Und weil heute der Tag meiner grossen Heldin, Inspiration und Vorbildes ist, hier die Worte der wundervollen Kathleen McGowan zu Ehren unserer Maria Magdalena.
Danke!
Amor Vincit Omnia. Semper.
On Her Day, In Her Honor....
I first wrote this letter to Mary Magdalene in 2007, but I believe it is worth repeating.
July 22, 2007
To
my friends all over the world, I wish you a most beautiful and blessed
feast day of Notre Dame, our lady of compassion, Maria Magdalena.
I wrote this letter to her today as a part of my celebration and wanted to share it with you all:
Dear Mary,
How do I thank you for all that you have given us? For all that you
endured so that we might have the purest example of love and faith
and courage that this world has ever seen?
There are no words that will ever do justice to what you have done
for all of us. The only thing that I, as your student and faithful
follower, can do is to renew my annual pledge to share your story and
your love with as many people in the world who will open their hearts
and listen to it.
Last year on this date, I traveled through your own steps in France
with my family and closest friends. I prayed in the locations where
you lived and taught the beauty of The Way of Love, and later that
day we prayed in locations where your children and descendants were
murdered and tortured for carrying on those same teachings. There
are times when the history of your children is too much to bear. But
we must bear it, for in doing so we will continue the teachings and
work with all our hearts to ensure that such intolerance never occurs
in our world again.
And so, beautiful Magdalena, I give you all that I know how to give -
my love, my loyalty, my dedication and my best efforts as a flawed
human being to carry on your story and your teachings to the world.
I won't always get it right, and I will hope to learn and grow from
those moments when I stumble. I invite everyone who reads this to
join me as my brother and sister in absolute equality to move forward
in the teachings of The Way, and to take these vows along with me:
Today, I will celebrate you and Easa and how your unconditional love
for each other is the greatest inspiration of union that humans have
ever been given. I will celebrate my own love for God, and I will
endeavor to love my neighbor as myself, even when it is very
difficult, while recognizing that everyone is my neighbor. I will
work to both love and forgive, myself and others, and to live as an
expression of that love and forgiveness as often as my imperfect
humanity will allow. I will become a force for good in the world by
finding appropriate outlets to be of service to humankind, the animal
kingdom, and the Planet. I will always be aware of the needs of
children and vow to protect them and nurture them so that they may
become the beautiful future that is still in our power to create.
Most of all, I will live in the gratitude that I am alive in this
place and this time, to do whatever it is that you need of me.
I am, have always been and will always be, your servant in love and faith.
- Kathleen McGowan
PS - The Truth Against the World.
Ribera's Magdalene in the Desert, a favorite from the Prado and the painting I celebrate in The Expected One.