Learning from Mary Magdalene in the south of France
Have you ever gone on a pilgrimage?
Pilgrimage has a certain attraction for me - it’s as much an inward journey as an outer one. It allows you to slow down and step away from your calendar for a time, and focus on your inner motivation rather than on your outer distractions.
While I was on a two week trip in the south of France in May with my husband, I decided to visit St-Maximin-la-Ste-Baume, an important stop on any Mary Magdalene pilgrimage. According to local legend, Mary Magdalene and a few others fled the Holy Land to avoid persecution, escaped on a boat in the Mediterranean, and landed near Marseille, France in the year 47. After preaching in that area of the country, Mary Magdalene is reported to have retired to a cave about 40 miles east to live out her life in contemplation and prayer.
I was too close not to make a visit. So we did. I received three important messages on this short pilgrimage that I want to share with you.
As soon as I researched how to get to the cave, I started worrying about my ability to get there. I’m not physically strong enough to enjoy hiking uphill. As you’ll see in the pictures below, that cave is UPHILL, above the treeline. My concern about being able to make it to the cave increased as we got closer to the trip, and continued even as our daily step count escalated once we landed on the other side of the pond. The question of whether I’d be able to make it to the cave weighed heavily on me. On the day before our trip to Sainte-Baume, I received my first message, hearing the words in French, of course: “Ma cherie, je suis partout!” My dear, I am everywhere. There is no need to worry about whether I would make it to that specific location; Mary Magdalene is everywhere and with me every step of the way. As I later learned from my spiritual director, a pilgrimage is not about reaching a specific destination on a journey. The pilgrimage begins with your intent to begin, even before all the planning starts, and ends long after you have reached your destination (or not) and returned home. So even if I couldn't make it up to the cave, I didn't have to worry. My pilgrimage was underway.
After picking up a rental car in Cannes, we drove west about 70 miles to St-Maximin to the Basilica named in her honor. The church was sad looking, suffering from damage during the French Revolution, world wars, and now from neglect. It is purported to be the burial palace of Mary Magdalene and contains a relic of her skull in the subterranean crypt. On July 22nd, devotees parade through the town of St. Maximin carrying the ornate reliquary as part of a celebration of Mary Magdalene’s Feast Day.
I have never been a fan of relics, and this visit didn’t change my mind. Was it really her skull? Isn't that a little creepy? Relics were hot items to attract pilgrims’ dollars that supported holy sites. Relics were regularly stolen and then newly discovered in a variety of locations. I don’t think there’s any way to conclusively prove that this skull belonged to Mary Magdalene. What I learned was that that’s not the point.
The second message I got is “it’s not about the relic, it’s about the message. What is the message I should be paying attention to? It is a message of love. Mary Magdalene encourages us to realize that unconditional, never-ending divine love already exists within our own hearts. We don’t have to earn that love. There is nothing we can do to eradicate that love. We were all created with divine love deep in our souls. We need only turn within to access that love. The realm of the divine is within us. I’ll explore this concept more deeply in my next blog post, my homily for a Sunday liturgy celebrating her feast day.
Our next stop was a 30-minute drive to the parking lot below the giant massif of Sainte-Baume. Here’s the view from the parking lot.
Yep, it’s way up there and the only way to get there is to walk up the side of the mountain, a walk that would require “strong effort.” I’ll say! It took us a bit over an hour. I eagerly stuffed a water bottle and snacks into my backpack for the hike to the top, knowing that my husband thought I was crazy, and/or that I would bail because of the strong effort required.
As I walked slowly and laboriously up each switchback, I prayed for Mary Magdalene’s assistance, and listened to the voices in my head. One voice has had lots of training to just ‘go with the flow’ and ‘keep the peace.’ I sensed that my husband wanted no part of this hike - saints aren’t really his cup of tea. I sensed that he really wanted me to come to my senses and turn back. But another voice kept encouraging me and reminding me that making it to the cave was something that I really wanted to do. Each switch back brought another mental volley. Somewhere around the halfway point, I gave him permission to go back down and wait for me. He didn’t. Because the forest was cool and shady, because the switchbacks were gentle inclines, though relentless, because Mary Magdalene was pulling me up along the path, we made it to the cave.
The view from the top was amazing. The dark, cool space inside the cave was peaceful. It felt like I was being held in the womb of the divine feminine. I cannot say that I felt the presence of Mary Magdalene there in the cave. But I was at peace. The third message that I received on my pilgrimage is the importance of standing up for myself and following my desires even if it means disappointing other people.
I am worth it. And that was worth the hike!
Do you have an interested in learning more about Mary Magdalene, or the Gospel of Mary?
Click here for some wonderful resources!