07/22/2004: "Daily Reflection on Scripture"

Today is the Feast Day of Mary Magdalene. As I try to write this reflection, I find myself constantly wandering back to the debate about her. What a shame that is! I don't mean that in the sense that I'm minimizing the debate but that in the sense that a good relationship with God has its foundation in prayer and arguments like these take away from that.

I often am very sad about the Schism between Catholics and Protestants (who ironically agree on the point of Mary Magdalene) for this very reason. How much emphasis has been placed in the last 500 years on our differences and our disagreements that could have been spent in union with one another praying to God? Those lost years are very painful to me and I pray that we'll be able to come to a new unity that will truly reflect the need for One Holy and Apostolic Church.

So today, on the Feast Day of a woman who has recently been the focal point of division in the body of Christ, let us pray for God to lead us to that new unity. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever, Amen.