Welcome to our daily rosary meditation. Let's begin in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Let's call to mind all those we've promised to pray for.

We are in a very special place. We are in the grotto where St. Mary Magdalene lived the last 30 years of her life.

Now, first, there are very strong reasons to believe that Mary Magdalene was the same Mary as the sister of Martha and Lazarus.

First, many early church fathers, such as St. Augustine,

Jerome, John Chrysostom, and Gregory the Great, and later, Thomas Aquinas, they all believed

the sister of Martha and Lazarus is Mary Magdalene,

from whom Jesus drove out seven demons.

Second, there is an ancient tradition that Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were from a wealthy family. Their father was a man named Cyrus who owned

property all over Israel. Upon the death of their father, her brother Lazarus remained in

Jerusalem, inheriting the house there, while Martha inherited the home in Bethany

and Mary, the family property by the Sea of Galilee, in the coastal town called Magdalah.

The third reason is that in the year 415, St. John Cashin went to Marseille and was shown the

tombs of Martha and Mary Magdalene, and it was well known at that time that Lazarus was

considered the first bishop of the church here.

So, if Mary Magdalene is not the Mary, who is the sister of Martha and Lazarus,

then where is that Mary?

Why was she not with her siblings?

Why was she lost to history?

But if she is, then we have much to learn from her.

Mary Magdalene, this woman from whom Jesus cast out seven demons, and then she became

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