the murder of fausta and of crispus happens in 326. helena departs for the holy land in 327. there s almost certainly some connection between those two events. if you re his mother, hoping for his soul to be saved somehow, you re going to want to make a passionate gesture of reconciliation of penitence. she knew what she wanted when she traveled to jerusalem. and when she went looking for that true cross, she was surely determined to find it. right now, you re not thinking about all the money you saved by booking your flight,
important story is mary herself. the idea of mary magdalene the prostitute who repented gives us a character who shows by her penitence that everybody can make it into the kingdom of heaven. all four of the canonical gospels, matthew, mark, luke and john, tell us of a woman that comes to jesus and anoints his feet with expensive perfume. not one gospel of the four canonical gospels identifies that woman as mary magdalene. how, then, did mary s name come to be wrongly associated with this famous episode from the new testament? the answer, it seems, can be found five centuries later with this man, pope gregory the great.
the murder of fausta and of crispus happens in 326. helena departs for the holy land in 327. there s almost certainly some connection between those two events. if you re his mother, hoping for his soul to be saved somehow, you re going to want to make a passionate gesture of reconciliation of penitence. she wanted when she traveled to jerusalem. and when she went looking for that true cross, she was surely determined to find it.
touch him is the big thing, he can t possibly be a prophet or a messianic figure. he d never allow a person like this to touch him. to those present, it s a shocking provocation. but what s perhaps even more surprising is how jesus responds. stop! the disciples are outraged. when jesus rebukes them, he says that, no, forgiveness is accessible to her, too. she brings ointment she uses on his feet and she cries. and then wipes his feet and dries them with her own hair. sort of a symbol of penitence and forgiveness.
the bible never names this fallen woman, but a myth begins to grow that the sinner in this important story is mary herself. the idea of mary magdalene the prostitute who repented gives us a character who shows by her penitence that everybody can make it into the kingdom of heaven. all four of the canonical gospels, matthew, mark, luke and john, tell us of a woman that comes to jesus and anoints his feet with expensive perfume. not one gospel of the four canonical gospels identifies that woman as mary magdalene. how, then, did mary s name come to be wrongly associated with this famous episode from the new testament? the answer, it seems, can be found five centuries later with this man, pope gregory the great.