La Madre on Saint Mary Magdalene

This may be something that happens somewhere between late middle and old age but, increasingly, I find myself recalling things read when I was in my teens. Thinking about Saint Mary Magdalene today, I remembered how much this passage impressed me when I came upon it in William T. Walsh’s Life of Saint Teresa of Avila.

I had a very great devotion to the glorious Magdalene, and very frequently used to think of her conversion–especially when I went to Communion. As I knew for certain that our Lord was then within me, I used to place myself at His feet, thinking that my tears would not be despised. I did not know what I was saying; only He did great things for me, in that He was pleased I should shed those tears, seeing that I so soon forgot that impression. I used to recommend myself to that glorious Saint, that she might obtain my pardon. (Autobiography of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Chapter IX)

My friend from long ago, the incomparable Dom Bernardo Bonowitz, may not remember this, but back in the 1960s we both delighted in this passage. In some way it kindled a fire in our hearts.