User:Leu 08

ST. MARY OF BETHANY

Mary was the sister of Martha and of Lazarus, and these siblings were hosts and close friends of Jesus. They lived in Bethany in the province of Judaea. For more than a millenium, she has been &quot;miscanonised&quot; to be identical with &quot;Mary Magdalene.&quot; This error is due to the misinterpretation of Pope St. Gregory the Great. In one of his homilies, he said that &quot;...Mary Magdalene was she who was a sinner who anointed the feet of the Lord and wiped them with her hair, and it was also she who was called sister of Martha and of Lazarus...&quot; Apparently, the confusion arose from the misinterpretation of &quot;seven demons&quot; that were driven out of Mary Magdalene. Being &quot;healed from seven demons&quot; is quite different from being &quot;forgiven of your [her] many sins.&quot; Being &quot;healed from seven demons&quot; simply means &quot;being healed from possession.&quot; Once this has been established, then Mary Magdalene would definitely not be the &quot;sinner who anointed the feet of Jesus.&quot; This &quot;anointing (Luke 07:36-50)&quot; led to another confusion, that is, it was erroneously concluded to be an identical anointing done by the sister of Martha and of Lazarus (John 11:02, 12:03). But clearly in the gospel accounts, the anointing done by the sinful woman and the anointing done by the sister of Martha and of Lazarus are two distinct episodes. Thus, two distinct episodes mean two distinct women. Therefore, Mary Magdalene, the sinful woman, and Mary of Bethany are three distinct women.

Mary of Bethany was the &quot;contemplative type,&quot; as contrasted to her sister Martha who was the &quot;active type&quot; (Luke 10:38-42). Listening to the word of Jesus gave her a deep spirituality which prompted her to anoint the feet of Jesus and wipe them with her hair (not only an act of love, but also an act of humility [cf. John 12:03]). So on two occasions, she was &quot;praised&quot; by Jesus himself; first, for listening to him, and second, for anticipating his burial (cf. Luke 10:42 and John 12:07).

The proper representation of Mary of Bethany must be one holding a flask of ointment on the one hand, and holding her locks of hair on the other hand (symbolising her act of anointing the feet of Jesus [cf. John 11:02, 12:03]). A stool can also be placed by her feet to symbolise her &quot;[seating] by the Lord's feet and listening to his word (Luke 10:39).&quot; Unfortunately, such a representation has already been alluded to Mary Magdalene because of the said misidentification. However, I believe that in due time (long as catechists would do their job of &quot;catechising&quot;), the iconography of Mary Magdalene would slowly and surely be corrected, and the emblems of &quot;flask of ointment&quot; and &quot;locks of hair&quot; would finally be alluded rightly and justly to Mary of Bethany.

EMBLEM: Mary of Bethany: flask of ointment, her locks of hair being held by the hand, and a stool by her feet