𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟓 • 𝐒𝐭. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐞’ 𝐏𝐚𝐳𝐳𝐢

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𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓

It would be easy to concentrate on the mystical experiences God gave this saint, rather than on her life. In fact, it would be difficult to do differently, so overwhelming were those gifts from God. The temptation for many modern readers (including the author) would be to see little to identify with in these graces and walk away without seeing more. The other temptation would be to become so fascinated with these stories that one would neglect to dig deeper and learn the real lessons of her life.

But Mary Magdalene de Pazzi is not a saint because she received ecstasies and graces from God. Many have received visions, ecstasies, and miracles without becoming holy. She is a saint because of her response to those gifts — a lifelong struggle to show love and gratitude to the God who gave her those graces.

In fact Mary Magdalene saw her ecstasies as evidence of a great fault in her, not a reward for holiness. She told one fellow sister that God did not give this sister the same graces “because you don’t need them in order to serve him.” In her eyes, God gave these gifts to those who were too weak to become holy otherwise. That Mary Magdalene received these gifts proved, in her mind, how unworthy she was.

𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐑

𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺: 𝘖 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘥𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘴, 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦.