Two MP3 CDs, totaling 12 hours. Five-voice reading.
Mary Magdalene, who is she? If we stay within the textual context of the four Gospels, we can only say that Magdalene (from Magdalena) is the name given to Mary Magdalene, whose name appears among those of the women who follow Jesus.
They witness his crucifixion on Calvary and are before the tomb when the stone that closes it is rolled away.
At least some of them are, to a certain extent and in different ways, witnesses to the Resurrection of the Lord, who entrusted Mary Magdalene with the task of announcing it to the disciples. Very few today are willing to see Magdalene also in the nameless sinner who, in the house of a Pharisee, receives Jesus’ forgiveness after anointing his feet with perfumed oil, as the evangelist Luke recounts.
Her unusual act of homage is similar to another mentioned by the evangelist John, attributing it to Mary of Bethany, which he himself describes as having taken place in Bethany, a few days before the Lord’s last Passover. This Mary of Bethany, whom scholars say cannot be identified with either Mary Magdalene or the anonymous sinner, is the contemplative one whom the Master extols, contrasting her with Martha, his busy sister.
And we find her with Martha at the resurrection of her brother Lazarus. Mary Magdalene, the unmistakable Magdalene, was freed from seven demons. Mark and Luke affirm this, leading us to imagine a spiritual resurrection as prodigious as the physical resurrection of Lazarus, described by John.
This mysterious and disconcerting fact, combined with the other scant information the Gospels provide us about her—her faithfulness as a disciple, her presence beneath the Cross, and finally her role as herald of the Risen Christ—lead to the idea of a great personality about whom much is said. It would not be entirely outlandish, therefore, to associate Mary Magdalene with the nameless sinner absolved by Jesus and with her namesake in Bethany who preferred to drink in the Master’s words rather than attend to household chores.
Moreover, an ancient tradition in the Church has already identified the three female figures as a single character: Mary Magdalene, venerated as a saint.
However, too many pieces are missing to piece together the various Gospel episodes, which are so disjointed that it is rather easy to attribute them to different people and stories.
A single story would be credible if it were not forced and, above all, if it reflected the authenticity of the Gospel’s message of salvation. Without fear of contradiction, we can affirm that only the work written by Maria Valtorta achieves this.
The chapters and excerpts from chapters concerning Mary Magdalene are excerpts from the work “The Gospel as Revealed to Me.”
The creator and editor of the collection is Marisa Tiraboschi. Always committed to reflecting on themes of religious spirituality, she recently edited, with other scholars and on behalf of the Vatican Publishing House, a six-volume work on women’s issues in the religious sphere.
The volume on Mary Magdalene is introduced by a preface that clarifies the topic of this controversial evangelical figure, reveals her connection to Maria Valtorta’s spirituality, and clarifies the terms of the ecclesiastical position regarding Valtorta’s work.
