine the fear and grief she and the other women had to overcome in order to stand in devotion to Christ at His crucifixion.
4. Abiding in the Lord
Jesus told His disciples to “abide” in Him in order to bear fruit and prove their discipleship: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:7-8). The primary way we “remain” or “abide” in Jesus’ love is by keeping the commandments. This is the crux of what it means to be a disciple, to listen to the voice of God in prayer, to beg Him to speak to us, then to do His will as His servant. It’s a willingness to be taught and the obedience to follow the Lord’s steps.
Mary Magdalen was devoted to the Lord and often sat at His feet in the posture of discipleship. She had a willing heart and a childlike spirit that was able to be taught (Luke 10:38-42). She is His disciple; He is her Rabbouni. She also remained with Him through all His trials, staying with Him through His Passion and death. She followed His body to be buried, keeping Vigil: “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary remained sitting there, facing the tomb” (Matt 27:62).
5. Becoming Like the Lord
Have you ever heard the saying that you become like the five people who you spend the most time with? If that holds true, then that bears the question: do I spend quality time with Jesus in prayer? Is He truly my friend? Jesus not only loves His disciples, He calls them His friends (John 15:15)! Friends spend time together and enjoy each other’s company. How can I hope to become more Christlike without spending time with Jesus in prayer?
The classic Catholic book,The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, is a must-have for your spiritual reading bookshelf (in my opinion at least!). Reading it a little at a time and practicing its wisdom can help us to grow in virtue and be open to God the Father’s work of forming us into the image of His Son. If you don’t already have a copy, you can download a version in several different formats here on the Gutenberg Project website (a open source site for works that are in the public domain).
The Gospel descriptions of Mary Magdalen show her as full of virtue. It would be hard to imagine someone coming into contact with her and not being impressed with her strength, courage, and devotion to God and others. Here’s a reflection I wrote about her Christlike virtues: Virtuous Magdalen.
6. Proclaiming the Lord
Those who have been saved by and walked with Christ, who have been taught by Him, who obey Him and have in some way become like Him, are not to keep this formation to themselves. They have not become like Christ for their own edification; they are to be a gift of the Lord to others. They are to bear Jesus into the world with their own hands, feet, hearts, minds, and words: “…we are disciples and we are teachers; listeners of the Word of Christ, and announcers of the same Word” (St. Pope Paul VI).
The last line of Matthew’s Gospel gives us our evangelizing mission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). To put it another way, our job once we have become intentional disciples is to bring Christ to others, creating more disciples who can experience His saving love.
Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalen first after His Resurrection (John 20: 11-18). She ran to tell the other disciples in the Upper Room, the first to share this Good News, making her the Apostle to the Apostles: “Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord,’ and what he told her” (John 20:18).
7. Loving the Lord and His People
I think we truly live out the Gospel and live as Christ’s disciples when we live out the greatest commandment to love God and others: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength…You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30-31). Our love is proof of our discipleship. We are called to agape: the unconditional, self-giving love of God.
Here’s the good news: Jesus Himself gives us everything we need to be close to Him so that we are able witness to His love. God the Father loves the Son, the Son loves us, and we are to love one another in this same way. Notice that the primary “lover” is God: “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
If love is proof of our discipleship, then St. Mary Magdalen surely proved her love and devotion through her acceptance of God’s forgiveness and love and how she responded so generously and courageously. St. Mary Magdalen, ardent disciple of Christ, pray for us!