maria magdalena

We shall find the faithful in the company of angels and children

2008-05-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

Monday, May 5, 2008
She's like the wind................................and through her, teaches, governs, and sanctifies; it is Christ also who manifests Himself dif.....

As a result of the denial of education, opportunity and even hope for so many of our children and their parents, the choice for many by age sixteen is not the one you had Ä which college to attend, what career to pursue. It is a choice between trying to find a minimum wage job at a fast food restaurant or getting in on the material wealth of the American dream through the only business available, the selling of illegal drugs.

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The Holy See
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riga

MYSTICI CORPORIS CHRISTI

ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XII
ON THE MISTICAL BODY OF CHRIST
TO OUR VENERABLE BRETHREN, PATRIARCHS, PRIMATES,
ARCHBISHOPS, BISHIOPS, AND OTHER LOCAL ORDINARIES
ENJOYING PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE

Venerable Brethren,
Health and Apostolic Benediction.

The doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church,[1] was first taught us by the Redeemer Himself. Illustrating as it does the great and inestimable privilege of our intimate union with so exalted a Head, this doctrine by its sublime dignity invites all those who are drawn by the Holy Spirit to study it, and gives them, in the truths of which it proposes to the mind, a strong incentive to the performance of such good works as are conformable to its teaching. For this reason, We deem it fitting to speak to you on this subject through this Encyclical Letter, developing and explaining above all, those points which concern the Church Militant. To this We are urged not only by the surpassing grandeur of the subject but also by the circumstances of the present time.

2. For We intend to speak of the riches stored up in this Church which Christ purchased with His own Blood, [2] and whose members glory in a thorn-crowned Head. The fact that they thus glory is a striking proof that the greatest joy and exaltation are born only of suffering, and hence that we should rejoice if we partake of the sufferings of Christ, that when His glory shall be revealed we may also be glad with exceeding joy. [3]

3. From the outset it should be noted that the society established by the Redeemer of the human race resembles its divine Founder, who was persecuted, calumniated and tortured by those very men whom He had undertaken to save. We do not deny, rather from a heart filled with gratitude to God We admit, that even in our turbulent times there are many who, though outside the fold of Jesus Christ, look to the Church as the only haven of salvation; but We are also aware that the Church of God not only is despised and hated maliciously by those who shut their eyes to the light of Christian wisdom and miserably return to the teachings, customs and practices of ancient paganism, but is ignored and neglected, and even at times looked upon as irksome by many Christians who are allured by specious error or caught in the meshes of the world's corruption. In obedience, therefore, Venerable Brethren, to the voice of Our conscience and in compliance with the wishes of many, We will set forth before the eyes of all and extol the beauty, the praises, and the glory of Mother Church to whom, after God, we owe everything.

4. And it is to be hoped that Our instructions and exhortations will bring forth abundant fruit in the souls of the faithful in the present circumstances. For We know that if all the sorrows and calamities of these stormy times, by which countless multitudes are being sorely tried, are accepted from God's hands with calm submission, they naturally lift souls above the passing things of earth those of heaven that abide forever, and arouse a certain secret thirst and intense desire for spiritual things. Thus, urged by the Holy Spirit, men are moved, and as it were, impelled to seek the kingdom of God with greater diligence; for the more they are detached from the vanities of this world and from inordinate love of temporal things, the more apt they will be to perceive the light of heavenly mysteries. But the vanity and emptiness of earthly things are more manifest today than perhaps at any other period, when Kingdoms and States are crumbling, when enormous quantities of goods and all kinds of wealth are being sunk in the depths of the sea, and cities, towns and fertile fields are strewn with massive ruins and defiled with the blood of brothers.

5. Moreover, We trust that Our exposition of the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ will be acceptable and useful to those also who are without the fold of the Church, not only because their good will toward the Church seems to grow from day to day, but also because, while before their eyes nation rises up against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and discord is sown everywhere together with the seeds of envy and hatred, if they turn their gaze to the Church, if they contemplate her divinely-given unity - by which all men of every race are united to Christ in the bond of brotherhood - they will be forced to admire this fellowship in charity, and with the guidance and assistance of divine grace will long to share in the same union and charity.

6. There is a special reason too, and one most dear to Us, which recalls this doctrine to Our mind and with it a deep sense of joy. During the year that has passed since the twenty-fifth anniversary of Our Episcopal consecration, We have had the great consolation of witnessing something that has made the image of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ stand out most clearly before the whole world. Though a long and deadly war has pitilessly broken the bond of brotherly union between nations, We have seen Our children in Christ, in whatever part of the world they happened to be, one in will and affection, lift up their hearts to the common Father, who, carrying in his own heart the cares and anxieties of all, is guiding the barque of the Catholic Church int he teeth of a raging tempest. This is a testimony to the wonderful union existing among Christians; but it also proves that, as Our paternal love embraces all peoples, whatever their nationality and race, so Catholics the world over, though their countries may have drawn the sword against each other, look to the Vicar of Jesus Christ as to the loving Father of them all, who, with absolute impartiality and incorruptible judgment, rising above the conflicting gales of human passions, takes upon himself with all his strength the defence of truth, justice and charity.

7. We have been no less consoled to know that with spontaneous generosity a fund has been created for the erection of a church in Rome to be dedicated to our saintly predecessor and patron, Eugene I. At this temple, to be built by the wish and through the liberality of all the faithful, will be a lasting memorial of this happy event, so We desire to offer this Encyclical Letter in testimony of Our gratitude. It tells of those living stones which rest upon the living cornerstone, which is Christ, and are built together into a holy temple, far surpassing any temple built by hands, into a habitation of God in the Spirit. [4]

8. But the chief reason for Our present exposition of this sublime doctrine is Our solicitude for the souls entrusted to Us. Much indeed has been written on this subject; and We know that many today are turning with greater zest to a study which delights and nourishes Christian piety. This, it would seem, is chiefly because a revived interest in the sacred liturgy, the more widely spread custom of frequent Communion, and the more fervent devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus practiced today, have brought many souls to a deeper consideration of the unsearchable riches of Christ which are preserved in the Church. Moreover, recent pronouncements on Catholic Action, by drawing closer the bonds of union between Christians and between them and the ecclesiastical hierarchy and especially the Roman Pontiff, have undoubtedly helped not a little to place this truth in its proper light. Nevertheless, while We can derive legitimate joy from these considerations, We must confess that grave errors with regard to this doctrine are being spread among those outside the true Church, and that among the faithful, also, inaccurate or thoroughly false ideas are being disseminated which turn minds aside from the straight path of truth.

9. For while there still survives a false rationalism, which ridicules anything that transcends and defies the power of human genius, and which is accompanied by a cognate error, the so-called popular naturalism, which sees and wills to see in the Church nothing but a juridical and social union, there is on the other hand a false mysticism creeping in, which, in its attempt to eliminate the immovable frontier that separates creatures from their Creator, falsifies the Sacred Scriptures.

10. As a result of these conflicting and mutually antagonistic schools of thought, some through vain fear, look upon so profound a doctrine as something dangerous, and so they shrink from it as from the beautiful but forbidden fruit of paradise. But this is not so. Mysteries revealed by God cannot be harmful to men, nor should they remain as treasures hidden in a field, useless. They have been given from on high precisely to help the spiritual progress of those who study them in a spirit of piety. For, as the Vatican Council teaches, "reason illumined by faith, if it seeks earnestly, piously and wisely, does attain under God, to a certain and most helpful knowledge of mysteries, by considering their analogy with what it knows naturally, and their mutual relations, and their common relations with man's last end," although, as the same holy Synod observes, reason, even thus illumined, "is never capable of understanding those mysteries as it does those truths which forms its proper object." [5]

11. After pondering all this long and seriously before God We consider it part of Our pastoral duty to explain to the entire flock of Christ through this Encyclical Letter the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ and of the union in this Body of the faithful with the divine Redeemer; and then, from this consoling doctrine, to draw certain lessons that will make a deeper study of this mystery bear yet richer fruits of perfection and holiness. Our purpose is to throw an added ray of glory on the supreme beauty of the Church; to bring out into fuller light the exalted supernatural nobility of the faithful who in the Body of Christ are united with their Head; and finally, to exclude definitely the many current errors with regard to this matter.

12. When one reflects on the origin of this doctrine, there come to mind at once the words of the Apostle: "Where sin abounded, grace did more abound."[6] All know that the father of the whole human race was constituted by God in so exalted a state that he was to hand on to his posterity, together with earthly existence, the heavenly life of divine grace. But after the unhappy fall of Adam, the whole human race, infected by the hereditary stain, lost their participation in the divine nature,[7] and we were all "children of wrath."[8] But the all-merciful God "so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son,"[9] and the Word of the Eternal Father with the same divine love assumed human nature from the race of Adam - but as an innocent and spotless nature - so that He, as the new Adam, might be the source whence the grace of the Holy Spirit should flow unto all the children of the first parent. Through the sin of the first man they had been excluded from adoption as children of God; through the Word incarnate, made brothers according to the flesh of the only-begotten Son of God, they receive also the power to become the sons of God.[10] As He hung upon the Cross, Christ Jesus not only appeased the justice of the Eternal Father which had been violated, but He also won for us, His brethren, an ineffable flow of graces. It was possible for Him of Himself to impart these graces to mankind directly; but He willed to do so only through a visible Church made up of men, so that through her all might cooperate with Him in dispensing the graces of Redemption. As the Word of God willed to make use of our nature, when in excruciating agony He would redeem mankind, so in the same way throughout the centuries He makes use of the Church that the work begun might endure. [11]

13. If we would define and describe this true Church of Jesus Christ - which is the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church [12] - we shall find nothing more noble, more sublime, or more divine than the expression "the Mystical Body of Christ" - an expression which springs from and is, as it were, the fair flowering of the repeated teaching of the Sacred Scriptures and the Holy Fathers.

14. That the Church is a body is frequently asserted in the Sacred Scriptures. "Christ," says the Apostle, "is the Head of the Body of the Church."[13] If the Church is a body, it must be an unbroken unity, according to those words of Paul: "Though many we are one body in Christ."[14] But it is not enough that the Body of the Church should be an unbroken unity; it must also be something definite and perceptible to the senses as Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, in his Encyclical Satis Cognitum asserts: "the Church is visible because she is a body.[15] Hence they err in a matter of divine truth, who imagine the Church to be invisible, intangible, a something merely "pneumatological" as they say, by which many Christian communities, though they differ from each other in their profession of faith, are untied by an invisible bond.

15. But a body calls also for a multiplicity of members, which are linked together in such a way as to help one another. And as in the body when one member suffers, all the other members share its pain, and the healthy members come to the assistance of the ailing, so in the Church the individual members do not live for themselves alone, but also help their fellows, and all work in mutual collaboration for the common comfort and for the more perfect building up of the whole Body.

16. Again, as in nature a body is not formed by any haphazard grouping of members but must be constituted of organs, that is of members, that have not the same function and are arranged in due order; so for this reason above all the Church is called a body, that it is constituted by the coalescence of structurally untied parts, and that it has a variety of members reciprocally dependent. It is thus the Apostle describes the Church when he writes: "As in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office: so we being many are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another." [16]

17. One must not think, however, that this ordered or "organic" structure of the body of the Church contains only hierarchical elements and with them is complete; or, as an opposite opinion holds, that it is composed only of those who enjoy charismatic gifts - though members gifted with miraculous powers will never be lacking in the Church. That those who exercise sacred power in this Body are its chief members must be maintained uncompromisingly. It is through them, by commission of the Divine Redeemer Himself, that Christ's apostolate as Teacher, King and Priest is to endure. At the same time, when the Fathers of the Church sing the praises of this Mystical Body of Christ, with its ministries, its variety of ranks, its officers, it conditions, its orders, its duties, they are thinking not only of those who have received Holy Orders, but of all those too, who, following the evangelical counsels, pass their lives either actively among men, or hidden in the silence of the cloister, or who aim at combining the active and contemplative life according to their Institute; as also of those who, though living in the world, consecrate themselves wholeheartedly to spiritual or corporal works of mercy, and of those in the state of holy matrimony. Indeed, let this be clearly understood, especially in our days, fathers and mothers of families, those who are godparents through Baptism, and in particular those members of the laity who collaborate with the ecclesiastical hierarchy in spreading the Kingdom of the Divine Redeemer occupy an honorable, if often a lowly, place in the Christian community, and even they under the impulse of God and with His help, can reach the heights of supreme holiness, which, Jesus Christ has promised, will never be wanting to the Church.

18. Now we see that the human body is given the proper means to provide for its own life, health and growth, and for that of all its members. Similarly, the Savior of mankind out of His infinite goodness has provided in a wonderful way for His Mystical Body, endowing it with the Sacraments, so that, as though by an uninterrupted series of graces, its members should be sustained from birth to death, and that generous provision might be made for the social needs of the Church. Through the waters of Baptism those who are born into this world dead in sin are not only born again and made members of the Church, but being stamped with a spiritual seal they become able and fit to receive the other Sacraments. By the chrism of Confirmation, the faithful are given added strength to protect and defend the Church, their Mother, and the faith she has given them. In the Sacrament of Penance a saving medicine is offered for the members of the Church who have fallen into sin, not only to provide for their own health, but to remove from other members of the Mystical Body all danger of contagion, or rather to afford them an incentive to virtue, and the example of a virtuous act.

19. Nor is that all; for in the Holy Eucharist the faithful are nourished and strengthened at the same banquet and by a divine, ineffable bond are united with each other and with the Divine Head of the whole Body. Finally, like a devoted mother, the Church is at the bedside of those who are sick unto death; and if it be not always God's will that by the holy anointing she restore health to the mortal body, nevertheless she administers spiritual medicine to the wounded soul and sends new citizens to heaven - to be her new advocates - who will enjoy forever the happiness of God.

20. For the social needs of the Church Christ has provided in a particular way by the institution of two other Sacraments. Through Matrimony, in which the contracting parties are ministers of grace to each other, provision is made for the external and duly regulated increase of Christian society, and, what is of greater importance, for the correct religious education of the children, without which this Mystical Body would be in grave danger. Through Holy Orders men are set aside and consecrated to God, to offer the Sacrifice of the Eucharistic Victim, to nourish the flock of the faithful with the Bread of Angels and the food of doctrine, to guide them in the way of God's commandments and counsels and to strengthen them with all other supernatural helps.

21. In this connection it must be borne in mind that, as God at the beginning of time endowed man's body with most ample power to subject all creatures to himself, and to increase and multiply and fill the earth, so at the beginning of the Christian era, He supplied the Church with the means necessary to overcome the countless dangers and to fill not only the whole world but the realms of heaven as well.

22. Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed. "For in one spirit" says the Apostle, "were we all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free."[17] As therefore in the true Christian community there is only one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one Baptism, so there can be only one faith.[18] And therefore, if a man refuse to hear the Church, let him be considered - so the Lord commands - as a heathen and a publican. [19] It follows that those who are divided in faith or government cannot be living in the unity of such a Body, nor can they be living the life of its one Divine Spirit.

23. Nor must one imagine that the Body of the Church, just because it bears the name of Christ, is made up during the days of its earthly pilgrimage only of members conspicuous for their holiness, or that it consists only of those whom God has predestined to eternal happiness. It is owing to the Savior's infinite mercy that place is allowed in His Mystical Body here below for those whom, of old, He did not exclude from the banquet.[20] For not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy. Men may lose charity and divine grace through sin, thus becoming incapable of supernatural merit, and yet not be deprived of all life if they hold fast to faith and Christian hope, and if, illumined from above, they are spurred on by the interior promptings of the Holy Spirit to salutary fear and are moved to prayer and penance for their sins.

24. Let every one then abhor sin, which defiles the mystical members of our Redeemer; but if anyone unhappily falls and his obstinacy has not made him unworthy of communion with the faithful, let him be received with great love, and let eager charity see in him a weak member of Jesus Christ. For, as the Bishop of Hippo remarks, it is better "to be cured within the Church's community than to be cut off from its body as incurable members."[21] "As long as a member still forms part of the body there is no reason to despair of its cure; once it has been cut off, it can be neither cured nor healed." [22]

25. In the course of the present study, Venerable Brethren, we have thus far seen that the Church is so constituted that it may be likened to a body. We must now explain clearly and precisely why it is to be called not merely a body, but the Body of Jesus Christ. This follows from the fact that our Lord is the Founder, the Head, the Support and the Savior of this Mystical Body.

26. As We set out briefly to expound in what sense Christ founded His social Body, the following thought of Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, occurs to Us at once: "The Church which, already conceived, came forth from the side of the second Adam in His sleep on the Cross, first showed Herself before the eyes of men on the great day of Pentecost."[23] For the Divine Redeemer began the building of the mystical temple of the Church when by His preaching He made known His Precepts; He completed it when he hung glorified on the Cross; and He manifested and proclaimed it when He sent the Holy Ghost as Paraclete in visible form on His disciples.

27. For while fulfilling His office as preacher He chose Apostles, sending them as He had been sent by the Father [24] - namely, as teachers, rulers, instruments of holiness in the assembly of the believers; He appointed their Chief and His Vicar on earth;[25] He made known to them all things and whatsoever He had heard from His Father; [26] He also determined that through Baptism [27] those who should believe would be incorporated in the Body of the Church; and finally, when He came to the close of His life, He instituted at the Last Supper the wonderful Sacrifice and Sacrament of the Eucharist.

28. That He completed His work on the gibbet of the Cross is the unanimous teaching of the holy Fathers who assert that the Church was born from the side of our Savior on the Cross like a new Eve, mother of all the living. [28] "And it is now," says the great St. Ambrose, speaking of the pierced side of Christ, "that it is built, it is now that it is formed, it is now that it is...molded, it is now that it is created... Now it is that arises a spiritual house, a holy priesthood." [29] One who reverently examines this venerable teaching will easily discover the reasons on which it is based.

29. And first of all, by the death of our Redeemer, the New Testament took the place of the Old Law which had been abolished; then the Law of Christ together with its mysteries, enactments, institutions, and sacred rites was ratified for the whole world in the blood of Jesus Christ. For, while our Divine Savior was preaching in a restricted area - He was not sent but to the sheep that were lost of the House of Israel [30] - the Law and the Gospel were together in force; [31] but on the gibbet of His death Jesus made void the Law with its decrees [32] fastened the handwriting of the Old Testament to the Cross, [33] establishing the New Testament in His blood shed for the whole human race.[34] "To such an extent, then," says St. Leo the Great, speaking of the Cross of our Lord, "was there effected a transfer from the Law to the Gospel, from the Synagogue to the Church, from the many sacrifices to one Victim, that, as Our Lord expired, that mystical veil which shut off the innermost part of the temple and its sacred secret was rent violently from top to bottom." [35]

30. On the Cross then the Old Law died, soon to be buried and to be a bearer of death, [36] in order to give way to the New Testament of which Christ had chosen the Apostles as qualified ministers; [37] and although He had been constituted the Head of the whole human family in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, it is by the power of the Cross that our Savior exercises fully the office itself of Head of His Church. "For it was through His triumph on the Cross," according to the teaching of the Angelic and Common Doctor, "that He won power and dominion over the gentiles";[38] by that same victory He increased the immense treasure of graces, which, as He reigns in glory in heaven, He lavishes continually on His mortal members; it was by His blood shed on the Cross that God's anger was averted and that all the heavenly gifts, especially the spiritual graces of the New and Eternal Testament, could then flow from the fountains of our Savior for the salvation of men, of the faithful above all; it was on the tree of the Cross, finally, that He entered into possession of His Church, that is, of all the members of His Mystical Body; for they would not have been untied to this Mystical Body through the waters of Baptism except by the salutary virtue of the Cross, by which they had been already brought under the complete sway of Christ.

31. But if our Savior, by His death, became, in the full and complete sense of the word, the Head of the Church, it was likewise through His blood that the Church was enriched with the fullest communication of the Holy Spirit, through which, from the time when the Son of Man was lifted up and glorified on the Cross by His sufferings, she is divinely illumined. For then, as Augustine notes, [39] with the rending of the veil of the temple it happened that the dew of the Paraclete's gifts, which heretofore had descended only on the fleece, that is on the people of Israel, fell copiously and abundantly (while the fleece remained dry and deserted) on the whole earth, that is on the Catholic Church, which is confined by no boundaries of race or territory. Just as at the first moment of the Incarnation the Son of the Eternal Father adorned with the fullness of the Holy Spirit the human nature which was substantially united to Him, that it might be a fitting instrument of the Divinity in the sanguinary work of the Redemption, so at the hour of His precious death He willed that His Church should be enriched with the abundant gifts of the Paraclete in order that in dispensing the divine fruits of the Redemption she might be, for the Incarnate Word, a powerful instrument that would never fail. For both the juridical mission of the Church, and the power to teach, govern and administer the Sacraments, derive their supernatural efficacy and force for the building up of the Body of Christ from the fact that Jesus Christ, hanging on the Cross, opened up to His Church the fountain of those divine gifts, which prevent her from ever teaching false doctrine and enable her to rule them for the salvation of their souls through divinely enlightened pastors and to bestow on them an abundance of heavenly graces.

32. If we consider closely all these mysteries of the Cross, those words of the Apostle are no longer obscure, in which he teaches the Ephesians that Christ, by His blood, made the Jews and Gentiles one "breaking down the middle wall of partition...in his flesh" by which the two peoples were divided; and that He made the Old Law void "that He might make the two in Himself into one new man," that is, the Church, and might reconcile both to God in one Body by the Cross." [40]

33. The Church which He founded by His Blood, He strengthened on the Day of Pentecost by a special power, given from heaven. For, having solemnly installed in his exalted office him whom He had already nominated as His Vicar, He had ascended into Heaven; and sitting now at the right hand of the Father He wished to make known and proclaim His Spouse through the visible coming of the Holy Spirit with the sound of a mighty wind and tongues of fire.[41] For just as He Himself when He began to preach was made known by His Eternal Father through the Holy Spirit descending and remaining on Him in the form of a dove, [42] so likewise, as the Apostles were about to enter upon their ministry of preaching, Christ our Lord sent the Holy Spirit down from Heaven, to touch them with tongues of fire and to point out, as by the finger of God, the supernatural mission and office of the Church.

Focu ca si consuma

2008-03-04T04:50:00.000-08:00

MAIN / A / GF3 / Brucia La Terra GF1 | GF2 | GF3 | Epic | Trilogy [ A | B ]

Anthony Corleone
Anthony Corleone (Franc D'Ambrosio) performs
for his father, and later in Cavalleria Rusticana.

Brucia La Terra
"Anthony's Song from Corleone"

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NEW! Now you can hear Franc D'Ambrosio's
recording of The Immigrant on his site.

---Lyrics---

Sicilian

Brucia la luna n'cielu
E ju bruciu d'amuri
Focu ca si consuma
Comu lu me cori

L'anima chianci
Addulurata

Non si da paci
Ma cchi mala nuttata

Lu tempu passa
Ma non agghiorna
Non c'e mai suli
S'idda non torna

Brucia la terra mia
E abbrucia lu me cori
Cchi siti d'acqua idda
E ju siti d'amuri

Acu la cantu
La me canzuni

Si no c'e nuddu
Ca s'a affacia
A lu barcuni

Brucia la luna n'cielu
E ju bruciu d'amuri
Focu ca si consuma
Comu lu me cori

Sicilian contributed by: Jason Di Marcelli

English

The moon is burning in the sky
And I am burning with love
The fire that is consumed
Like my heart

My soul crys
Painfully

I'm not at peace
What a terrible night

The time passes
But there is no dawn
There is no sunshine
If she doesn't return

My earth is burning
And my heart is burning
What she thirsts for water
I thirst for love

Who will I sing
My song to

If there is no one
Who shows herself
On the balcony

The moon is burning in the sky
And I am burning with love
The fire that is consumed
Like my heart

English translation by: S. Serrano;
Corrected by: Vincenzo Pernice, and Claudio

---Guitar tablature---

Brucia La Terra
Written by Nino Rota
Tabbed by David "Don Larzono"

Symbols:

( ) = don't play note

[intro]
|-------------3------|------------3-------|
|---------4-----4----|---------4-----4----|
|-----5-----5--------|-----5-----5--------|
|---5---5------------|---5---5------------|
|-3------------------|-3------------------|
|--------------------|--------------------|

Brucia...

|--------------------|--------------------|-------------3------|-------------3------|
|---------4----------|--------------------|---------4-----4----|---------4-----4----|
|-----5-----5---5----|---------5----------|-----5-----5--------|-----5-----5--------|
|---5---5-----5------|-----6-----6---6----|---5---5------------|---5---5------------|
|-3------------------|---6---6-----6------|-3------------------|-3------------------|
|--------------------|-4------------------|--------------------|--------------------|

Focu...

|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|
|---------4----------|---------1----------|-------------1------|-------------1------|
|-----5-----5---5----|-----3-----3---3----|---------1-----1----|---------1-----1----|
|---5---5-----5------|---2---2-----2------|-----3-----3--------|-----3-----3--------|
|-3------------------|-3------------------|---3---3------------|---3---3------------|
|--------------------|--------------------|-1------------------|-1------------------|

L'anima chianci...

|------------------------------|-------------3------|-------------3------|
|-------3-------3--------------|---------4-----4----|---------4-----4----|
|-----4---4---4----------4-----|-----5-----5--------|-----5-----5--------|
|---5-------5---------5--------|---5---5------------|---5---5------------|
|-------------------5---5------|-3------------------|-3------------------|
|-3---------------3------------|--------------------|--------------------|

Non si da paci...
Lu tempu passa...

|--------------------|--------------------|-------------3------|-------------3------|
|---------3----------|---------3----------|---------4-----4----|---------4-----4----|
|-----4-----4---4----|-----4-----4---4----|-----5-----5--------|-----5-----5--------|
|---5---5-----5------|---5---5-----5------|---5---5------------|---5---5------------|
|--------------------|--------------------|-3------------------|-3------------------|
|-3------------------|-3------------------|--------------------|--------------------|

Ma non agghiorna Non c'e
mai ...

|----------6-----|----------6-----|----------6---------|----------6---------|
|----------6-----|----------6-----|----------8---------|----------8---------|
|----------7-----|----------7-----|-----8----8--8------|-----8----8--8------|
|-----8----8--8--|-----8----8--8--|---8---8--8----8----|---8---8--8----8----|
|---8---8--8----8|---8---8--8----8|-6--------6---------|-6--------6---------|
|-6--------6-----|-6--------6-----|--------------------|--------------------|

... suli Sidda non .... Brucia
la ...

|---------(5)----|---------(5)----|---------(3)--------|---------(3)--------|
|----------7-----|----------7-----|----------3---------|----------3---------|
|-----7----7--7--|-----7----7--7--|-----4----4--4------|-----4----4--4------|
|---7---7--7----7|---7---7--7----7|---5---5--5----5----|---5---5--5----5----|
|-5--------5-----|-5--------5-----|----------5---------|----------5---------|
|----------------|----------------|-3--------3---------|-3--------3---------|

... Terra mia

|-------------3------|--------------------|-------------3------|-------------3-----|
|---------4-----4----|--------------------|---------4-----4----|---------4-----4---|
|-----5-----5--------|---------5----------|-----5-----5--------|-----5-----5-------|
|---5---5------------|-----6-----6---6----|---5---5------------|---5---5-----------|
|-3------------------|---6---6-----6------|-3------------------|-3-----------------|
|--------------------|-4------------------|--------------------|-------------------|

Cchi siti....

|-------------3------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|
|---------4-----4----|---------1----------|-------------1------|---------1----------|
|-----5-----5--------|-----3-----3---3----|---------1-----1----|-----------1---1----|
|---5---5------------|---2---2-----2------|-----3-----3--------|-----3-------3------|
|-3------------------|-3------------------|---3---3------------|---3---3------------|
|--------------------|--------------------|-1------------------|-1------------------|

Acu la ... La me canzuni Si
no c'e

|---------(3)--------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|
|----------3---------|---------3----------|---------4----------|---------4----------|
|-----4----4--4------|-----4-----4---4----|-----5-----5---5----|-----5-----5---5----|
|---5---5--5----5----|---5---5-----5------|---5---5-----5------|---5---5-----5------|
|----------5---------|--------------------|-3------------------|-3------------------|
|-3--------3---------|-3------------------|--------------------|--------------------|

nuddu ... A lu barcuni

|---------(3)--------|---------(3)--------|-3------3--3----|-3---3--3----3---3--3----|
|----------3---------|----------3---------|-4------4--4----|-4---4--4----4---4--4----|
|-----4----4--4------|-----4----4---------|-5------5--5----|-5---5--5----5---5--5----|
|---5---5--5----5----|---5---5--5---------|-5------5--5----|-5---5--5----5---5--5----|
|----------5---------|----------5---------|-3------3--3----|-3---3--3----3---3--3----|
|-3--------3---------|-3--------3---------|----------------|-------------------------|

[fade]

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When you know what you're losing

2008-01-18T02:50:00.000-08:00

Emerson Hart - I Wish The Best For You Added by Site Admin on 2007-08-11 11:08:53

>>> Download "Emerson Hart Music" <<<

>>> Complimentary "I Wish The Best For You" Ringtone <<<
How long can we wait here
To say goodbye?
The words once they're spoken
Are words that we can't take

Back to where we were, before
Things got in the way
Life gets so confusing
When you know what you're losing

You
Me
Why can't we see that there's
More to love than we'll ever know
Sometimes you're closer when you're
Letting go
I wish the best for you
I wish the best for you

We'll both regret the hurting
That we will do
You'll learn to forget me
And I'll try
I'll try to forget...

You
Me
Why can't we see that there's
More to love than we'll ever know
Sometimes you're closer when you're
Letting go
I wish the best for you
I wish the best

If you ever need a place that you can run to
I'll be here, I'll be here

You
Me
Why can't we see that there's
More to love than we'll ever know
Sometimes you're closer when you're
Letting go
I wish the best for you
I wish the best for you

every night she'd cry herself to sleep~just give me one more chance to make it right.....

2008-01-18T01:18:00.000-08:00

Rate this song:
Rated 12 times: 93%
Discuss this artist and song
Lyrics submited by: Caroline1090

I asked her to stay
she wouldnt listen
she left before i had the chance to say
ohhh
the words it would mend
the things that were broken
but now its far too late
shes gone away

every night she'd cry herself to sleep
thinkin why does this happen to me
why does every moment have to be
so hard, hard to belive that

its not over tonight
just give me one more chance to make it right
i may not make it through the night
i wont go home without you

the taste of her breath, i'll never get over
the noises that she'd make give me away
ohh
the weight of the things, dreaming we've spoken
built up so much, it crushed us everyday

every night she'd cry herself to sleep
thinkin why does this happen to me
why does every moment have to be
so hard, hard to belive that

its not over tonight
just give me one more chance to make it right
i may not make it through the night
i wont go home without you
whoaaa X2

oh all the things i felt
but never really showed
perhaps the worst is that
i ever let you go
i should not ever let you goooooo

its not over tonight
just give me one more chance to make it right
i may not make it through the night
i wont go home without you
whoaaa
its not over tonight
just give me one more chance to make it right
i may not make it through the night
i wont go home without you
i wont go home without you
i wont go home without you
i wont go home without you

It's personal, myself and I...We've got some straightenin' out to do

2007-09-13T23:08:00.000-07:00

Fergie Big Girls Don't Cry Lyrics

*** Complimentary Big Girls Don't Cry Ringtone ***
Da Da Da Da
The smell of your skin lingers on me now
You're probably on your flight back to your home town
I need some shelter of my own protection baby
To be with myself and center, clarity
Peace, Serenity

[CHORUS:]
I hope you know, I hope you know
That this has nothing to do with you
It's personal, myself and I
We've got some straightenin' out to do
And I'm gonna miss you like a child misses their blanket
But I've got to get a move on with my life
It's time to be a big girl now
And big girls don't cry
Don't cry
Don't cry
Don't cry

The path that I'm walking
I must go alone
I must take the baby steps 'til I'm full grown, full grown
Fairytales don't always have a happy ending, do they?
And I foresee the dark ahead if I stay

[CHORUS:]
I hope you know, I hope you know
That this has nothing to do with you
It's personal, myself and I
We've got some straightenin' out to do
[Big Girls Don't Cry lyrics on http://www.metrolyrics.com]

And I'm gonna miss you like a child misses their blanket
But I've got to get a move on with my life
It's time to be a big girl now
And big girls don't cry

Like the little school mate in the school yard
We'll play jacks and uno cards
I'll be your best friend and you'll be mine Valentine
Yes you can hold my hand if you want to
'Cause I want to hold yours too
We'll be playmates and lovers and share our secret worlds
But it's time for me to go home
It's getting late, dark outside
I need to be with myself and center, clarity
Peace, Serenity

[CHORUS]
I hope you know, I hope you know
That this has nothing to do with you
It's personal, myself and I
We've got some straightenin' out to do
And I'm gonna miss you like a child misses their blanket
But I've got to get a move on with my life
It's time to be a big girl now
And big girls don't cry
Don't cry
Don't cry
Don't cry

La Da Da Da Da Da
*** Complimentary Big Girls Don't Cry Ringtone ***
Big Girls Don't Cry Music Video
Submit Corrections
Female Today at 01:13 AM (4h 34m ago) by Mandy<333 Female Stars
BORED!!! I HATE HOMERWORK!! lol but this song is sooo good! I can't believe that Fergie would sing something like this but she has a great voice so she can sing anything!

Female Yesterday at 04:31 PM (13h 15m ago) by jeezy_babe Female Stars
can't belive she did a slower song! She did great at it though, she should do it more often! I love her music

Female Sep 12, 2007 at 11:11 PM by mzshawty Female Stars
Loving all her music, they just great..But of all i love this song so much, i have it everywhere, Ipod, CDs, Cell Phone, Laptop, I mean everywhere..lol

Female Sep 12, 2007 at 07:49 PM by nick0lve Female Stars
this song is realy good it was fun in the music video wit the candies underewear

Female Sep 12, 2007 at 01:51 PM by malena666 Female Stars
hi...im from croatia...teens here dont listen too much fergie but me either...but!!!i adore this song...it is very cool...now i have a boyfriend but i am singing it all the time and he is asking me very often am i going to leave him...but i am not....ccc!!lov u all...big hug from 16 years old girl from croatia...kiss

Female Sep 11, 2007 at 12:40 AM by nick0lve Female Stars
it is good becaus i dont like fregi

Female Sep 11, 2007 at 12:40 AM by nick0lve Female Stars
it is good becaus i dont like fregi

Female Sep 10, 2007 at 10:10 AM by annoying_chic
holy molly!this song is da BOMB!
go fergie!

Female Sep 09, 2007 at 07:56 PM by cammie52 Female Stars
am in love with this guy but he has a girlfriend its complicated but i know he has chosen her over me even though am feeling real sad right now as fergie says big girls dont cry and am trying hard not too

Female Sep 09, 2007 at 07:15 PM by swit_chik86 Female Stars
I super love it!!! It's so hard to find yourself

Female Sep 09, 2007 at 02:39 PM by x.jamie- Female Stars
i love this song! this song reminds me of my ex, because i left him, because i moved to a different city, and i didnt want a long-distant relationship, i'm still not over him!!! NICHOLAS I MISS YOU!!!

Female Sep 09, 2007 at 08:59 AM by Alex-Rox Female Stars
This song is so catchy and so meaningful! 5/5! definatly 1 of fergies best songs!

Female Sep 09, 2007 at 07:19 AM by lady_rum
is that Milo????what a boy....i love him so much....

Female Sep 09, 2007 at 12:39 AM by katheryn_07 Female Stars
this song rulz!!i love fergie bc we could b twins lol!!

Female Sep 08, 2007 at 04:03 PM by I am Glamorous
Cool song! I like it alot!

Female Sep 08, 2007 at 03:43 PM by rockerchik901 Female Stars
I luv this song so much i almost passed out when i saw tha candies comercial

Female Sep 08, 2007 at 02:52 PM by ashley77zac77
I love ths song. And I like Glamorous. It was on that Candies commercial.

Female Sep 08, 2007 at 09:21 AM by ann18
I found the song in flifkr'dot'com

Female Sep 08, 2007 at 01:13 AM by ..yv0nn3.. Female Stars
i love dis song..!! fergie rulez..!!

Female Sep 07, 2007 at 09:17 PM by AutumnK94 Female Stars
i luv this song! i em not too much of a fan of fergie myself, but i luv this song and glamorous, this song reminds me of my ex boyfriend cuz i cant cry about him, so i have to be a big girl now, and big girls dont cry! Josh i miss u!!! :(

Female Sep 06, 2007 at 03:20 PM by Snerf Female Stars
I love this song. I played over and over again. Even my 2 yr old daughter shelove's it. Evrytime she heard this song she started to sing. And she look so cute. I love Fergie.... Finally the star is born....

Female Sep 06, 2007 at 08:38 AM by cheekychild_99
meridith if u love someone to death you wouldn't want to leave them to be with youself

Female Sep 06, 2007 at 08:36 AM by cheekychild_99
jesscrox2 u r tottaly wrong it should b played more i hardly hear it luckily i have it on my comp! oh and if any on wants to add mii on myspace or msn this is my email adress what i have used

Female Sep 05, 2007 at 04:05 PM by Britz
i luv this song! it rox ...XxX

Female Sep 05, 2007 at 06:24 AM by NahNah16
this song is like my favourite song its awesome/

And all she keeps inside, isnt on the label

2007-08-30T00:25:00.000-07:00

She calls me from the cold
Just when I was low, feeling short of stable
And all that she intends
And all she keeps inside, isnt on the label
She says shes ashamed
And can she take me for awhile
And can I be a friend, well forget the past
But maybe Im not able
And I break at the bend

Were here and now, but will we ever be again
cause I have found
All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade
Away again

She dreams a champagne dream
Strawberry surprise, pink linen and white paper
Lavender and cream
Fields of butterflies, reality escapes her
She says that love is for fools who fall behind
And Im somewhere in between
I never really know
A killer from a savior
til I break at the bend

Its too far away for me to hold
Its too far away...

Guess Ill let it go

Michelangelo~Fresco of the Last Judgement

2007-07-04T01:24:00.000-07:00

Sting w/ The Police~every little thing

2007-06-01T23:32:00.000-07:00

Though Ive tried before to tell her
Of the feelings I have for her in my heart
Every time that I come near her
I just lose my nerve
As Ive done from the start

Every little thing she does is magic
Everything she do just turns me on
Even though my life before was tragic
Now I know my love for her goes on

Do I have to tell the story
Of a thousand rainy days since we first met
Its a big enough umbrella
But its always me that ends up getting wet

Every little thing she does is magic
Everything she do just turns me on
Even though my life before was tragic
Now I know my love for her goes on

I resolve to call her up a thousand times a day
And ask her if shell marry me in some old fashioned way
But my silent fears have gripped me
Long before I reach the phone
Long before my tongue has tripped me
Must I always be alone?

Every little thing she does is magic
Everything she do just turns me on
Even though my life before was tragic
Now I know my love for her goes on

* Police lyricsDon�t Stand So Close to Me
* Every Breath You Take
* King of Pain
* Message in Bottle
* Roxanne
* So Lonely

* related lyricsMartin Nievera
+ Kahit Isang Saglit
* AC-DC
+ School Days
* Rick Astley
+ When I Fall in Love
* Whitesnake
+ Is This Love
* Level 42
+ Something About You
* Sting & Police
+ Walking on The Moon,
+ Spirits in The Material World
+ Message in a Bottle
* Bowling For Soup
+ High School Never Ends

And where your love has always been enough for me.

2007-05-13T02:19:00.000-07:00

Home lyrics by Chris Daughtry.

I'm staring out into the night,
Trying to hide the pain.
I'm going to the place where love
And feeling good don't ever cost a thing.
And the pain you feel's a different kind of pain.

I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old
So I'm going home.
Well I'm going home.

The miles are getting longer, it seems,
The closer I get to you.
I've not always been the best man or friend for you.
But your love, remains true.
And I don't know why.
You always seem to give me another try.

So I'm going home,
[ Home lyrics found on http://www.completealbumlyrics.com ]
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old.

Be careful what you wish for,
'Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all,
And then some you don't want.
Be careful what you wish for,
'Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all, yeah.

Oh, well I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old.
I said these places and these faces are getting old.
So I'm going home.
I'm going home.
Vote for Chris Daughtry Home lyrics: I like the lyrics / I don't like the lyrics | Voting Report.

All the love in the world

2007-05-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

The Outfield
A trio of Tony Lewis (vocals), John Spinks (guitar) and Alan Jackman (drums), Outfield formed in the East End of London, England, in the mid '80s. However, all of their success would come in the USA. Signed to Columbia Records, they recorded the bland but proficient pop rock debut Play Deep in 1986, which included the successful radio single "Your Love'. As a result the album rose to number 9 in Billboard's US charts and achieved double platinum sales. A second collection, Bangin', was released a year later and reached the US Top 20 and went gold. However, afterwards the group's career hit a downward spiral. The group followed their Columbia Records" boss to MCA Records in 1990 but the move failed to revive their flagging career. Jackman later played with After Hours.

All the Love in the World

I can't believe the things that happen to me
I guess that I should have seen a long, long time ago
Letters you write don't help me get through the night
So, I'll just turn out the light
and sleep here all alone
All the love, all the love in the world
All the love, I'll be sending you girl
All the love
All the love in the world

Time after time I put my life on the line
but I ain't committed no crime, so take what you can find
Forget what I say 'cuz I'll keep running away
I only live for today, but I'm one day behind

All the love, all the love in the world
All the love, I'll be sending you girl
All the love
All the love in the world

These are the words that I whisper on every first night,
but that day you left me,
those words were on that same flight

I can't believe the things that happen to me
I guess that I should have seen a long, long time ago,
Letters you write don't help me get through the night,
so I'll just turn out the light,
and sleep here all alone

All the love, all the love in the world
All the love, I'll be sending you girl
All the love, all the love in the world
All the love, all the love in the world

Judge comes to defense of press

2007-04-06T05:57:00.000-07:00

Just to make things right

2007-04-06T00:28:00.000-07:00

The Lyrics Are Below

Don't Go Away by: Oasis

Written by: Noel Gallagher

A cold and frosty morning there's not a lot to say

About the things caught in my mind

As the day was dawning my plane flew away

With all the things caught in my mind

(Bridge)

And I wanna be there when you're...

Coming Down

And I wanna be there when you hit the ground

(Chorus)

So don't go away, say what you say

But say that you'll stay

Forever and a day... in the time of my life

Cos I need more time, yes I need more time

Just to make things right

Damn my situation and the games I have to play

With all the things caught in my mind

Damn my education I can't find the words to say

About the things caught in my mind

(Middle 8)

Me and you what's going on?

All we seem to know is how to show

The feelings that are wrong

Then we'd see the day when nobody died

2007-02-11T03:45:00.000-08:00

Nickelback If Everyone Cared Lyrics
From underneath the trees, we watch the sky
Confusing stars FOR satellites
I never dreamed that you'd be mine
But here we are, we're here tonight

Singing Amen, I'm I'm alive (I'm alive)
Singing Amen, I'm alive

[CHORUS]
If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died

And I'm singing

Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive
Amen I,Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along

Singing Amen I, I'm alive (I'm alive)
Singing Amen I, I'm alive

[CHORUS (x2)]

And as we lie beneath the stars
We realize how small we are
If they could love like you and me
Imagine what the world could be

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died
(x2)

We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day when nobody died
Are the lyrics correct? I like the site I don't like the site

She fills up every corner like she's born in black and whit

2007-01-29T00:07:00.000-08:00

KT TUNSTALL LYRICS

"Suddenly I See"

Her face is a map of the world
Is a map of the world
You can see she's a beautiful girl
She's a beautiful girl
And everything around her is a silver pool of light
The people who surround her feel the benefit of it
It makes you calm
She holds you captivated in her palm

Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
This is what I wanna be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
Why the hell it means so much to me

I feel like walking the world
Like walking the world
You can hear she's a beautiful girl
She's a beautiful girl
She fills up every corner like she's born in black and white
Makes you feel warmer when you're trying to remember
What you heard
She likes to leave you hanging on her word

Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
This is what I wanna be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
Why the hell it means so much to me

And she's taller than most
And she's looking at me
I can see her eyes looking from a page in a magazine
Oh she makes me feel like I could be a tower
A big strong tower
She got the power to be
The power to give
The power to see

Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
This is what I wanna be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
Why the hell it means so much to me

the Scottish flag, called "Andrew's Cross,"

2006-12-17T06:44:00.000-08:00

Mary Magdalene Imagery
ARTICLES & PAINTIGS FOR THE HOLY LADY

The Rose Line of Mary Magdalene
After the first Crusader wave of Vatican-sponsored French fighters attacked their Muslim enemies north of Palestine, they invaded Jerusalem. Led through the city walls (1099 AD) by a Godfrey de Bouillon (duke of Lower Lorraine), the "Christians" slaughtered unmercifully even the Jewish inhabitants. For his prize, De Bouillon was chosen ruler of the city, but died the next year...if that tells you how blessed he was of God. And the Pope who dispatched him had also died...before hearing about the Jerusalem victory.

The Jews of Europe would surely have joined the Catholic fighters had the Crusaders intended to establish the Biblical prophecies calling for a restoration of Jews to the Promised Land. But the Vatican had not only proclaimed that God was forever done with the Jews, but it also held to the doctrine of amillennialism i.e. that the Millennial Kingdom of God was already under way through the Vatican, and with the Pope as Christ on earth. Therefore, Catholics, and least of all the counterfeit-Christian Crusaders, simply were not interested in setting up a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Don'let anyone convince you, as ecumenists in the pulpits would like to convince you, that the Crusaders were Christians, for it is Jesus Christ who defines what true Christians are, and He does not consider murderers of Jews, thieves and rapists to be his saints.

A leader of the Crusade, Baldwin I, brother of the late Godfrey de Bouillon, was then chosen to be the king of Jerusalem. After Baldwin died (1118), a third brother, Eustace III, was elected king...but while on his way to Jerusalem to accept the title, the Crusaders made his nephew, Baldwin II, king instead. The so-called "Rose Line" has been said to be the bloodline of Jesus Christ (via sex with Mary Magdalene) that, through the centuries, came to produce the three brothers above. I don't believe the Jesus-and-Magdalene part of the claim, of course, but I do believe that a Rose Line did exist...yet I'm not so sure that these brothers had as much, if at all, to do with the Rose Line as other men, namely the descendants of Rollo the Viking.

Two of the three Bouillon brothers did not come to rule Jerusalem by chance, but were maneuvered into the rulership position by those seeking to found a flesh-powered Biblical Millennium. After the Crusaders had won Jerusalem, most returned home whereas a small lot, including the original nine Templars, held the region as though their main purpose was merely to maintain (the region) until something larger should transpire, and I see this larger thing as the conquest of Europe i.e. world rule. For Jerusalem was not the only target of the Vatican/Templar agenda, but also Byzantine i.e. the eastern half of the Roman empire.

I see that Viking blood (i.e. the Normans) was involved in the same Crusader agenda along with these Frenchmen, and the explanation for this could very well be that both the Scandinavians and the French were Rose Line descendants, for it has come to my knowledge satisfactorily that both the Norse and the French were descended from the same stock of Cimmerians i.e. the "advanced" Celts that are now labelled by historians as the "La Tene Celts." These Cimmerians are generally regarded as having previously been the Hallstatt Celts of Illyrium, and it is not that difficult to uncover the roots of the Illyrians in the Thracians/Trojans, as we shall see.

Godfrey de Bouillon had sold Bouillon, his title there, and the Bouillon castle, in order to finance his part in the Crusade. This war and related agenda obviously meant the sky to him. But Robert II, a Norman (and the duke of Normandy), son of William the Conqueror and therefore a descendant of the St. Clair or Rollo-Viking line, "pawned Normandy to [his brother] Rufus so that he [Robert] could be the leader of the first crusade" (Britannica Vol. 11, page 358). Therefore, that Crusade was very important to both of these French and the Norman "noble" families.

Moreover, Britannica tells us that De Bouillon was not the Crusade's primary leader, but that "Bohemund [I] was the principal leader of the crusade" (1970; Vol. 10, page 514). Now Bohemund I, when he joined the Crusade, "gathered a fine Norman army" for the purpose (Vol. 3, page 855). Fifteen years prior to the Crusade, Bohemund's Norman father, Robert Guiscard, and Guiscard's brother, Roger I, had led a Norman army from southern Italy against the Byzantine kingdom north of Israel. Prior to that, they conquered the Byzantines of southern Italy, which is why they ruled that part of Italy in the first place. One could therefore conjecture that the ultimate Norman purpose in the heart of the Mediterranean was to pave an eastward Norman road to Jerusalem...and that the first Crusade (1096) was spurred first and foremost by that Norman agenda. The rising up of the Bouillon circle of French fighters then becomes a competative response to the Norman vision.

In this light, I can make a suggestion to all who perceive the Rose Line as stemming through the Merovingian Franks (i.e. to the De Bouillon family): that's only a part of the story, while another part is the Scandinavian right to the Rose Line, just as much or more than the Merovingians. Those who would buck against this suggestion should know right here and now that the Merovingians worshipped Wotin/Odin and other gods worshipped by the Scandinavians. Plus, while there are many Scandinavians who freely claim descent from Cimmerians having settled proto-Hungary en route to founding Denmark and Sweden, it just so happens that the Merovingian Franks descdended from Sicambrian Franks. Sicambria was named after the Cimmerians, and it was a city located in proto-Hungary. That is, it looks a lot like the Sicambrian Franks were one and the same stock, the Danes, Swedes, and other Scandinavians.

Why was a Viking army settled in southern Italy in the first place? It had attacked the papal powers and the Byzantine empire virtually all at once, and this suggests a strike at world rulership. Guiscard had defeated the Vatican (1053) but thereafter made peace with a new Pope in order to have little to fear in Italy while waging war in Byzantine regions. Back in the north, other Normans were active militarily and were proving quite successful in Britain and on the French mainland. Had the Byzantines not made an alliance with the Varangian Rus of proto-Russia (who were themselves from Sweden), the Scandinavian Cimmerians just may have conquered the world at that time. As it turned out, the Varangian Rus faught against the Italian Normans on behalf of the Byzantines.

Peter the Hermit, a man given overwhelming credit for rousing the French and other Europeans to engage in the first Jerusalem Crusade, was first in Bali (1094), southern Italy...realm of the Guiscard Normans. This further supports my belief that the conquest of Israel was initially a Norman goal, joined by the Vatican/French only after the Normans had made the first plans/assaults to that end. By that time, the papal powers had formed an alliance with the Italian Normans so that the whole Jerusalem affair became a competition between the Popes, the Normans and the French even while the three worked together as one.

In an article on the Normans, Britannica shares that the shocking slaughter in Jerusalem is explained by its similarity to typical Viking bloodbaths. And in the early Templar period, there were three places where the Templar-related Order of Sion had monasteries: Palestine, France, and southern Italy. A French-Norman alliance is therefore implied in the make-up of the original Templars and/or the near-legendary Order of Sion. Allegedly, monks from southern Italy (Calabria) built the monastery in France, and they with Godfrey de Bouillon formed the Order of Sion.

Just one generation prior to the Crusade, England had fallen to the Norman, William the Conqueror, a St. Clair, wherefore one could speculate with some logic that the Normans had chosen a St. Clair to represent their Rose Line. Very interesting is that the Dictionary of Royal Lineage, while not indicating the personalities involved, tells that Guiscard's family was itself from the Rollo line.

In modern times, Pierre Plantard de St. Clair claims to have been the Order's leader until 1984. I don't know quite what to make of that, but there you have the elite Norman name attached to a Frenchman.

Rollo, after his fathers led a series of invasions onto the French mainland, succeeded in winning a region at the north shore of France called, "Normandy." This land was won by the treaty, St. Clair-sur-Epte (911), made with the French king (the "St. Clair" part refers to Rollo). As part of this arrangement, Rollo would become the first duke of Normandy, but in return was to accept Christianity and moreover Christianize his pagan people (albeit Rollo lived thereafter, and died, as a pagan). Herein begins a mix of Catholicism with Viking paganism that, along with the Viking drive to rule the world, was apt to create a form of Millennialism that was counterfeit along the lines of Rosicrucian Millennialism...which strove against the counterfeit Millennium as perceived and enginered by the Vatican.

With the victory of William the Conqueror over England (1066), the rightful heir to the English throne, Edgar Aetheling, previously hiding out under the protection of the royal court in Hungary, was escorted back to Britain by another William St. Clair...the latter received from the king of Scotland the hill of Roslin (Scotland), a hill which thereafter became a Sinclair (the Anglicized form of "St. Clair") settlement...and hub of Scottish Freemasonry. You may have noticed that "Roslin" and "Ros(e) Line" have a distinct similarity. In referring to centuries past, a New-Age website says:

Of course, the spelling of the day of "Rose line" was "Roslin."

(http://www.skybusiness.com/cornucopialodge362/masonart.html)

The above website echoes what others are suggesting, that the Rose Line was the bloodline of Jesus and his mistress, Mary of Magdala. But that's a silly idea intended to take us (and naive Freemasons) deliberately off course. We even hear claims that the head of Jesus is buried under the Roslin chapel...but you understand that this idea comes with the wicked implication that Jesus did not truly die on the Cross nor rise to life. It's difficult to tie Roslin to Frenchmen in any way at any time, wherefore my nose is beginning to snort toward, not only the Scandinavians, but, as a second possibility, the Gaels of Ireland who became the Scots.

If we ask why William Sinclair was granted Roslin by the king of Scotland (Malcolm III), it's because Edgar's sister, Margaret, married that king while William was her cupbearer. And if we ask why Margaret had a cupbearer with Viking blood, I'd say it was because Margaret herself had plenty of the same. The question that I can't answer just yet is when the Roslin name/village originated, either when overseen by the Sinclairs for the first time (1070ish), or in an earlier period.

We find that William's son, Henry Sinclair, joined Godfrey de Bouillon on the first Crusade. And De Bouillon himself had as father, Eustace II (from Boulogne, on the French coast facing Scandanavia), who had been married to Goda...whose half-Viking blood was of the Rollo/Sinclair line. That is, Goda had as mother, Emma, daughter of Richard I, duke of Normandy (942-96), grandson of Rollo.

Although Eustace II was married to Goda, it is reported by historians that Godfrey de Bouillon, and his two brothers in line for the Jerusalem throne, were born from Eustace's second wife, Ida of Bouillon. In other words, there was apparently no Viking blood in these three brothers. Yet, their father (Eustace II) fought for the English crown at William the Conqueror's side. One could therefore conjecture that strong ties between the royal Sinclairs and the elite Bouillon family were formed at the invasion of England (i.e. Battle of Hastings). But by that time, Guiscard was already in Italy, and had already formed ties with the Vatican on that front. Always keep in mind that these momentary lights were not the heroes that they considered themselves, but beasts fit only to be captured and punished.

Now Emma (Goda's mother) had been married to two men, first to a king of the Anglo Saxons, Aethelred II, and, after he died, to a Viking pirate and king of Denmark, Canute, who conveniently "converted" to Christianity and thereafter fought against pagan Viking enemies who were coveting parts of his enlarged empire. Aethelred fathered king Edmund II Ironside reportedly from another wife named "Aelfgifu" -- alternative "Elgiva." But something smells like a cover up here, not just because little is known about Elgiva (i.e. she appears to pop up out of nowhere), but because the first wife, Emma, was also called "Elgiva," especially in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, suggesting that the two women could have been one and the same. If so, then Edmond Ironside was Emma's son and therefore half Viking! And that would be the reason for the cover up (if Christian-Viking rulers didn't want their sons to be recognized as stemming from pagan Vikings, they could attempt successfully to hide it).

Moreover, Canute married Aethelred's widow, Emma, and was at first married to an Aelfgifu that is as mysterious historically as the Aelfgifa reportedly married to Aethelred. In fact, some historians suggest that Canute's Aelfgifu was one and the same Aethelred's Aelfgifu...but even if so, we can't lose sight of the fact that both men had been married to Emma who for some confusing reason was also known as "Aelfgifu."

What I am suggesting is that the Norman Ros(e) Line may stem (from the Rollo dynasty) through Emma to Ironside...he being a king who moreover married the daughter of a Danish Viking, wherefore Ironside's son, Edward the Aetheling, was three-quarters Viking if indeed Ironside's mother was a Viking (the history books tell us that Edward was a Saxon). But even if Emma was not Ironside's mother, and there was in fact another Aelgifu who was, the latter may also have been of Viking kin (no one seems to know the identity of her parents). If that isn't enough, the Saxons themselves are suspect as cousins to the Rollo line because, as many suggest, the Saxons were none other than Sacae i.e. Scythians.

The reason that I have burdened you with some details is that Edward the Aetheling's children were the said prince Edgar the Aetheling and his sister, Margaret. This could be very important because Margaret (who was in this way born with Viking blood) became closely associated with Roslin while the first Vikings, according to Britannica, had settled "Erethlyn." That word looks as though it could mean, "of Rethlyn," which looks a lot like "Roslin" and it's ancient alternative, "Rosslyn." I should add that "eruthros" means "red" in Greek but that Erethlyn was not necessarily named after that color.

In 1112, the count of Champagne (France) had sent Hugh de Payen ("Pagan") to Jerusalem with a letter addressed to the (Merovingian?) king of Jerusalem, Baldwin I. Then, in Jerusalem itself, under the oversight of Baldwin, De Payen began to unite a small group of closely-related men in an unofficial formation of an order of Temple Knights...and the count of Champagne would himself be included in that organization.

The following year, Baldwin married the daughter (Adelaide) of a late Viking leader, Roger I (Guiscard's brother), under the condition that his son, Roger II, should become king of Jerusalem when and if Baldwin should die without a child. One could interpret this deal as Baldwin's agreement not to have children, so as to grant the throne to the Normans. Amazingly, Baldwin, although married to two women, was to die without children. The question is, where were the Frenchmen/Templars on this deal, for or against?

The Patriarch of Jerusalem (i.e. the powers of the Eastern Orthodox Church) caused Baldwin to betray his deal with Roger II and his mother, Adelaide. Baldwin thereby divorced her, and then he died a year later (1118) without an heir. The Patriarch then urged yet another betrayal, the ascension of Baldwin II (Count of Rethel), merely Balwin's cousin/nephew, to the Jerusalem throne...instead of the rightful heir, Eustace III (the latter was brother to Baldwin (I) and supposedly of the Merovingians). Now, queen Margaret of Scotland had previously given one of her daughters in marriage to Eustace III -- with the hope of seeing her bloodline on the throne of Jerusalem, apparently -- but, as described above, to no avail.

Britannica tells us that Baldwin II was chosen (over Eustace III) because his cousin, Joscelin, persuaded the barons of Jerusalem to so choose. I note that Joscelin was from England's House of Courtenay, and may therefore have been acting as the hand of the Sinclair/Norman king of England, Henry I, who, because he had married yet another daughter of queen Margaret, thus had a possible motive for not seeing Eustace III (who also married a daughter of Margaret) on the Jerusalem throne.

Whatever the fledgling Templars may have thought of the decision to crown Baldwin II instead, we find that they had such license under him that immediately (1118) De Payen officially formed, and was elected Grand Master of, the "Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon" (i.e. the Templars). Moreover, Baldwin fulfilled for the knights their important request to call the Jerusalem Temple their home.

Baldwin II had partaken in the first Crusade, by the way, and for 18 years prior to his Jerusalem election, he had been the Count (and protector) of Edessa, north of Jerusalem and much closer to Georgia. With David in the midst of removing the Seljuk Turks from Georgia, Joscelin and king Baldwin joined forces to fight against the Muslims with the "Italian" Normans still in support; in fact, Bohemund II (Guiscard's grandson) had married a daughter of Baldwin II in 1126...so we see that Viking blood was yet vying for the Jerusalem throne. In the meantime, with king Baldwin pre-occupied in military affairs far from Jerusalem, the Templars, while living in the "basement" of the Temple Mount, and armed with picks and shovels, dug deep to the foundations of the old Temple built by Solomon.

We don't know for certain what their secret mission was, but Albert Pike (centuries later) claimed that they had intended to build Ezekiel's Temple (see Ezekiel 40). If true, it reinforces the theory wherein the Templars had a (counterfeit) Biblical Millennium in mind. And it explains why the Templars were also to become stone masons (as well as knights)...because they had experience in masonry from the very start.

We do not know what the Templars found buried at the Jerusalem Temple, but with much ado in 1126, De Payen headed west and with passion had discussions in France with Bernard the mystic monk of Clairvaux. Together, De Payen and Bernard drew up plans to secure Vatican support for the Templar cause...and succeeded at the Council of Troyes (1128) (note how "Troyes" in France evokes the Greek-theater Troy of the Trojans).

The monk was the nephew/cousin of one of the founders of the Templars, Andre de Montbard, and while Montbard went on to become a Grand Master of the Templars, Bernard would doggedly become a Templar work horse and loyal administrator...so as to lay the foundation for a huge Templar empire that would rule Europe invisibly, shoulder to shoulder with the Pope. Thus, the French and Catholic elements of the Jerusalem scheme came to greatly overshadow the Norman elements, but only on the mainland. In England and Scotland, the situation was different. After building Templar support for a short duration in France, De Payen crossed the English channel to meet king Henry I, who gave the Grand Master blessings and gifts. Henry was the son of William (St. Clair) the Conqueror, of Rollo blood.

Now Baldwin II died in 1131 without a son, as had Baldwin I. Amazing. With Bohemund II, also of Rollo/Sinclair blood, having married a daughter of Baldwin II, the Jerusalem throne might finally have gone to the Northmen. Alas, a couple of years before his death, Baldwin (II), apparently in opposition to the kingship passing to Bohemund, offered the throne to Fulk V, count of Anjou, by offering his elder daughter in marriage. Fulk accepted her in 1129 and thus went on to become the next king.

Earlier, perhaps while anticipating that Fulk and/or his son (Geoffrey Plantagenet) might ascend to the Jerusalem throne, Henry I had given his daughter -- i.e. Margaret's granddaughter -- to Fulk's son. It was this marriage that created the so-called "Plantagenet" dynasty that would go on to furnish the House of York, depicted by a white rose and viewed tentatively by myself as the White Rose Line. While the meaning of "Plantagenet" is said to remain unknown, I can't help but note the "gene" in that title.

But, alas, alas, alas, the blood of the Vikings (including Margaret's) would fail again to sit on the Jerusalem throne because it was another son of Fulk V (Baldwin III) that would get the crown.

However, Fulk's son, Geoffrey Plantagenet, would with Henry's daughter bring forth Henry II, king of England, so that the White/Viking Rose Line would continue on the throne of England to this day. In the days of Henry VIII and his daughter, queen Elizabeth I (died 1603), the English throne, with the help of Rosicrucians, became the seat of God's global kingdom (not in reality, of course, but merely in the minds of the kings/queens), the Anglican Church. It was immediately after Elizabeth's death that the Stewarts entered the English throne, in the reign of the Scot, James I, who was of Rollo stock via the Bruce kings of Scotland.

The Ros Line, if indeed it was a line of ruling Vikings, may have branched out into Kiev via the Varangian Rus. The Varangian ruler in the days of Margaret was Yaroslav, son of the great Vladimir who had followed Rollo's lead in converting to Christianity for merely political protection. Yaroslav had given four, perhaps five, of his daughters to European kings, one of whom was Harald III Hardraade of the Norwegian Vikings. Prior to finding refuge in Hungary, Margaret was not only protected in Kiev by Yaroslav himself, but before that by Harald III in Norway (not to mention by Olaf II, king of Norway). Clearly, Margaret's family was an important one to the Vikings, and it could certainly be true that they understood she to be of the Ros Line.

If Margaret's family was important due to its Rollo blood, so also her brother, Edgar. As heir to the English throne, he was extremely promising in placing Rollo blood in that key position. As it turned out, a duke of Normandy (The Conqueror), with Rollo blood, ended up on the English throne before Edgar could, whereafter Edgar's bloodline never did become enthroned, anywhere. And so what was Margaret to do but to give her daughter to Henry I in order to reinforce his Rollo blood for his heir?

Henry died without a male heir, wherefore the male line of Rollo comes to an end with him. But the daughter of Henry I produced Henry II, etc., until, with the end of the royal Rollo line at the death of Elizabeth I, another Ros Line, from the Varangian Rus, namely, the Drummond clan of Scotland, took its place on the English throne...and has continued there to this day! The Drummond Ros Line and its roots in the Varangian Rus is the subject of a coming chapter, but keep in the back of your mind until then that the pre-tribulation rapture was born in a Drummond cult, whose founder was a major English banker from a banking family in some cahoots with Rothschild banker(s).

Margaret's blood remained in Scottish kings all the way to, but not including, the Bruce dynasty. The Drummond bloodline entered the line of Scottish kings in the Bruce dynasty, namely, when Annabel Drummond married Robert de Bruce III. Now the Bruce family had been from Normandy and was also related to the Rollo bloodline! Remember this when I say, "Drummond Ros Line" (which I could just as rightly refer to as the "Bruce Ros Line" and/or "Rollo Ros Line").

The son of Robert III and Annabel was king James I of Scotland, and this dynastic line would continue through successive James'. Because the Stuart, James VI of Scotland, ruled England immediately after Elizabeth I (as James I of England), the Margaret or Roslin Ros Line was replaced just then by the Drummond Ros Line. It is no wonder that the Drummond clan supported the Stuarts. However, Sinclairs were privy counselors to the Scottish James' and even to Mary Queen of Scots, but in those days, Rosicrucians had infiltrated the royal courts of many European monarchs, not to support them, but to bring them down. Elizabeth I welcomed Rosicrucians into her court even as her spies, but it can be determined that these particular Rosicrucians had been supportive of, if not related by blood to, the Margaret/Roslin Ros Line.

Hugh de Payen, on his return home from the Jerusalem Temple, and after visiting Henry I (of England) briefly to fill him in on the Middle-East affair, ended his westward journey in Scotland with his in-laws, the Sinclairs!! Yes, Hugh de Payen the Frenchman had married Catherine, a Roslin Sinclair!! Was he the glue that bonded the Normans to the French, therefore, so as to enable a Crusader army to be mustered large enough to win Jerusalem?

Where had De Payen's finest loyalties been as Grand Master of the Templars, to the French or to the Normans? And was the idea of digging below the Temple Mount and/or to build Ezekiel's Temple--and therefore the idea of a Utopian Millennium--that of the Frenchmen, or of the Norman Sinclairs? The answer to that is, I think, to the one group that was associated with a Hebrew organization having Millennialism as an agenda.

The Khazars of Magog come to mind, who had been ruled by Israelites, some of which were Millennial-minded (i.e. Zionistic) to a militant degree. On the one hand, the gnostic Cathars, believed by some to have been a branch of Khazars, were in France just then and in close association with the Templars. Yet again, the Kabars of Hungary--a branch of Khazars--may have entered Scotland with Margaret's friends so as to become tied to the Sinclairs.

The Scottish house of Sinclair, although not achieving royal status, went on to great wealth and power, even organizing the infamous Freemason brotherhood out of stone masons (Freemasonry was the formation of smokescreen churches i.e. "lodges" which allowed memberships of non stone workers for use in power-politics and social engineering). Prior to the Freemason period, the Templars had been stone workers in building castles, forts, and cathedrals (the cathedrals were often esoteric monuments intended more for power-grabbing than for religious worship).

From 1307, when the Templars in France were being chased out of the country by a major persecution, many took shelter in Scotland under the wings of the Roslin Sinclairs...and the Scottish king, Robert I de Bruce, welcomed the knights with open arms. The first Grand Master of Masonry in Scotland was (another) William Sinclair of Roslin Castle. His descendant, another William Sinclair yet, laid (in 1446) the foundations of the esoteric cathedral, Rosslyn Chapel (on the same hill as Roslin Castle). This cathedral, every square inch of which is laced with carvings, was built in French style, suggesting that it was indeed built by the French Templars who had escaped to Scotland.

The foundations of the Rosslyn Chapel were discovered only recently to be almost precisely identical to the foundations of the Jerusalem Temple (see http://www.robertlomas.com/Freemason/Origins.html). This seems to be stone-and-mortar proof that Hugh de Payen and his men had dug below the Dome of the Rock to the foundations of Solomon's Temple. In fact, an 80-foot shaft with connecting tunnels have been discovered recently by archaeologists...containing Templar artifacts.

One particular design on the walls of the Rosslyn Chapel matches perfectly with Freemasonry's first-degree ceremony, still practiced today, in which a blindfolded initiate stands between two pillars of Solomon's Temple with a noose dangling from neck, placed there by a Templar (see website above). This carving is what so concretely ties the Roslin Templars with the Freemasons of later years!

The village of Roslin was built specifically to house the masons who, over 40 years, built the Chapel. Carved in the ceilings are stars (pentagrams) and roses, both having affinity with Rosicrucianism, the stars depicting the cult's astrology, and the roses its secret "wisdom." In fact, the rose on the Rosicrucian rose-and-cross logo may secretly depict the pentagram because a rose has five petals while a pentagram has five points. Also carved throughout are Freemasonic as well as pagan symbols, including over 100 "green men" corresponding to an unknown concept well outside the realm of Christianity. Moreover, Hermes is depicted, which again connects with Rosicrucianism rather than the Judaism of Jerusalem. The building was cleverly dubbed, "The Bible in Stone," which it is not; instead, the phrase reminds us of pyramidology, the occult idea that certain secrets of God are Inspired within the building's dimensions, shapes, angles, and carvings.

The skull-and-crossbone symbol used by the Templars, also found in the Chapel, is said to represent the bones of Mary Magdalene...whom the Templars actually possessed and worshipped, or so we are to believe. But the facts that we know are these: 1) the skull-and-crossbone symbol was a pirate-flag symbol; 2) the Rus Vikings were pirates while pagans, especially between 800-1050; 3) the Templars reverted to piracy on the high seas after losing Jerusalem for good; 4) the crossbones form an X-shape, even as does the Scottish flag.

I suspect the Scottish flag to be the old pirate flag in disguise, but without the skull. In fact, the Scottish flag, called "Andrew's Cross," dates back to the 12th century, just one century after the first Templars. A common line explaining the flag's origin is that clouds in the sky formed an X-shape during a certain battle, wherefore, we are to believe, someone recognized it as the Apostle Andrew's cross upon which he was killed. That sounds like a load of potatoes to me, to disguise the reality.

If indeed the Rosicrucian cross represented the crossed bones of the pirate flag, then the rose that Rosicrucians place on their cross could represent the skull of the pirate flag...where the skull represents their hidden/occult mysteries. That is, the skull, and therefore the rose, refers to the brain/mind, which in turn is to say that it refers to secret knowledge--note that "school" is similar to "skull" and that Rosicrucians called themselves the "Invisible College" prior to usurping most of our schools. Even the Skull and Bones society in the United States is based at Yale. Note also that in colleges to this day there are "degrees," evoking the degrees of Freemasonry. And the odd black hat with the flat, square top that graduates wear on graduation day represents a mortar board i.e. the mortor board used by stone masons.

While the modern cross of Rosicrucians is not like the Scottish Cross in the form of a X--called a "saltire"--but is instead upright like the cross of Christ, the early Rosicrucian cross was a saltire, as you can see from the 16th-century Andreae Family Crest (Johan Andreae was a leading Rosicrucian). The four roses that surround this cross had been, much earlier, four small crosses in the Jerusalem flag of the Templars, the very same design used by the Church of the Lutherin Confession centuries later. The same design is also found in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (in Jerusalem), and is now the central icon on the floor of the National Cathedral in Washington DC.

Mary Magdalene Biography
Mary Magdalene new testament

Who is Mary Magdalene?
About the Mary Magdalene
The Gnostic Church of St. Mary Magdalene

The Da Vinci Code: Of Magdalene, Gnostics, the Goddess and the Grail
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute(Saint or Sinner?)
The Rose Line of Mary Magdalene
Was Mary Magdalene the wife of Jesus Christ?
St Mary Magdalene Medal
Mary Magdalene is the Holy Grail

Mary Magdalene in the Grotto
by Jules-Joseph Lefebvre. 1876

Magdalene in the Desert
by Domenico Piola 1674

Mary Magdalene in the Desert.
Honore Daumier. c. 1848-52

Mary Magdalene in the Desert.
By José de Ribera. 1641

Mary Magdalene.
By Murillo. 1650-55

Christ and Mary Magdalene
by Rubens

Noli me Tangere
By Corregio 1525

Mary Magdalene on The Last Supper.
By Leonardo da Vinci

Pieta: Mary & The death of Jesus.
Michelangelo Buonarroti

Mary Magdalene.
By Donatello. 1455

Penitent Mary Magdalen.
By Titian 1560

Saint Mary Magdalene.
By Titian. 1533

Mary Magdalene
By Luca Signorelli 1504

Penitent Magdalene.
By Caravaggio. 1597

Mary Magdalene.
By Perugio.1490

Mary Magdalene.
By Anthony Sandys. Ca. 1860

The Magdalene.
By El Greco. 1576-78

Penance of Mary Magdalene.
By El Greco. 1585-90

Saint Mary Magdalene.
By El Greco. 1580-85

Penitent Magdalene
by Antonio Canova

Saint Mary Magdalene.
By Carlo Dolci. 1660-70

Assumption of Magdalene
By Giovanni Lanfranco

Assumption of Mary Magdalene
By Antolinez

Assumption of Magdalene into Heaven
Domenichino 1620

Saint Mary Magdalene Penitent.
By Domenico Feti. 1615

Penitent Mary Magdalene
by Francesco Hayez. 1825

Mary Magdalene at the Tomb
By Grammatica, Antiveduto Early 1620s

Mary Magdalen.
by Bernardino Luini. 1525

The Penitent Magdalene
By Guido Reni 1635

Penitent Magdalene.
By Artemisia Gentileschi c. 1630/32

Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene
By anon. early 15th

Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene.
By Alexander Ivanov. 1834-1836

Mary Magdalene.
By John Gossaert c. 1525-30

The Magdalen Reading
By Weyden Rogierc. 1435

Life of Mary Magdalene: Noli me tangere
By Giotto di Bondone

Risen Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalen
Rembrant 1638

Life of Mary Magdalene: Raising of Lazarus
By Giotto di Bondone

Mary Magdalene.
By Jan van Scorel

Martha and Mary Magdalene.
By Merisi Carravaggio c. 1598

Penitent Magdalene
By Joseph Heintz

Life of Mary Magdalene: Noli me tangere
By Giotto di Bondone 1320s

Life of Mary Magdalene: The Hermit Zosimus Giving a Cloak to Magdalene
By Giotto di Bondone 1320s

Life of Mary Magdalene: Mary Magdalene and Cardinal Pontano
By Giotto di Bondone 1320s

Life of Mary Magdalene: Mary Magdalene Speaking to the Angels
By Giotto di Bondone 1320s

Life of Mary Magdalene: Mary Magdalene's Voyage to Marseilles
By Giotto di Bondone 1320s

© Mary Magdalene. No Rigths Reserved ^

Russia

the power of Christ's love to save even the most fallen humanity.............

2006-12-17T06:26:00.000-08:00

Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute(Saint or Sinner?)
The gorgeous female cryptographer and the hunky college professor are fleeing the scene of a ghastly murder they did not commit. In the midst of their escape, which will eventually utilize an armored car, a private jet, electronic-surveillance devices and just enough unavoidable violence to keep things interesting, our heroes seek out the one man who holds the key not only to their exoneration but also to a mystery that could change the world. To help explain it to them, crippled, jovial, fabulously wealthy historian Sir Leigh Teabing points out a figure in a famous painting.

"'Who is she?' Sophie asked.

"'That, my dear,' Teabing replied, 'is Mary Magdalene.'

"Sophie turned. 'The prostitute?'

"Teabing drew a short breath, as if the word had injured him personally. 'Magdalene was no such thing. That unfortunate misconception is the legacy of a smear campaign launched by the early Church.'"

Summer page turners tend to sidestep the finer points of 6th century church history. Perhaps that is their loss. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, now in its 18th week on the New York Times hard-cover fiction best-seller list, is one of those hypercaffeinated conspiracy specials with two-page chapters and people's hair described as "burgundy." But Brown, who by book's end has woven Magdalene intricately and rather outrageously into his plot, has picked his MacGuffin cannily. Not only has he enlisted one of the few New Testament personages whom a reader might arguably imagine in a bathing suit (generations of Old Masters, after all, painted her topless). He has chosen a character whose actual identity is in play, both in theology and pop culture.

Three decades ago, the Roman Catholic Church quietly admitted what critics had been saying for centuries: Magdalene's standard image as a reformed prostitute is not supported by the text of the Bible. Freed of this lurid, limiting premise and employing varying ratios of scholarship and whimsy, academics and enthusiasts have posited various other Magdalenes: a rich and honored patron of Jesus, an Apostle in her own right, the mother of the Messiah's child and even his prophetic successor. The wealth of possibilities has inspired a wave of literature, both academic and popular, including Margaret George's 2002 best-selling historical novel Mary, Called Magdalene. And it has gained Magdalene a new following among Catholics who see in her a potent female role model and a possible argument against the all-male priesthood. The woman who three Gospels agree was the first witness to Christ's Resurrection is having her own kind of rebirth. Says Ellen Turner, who played host to an alternative celebration for the saint on her traditional feast day on July 22: "Mary [Magdalene] got worked over by the church, but she is still there for us. If we can bring her story forward, we can get back to what Jesus was really about."

In 1988, the book Mary Magdalene: A Woman Who Showed Her Gratitude, part of a children's biblical-women series and a fairly typical product of its time, explained that its subject "was not famous for the great things she did or said, but she goes down in history as a woman who truly loved Jesus with all her heart and was not embarrassed to show it despite criticism from others." That is certainly part of her traditional resume. Many Christian churches would add her importance as an example of the power of Christ's love to save even the most fallen humanity, and of repentance. (The word maudlin derives from her reputation as a tearful penitent.) Centuries of Catholic teaching also established her colloquial identity as the bad girl who became the hope of all bad girls, the saved siren active not only in the overheated imaginations of parochial-school students but also as the patron of institutions for wayward women such as the grim nun-run laundries featured in the new movie The Magdalene Sisters. In the culture at large, writer Kathy Shaidle has suggested, Magdalene is "the Jessica Rabbit of the Gospels, the gold-hearted town tramp belting out I Don't Know How to Love Him."

The only problem is that it turns out that she wasn't bad, just interpreted that way. Mary Magdalene (her name refers to Magdala, a city in Galilee) first appears in the Gospel of Luke as one of several apparently wealthy women Jesus cures of possession (seven demons are cast from her), who join him and the Apostles and "provided for them out of their means." Her name does not come up again until the Crucifixion, which she and other women witness from the foot of the Cross, the male disciples having fled. On Easter Sunday morning, she visits Jesus' sepulcher, either alone or with other women, and discovers it empty. She learns — in three Gospels from angels and in one from Jesus himself — that he is risen. John's recounting is the most dramatic. She is solo at the empty tomb. She alerts Peter and an unnamed disciple; only the latter seems to grasp the Resurrection, and they leave. Lingering, Magdalene encounters Jesus, who asks her not to cling to him, "but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father ... and my God." In Luke's and Mark's versions, this plays out as a bit of a farce: Magdalene and other women try to alert the men, but "these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them." Eventually they came around.

Discrepancies notwithstanding, the net impression is of a woman of substance, brave and smart and devoted, who plays a crucial — perhaps irreplaceable — role in Christianity's defining moment. So where did all the juicy stuff come from? Mary Magdalene's image became distorted when early church leaders bundled into her story those of several less distinguished women whom the Bible did not name or referred to without a last name. One is the "sinner" in Luke who bathes Jesus' feet with her tears, dries them with her hair, kisses them and anoints them with ointment. "Her many sins have been forgiven, for she loved much," he says. Others include Luke's Mary of Bethany and a third, unnamed woman, both of whom anointed Jesus in one form or another. The mix-up was made official by Pope Gregory the Great in 591: "She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary [of Bethany], we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark," Gregory declared in a sermon. That position became church teaching, although it was not adopted by Orthodoxy or Protestantism when each later split from Catholicism.

What prompted Gregory? One theory suggests an attempt to reduce the number of Marys — there was a similar merging of characters named John. Another submits that the sinning woman was appended simply to provide missing backstory for a figure of obvious importance. Others blame misogyny. Whatever the motivation, the effect of the process was drastic and, from a feminist perspective, tragic. Magdalene's witness to the Resurrection, rather than being acclaimed as an act of discipleship in some ways greater than the men's, was reduced to the final stage in a moving but far less central tale about the redemption of a repentant sinner. "The pattern is a common one," writes Jane Schaberg, a professor of religious and women's studies at the University of Detroit Mercy and author of last year's The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene: "the powerful woman disempowered, remembered as a whore or whorish." As shorthand, Schaberg coined the term "harlotization."

In 1969, in the liturgical equivalent of fine print, the Catholic Church officially separated Luke's sinful woman, Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene as part of a general revision of its missal. Word has been slow in filtering down into the pews, however. (It hasn't helped that Magdalene's heroics at the tomb are still omitted from the Easter Sunday liturgy, relegated instead to midweek.) And in the meantime, more scholarship has stoked the fires of those who see her eclipse as a chauvinist conspiracy. Historians of Christianity are increasingly fascinated with a group of early followers of Christ known broadly as the Gnostics, some of whose writings were unearthed only 55 years ago. And the Gnostics were fascinated by Magdalene. The so-called Gospel of Mary [Magdalene], which may date from as early as A.D. 125 (or about 40 years after John's Gospel), describes her as having received a private vision from Jesus, which she passes on to the male disciples. This role is a usurpation of the go-between status the standard Gospels normally accord to Peter, and Mary depicts him as mightily peeved, asking, "Did [Jesus] really speak with a woman without our knowledge?" The disciple Levi comes to her defense, saying, "Peter, you have always been hot-tempered ... If the Savior made her worthy, who are you to reject her? Surely, the Savior loves her very well. That is why he loved her more than us."

Them's fightin' words, especially when one remembers that the papacy traces its authority back to Peter. Of course, the Gnostic Gospels are not the Bible. In fact, there is evidence that the Bible was standardized and canonized precisely to exclude such books, which the early church leaders regarded as heretical for many non-Magdalene reasons. Nonetheless, feminists have been quick to cite Mary as evidence both of Magdalene's early importance, at least in some communities, and as the virtual play-by-play of a forgotten gender battle, in which church fathers eventually prevailed over the people who never got the chance to be known as church mothers. "I think it was a power struggle," says Schaberg, "And the canonical texts that we have [today] come from the winners."

Schaberg goes further. In her book, she returns to John in light of the Gnostic writings and purports to find "fragments of a claim" that Jesus may have seen Magdalene as his prophetic successor. The position is thus far quite lonely. But it serves nicely to illustrate the way in which any retrieval of Magdalene as a "winner" inevitably shakes up current assumptions about male church leadership. After Pope John Paul II prohibited even the discussion of female priests in 1995, he cited "the example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ choosing his Apostles only from among men ..." That argument would seem weakened in light of the "new" Magdalene, whom the Pope himself has acknowledged by the once unfashionable title "Apostle to the Apostles." Chester Gillis, chair of the department of theology at Georgetown University, says conventional Catholics still feel that Mary Magdalene's absence from many biblical scenes involving the male disciples, and specifically from the ordination-like ritual of the Last Supper, rule her out as a priest precedent. Gillis agrees, however, that her recalibration "certainly makes a case for a stronger role for women in the church."

Meanwhile, the combination of catholic rethinking and Gnostic revelations have reanimated wilder Magdalene speculations, like that of a Jesus-Magdalene marriage. ("No other biblical figure," Schaberg notes, "has had such a vivid and bizarre postbiblical life.") The Gnostic Gospel of Philip describes Magdalene as "the one who was called [Jesus'] companion," claiming that he "used to kiss her on her [mouth]." Most scholars discount a Jesus-Magdalene match because it finds little echo in the canonical Gospels once the false Magdalenes are removed. But it fulfills a deep narrative expectation: for the alpha male to take a mate, for a yin to Jesus' yang or, as some neopagans have suggested, for a goddess to his god. Martin Luther believed that Jesus and Magdalene were married, as did Mormon patriarch Brigham Young.

The notion that Magdalene was pregnant by Jesus at his Crucifixion became especially entrenched in France, which already had a tradition of her immigration in a rudderless boat, bearing the Holy Grail, his chalice at the Last Supper into which his blood later fell. Several French kings promoted the legend that descendants of Magdalene's child founded the Merovingian line of European royalty, a story revived by Richard Wagner in his opera Parsifal and again in connection with Diana, Princess of Wales, who reportedly had some Merovingian blood. (The Wachowski brothers, those cultural magpies, named a villain in The Matrix Reloaded Merovingian, filming him surrounded by Grail-like chalices. His wife in that film was played by Italian actress Monica Bellucci, who will also play Magdalene in Mel Gibson's upcoming Jesus film ... Sorry, this stuff is addictive.) The idea that Magdalene herself was the Holy Grail — the human receptacle for Jesus' blood line — popped up in a 1986 best seller, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which inspired Brown's Da Vinci Code. When Brown said recently, "Mary Magdalene is a historical figure whose time has come," he meant a figure with a lot of mythic filagree.

Ellen Turner was 48 years old when she first learned that Mary Magdalene was not a whore. Through Catholic school and a Catholic college, she attests, "I thought about her in the traditional way, as a sinner." But eight years ago, the 56-year-old technical writer tapped into a network of neo-Magdalenites through her connection with the liberal Catholic groups Call to Action and Futurechurch. The discovery that, as Turner puts it, Magdalene "got the shaft" started her thinking about how to change the situation. She was happy to find that the two organizations, which see Magdalene's recovered image as an argument for their goal of a priesthood open to all those who feel called, coordinate celebrations around the world on her feast day.

Last month Turner and her husband Ray played host to such a celebration at their home in San Jose, Calif. About 30 participants drove in from as far away as Oakland. After meeting and greeting and strolling the meditation labyrinth in Turner's backyard, the group held something resembling a church service, with an opening hymn, a blessing over the bread and wine and readings about Magdalene from the four Gospels. There was no priest, but Turner herself read what, if this were a Mass, might be a homily. "From the beginning," she intoned as the sun sank over Silicon Valley, "her view has been ignored, unappreciated. The first to see the risen Lord — those with more power have sought to marginalize her. Yet she is faithful. She remains. She cannot be silenced."

this is ....the story of a girl...........

2006-10-18T23:01:00.000-07:00

[ www.kenedyranch.net's Message Board Search Edit Post www.kenedyranch.net ]

CraniumPlease support this message board.
Visit our sponsors above. It's all about "Maria Magdalena" ........ Kenedy?????
Posted on December 6, 2005 at 03:39:37 AM by Jaime & dannoynted1
"Absolutely (Story Of A Girl)"
This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looks so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her

When she smiles

Now how many days in a year
She woke up with hope
But she only found tears
Now I can be so insincere
Makin her promises never for real
As long as she stands there waiting
Wearin the holes in the soles of her shoes
Now how many days disappear
When you look in the mirror
So how do you choose
Your clothes never wear as well the next day
And your hair never falls in quite the same way
But you never seem to run out of things to say
This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looks so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her
When she smiles

Now how many lovers would stay
Just to put up with this shit
Day after day
Now how did we wind up this way
Watchin our mouths for the words that we say
As long as we stand here waiting
Wearin the clothes or the soles that we choose
Now how do we get there today
When we're walkin too far for the price of our shoes
Your clothes never wear as well the next day
And your hair never falls in quite the same way
But you never seem to run out of things to say
This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looks so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her
When she smiles

[Guitar solo]
Well your clothes never wear as well the next day
And your hair never falls in quite the same way
You never seem to run out of things to say
This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looks so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her
This is the story of a girl
Her pretty face she hid from the world
And while she looks so sad and lonely there

I absolutely love her
This is the story of a - girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looks so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her

When she smiles
Oh when she smi-iles!
[Thanks to hoeymen@hotmail.com,

From Jesus to the Love of His Life.......

2006-10-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

Nickelback Far Away Lyrics

This time,
This place
Misused,
Mistakes
Too long,
Too late
Who was I to make you wait
Just one chance
Just one breath
Just in case there's just one left
'Cause you know, you know, you know
[CHORUS]
I love you
I have loved you all along
And I miss you
Been far away for far too long I keep dreaming you'll be with me and you'll never go
Stop breathing if I don't see you anymore
On my knees,
I'll ask
Last chance for one last dance
'Cause with you,
I'd withstand
All of
Hell to hold your hand
I'd give it all
I'd give for us
Give anything, but I won't give up
'Cause you know, you know, you know
[CHORUS]
So far away
So far away
Been far away for far too long
So far away
So far away
Been far away for far too long
But you know, you know, you know
I wanted
I wanted you to stay
'Cause I needed I need to hear you say
I love you
I have loved you all along
And I forgive you
For being away for far too long
So keep breathing
'Cause I'm not leaving you anymore
Believe it
Hold on to me and, never let me go
Keep breathing
'Cause I'm not leaving you anymore
Believe it
Hold on to me and, never let me go
Keep breathing
Hold on to me and, never let me go
Keep breathing
Hold on to me and, never let me go

You ain't seen nothin' yet

2006-10-01T04:24:00.000-07:00

Bachman-Turner Overdrive Lyrics

You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet Lyrics

I met a little woman
She took my heart away
She said, I've had it comin' to me
But who wanted it that way
Me thinks her luv is good luvin'
So I took her on my jet, mmh
Oooh, oooh she looked at me with big brown eyes

And said,
You ain't seen nothin' yet
B-b-b-baby, you just ain't seen n-n-nothin' yet
Here's something that you never gonna forget
B-b-b-baby, you just ain't seen n-n-nothin' yet

"Nothin' yet
You ain't been around
That's what they told me"

And now I'm feelin' better
'Cause I found out for sure
She took me to her doctor
And he asked me if I'm insured
We said that our love is good love
So I placed a little bet
Yes, I won that leer jet
And then she looked at me with them big brown eyes

And said,
You ain't seen nothin' yet
B-b-b-baby, you just ain't seen n-n-nothin' yet
Here's something, here's something your never gonna forget
baby, you know, you know, you know you just ain't seen nothin' yet

"You seed educatin'
You got to bring the law school"

Our luv is good luvin'
So I took her in my vette
Yes, We engaged the local net
And then, and then, and then
She looked at me with them big brown eyes

And said,
You ain't seen nothin' yet
Baby, you just ain't seen n-n-nothin' yet
Here's something, here's something
Here's something that your never gonna forget, baby
Baby, baby, baby you ain't seen n-n-nothin' yet
You ain't been around
You ain't seen nothin' yet
That's what she told me
She said, "I needed educatin', and to go to law school"
In the know YOU ain't seen nothin' yet
I YOU know YOU ain't seen nothin' yet

Physical union with the female remained the sole means through which man could become spiritually complete and ultimately achieve gnosis~ knowledge...

2006-07-22T00:54:00.000-07:00

Legend tells us the Holy Grail is a chalice - a cup. But the Grail's description as a chalice is actually an allegory to protect the true nature of the Holy Grail…The Grail is literally the ancient symbol for womanhood and the Holy Grail represents the sacred feminine and the goddess, which of course has now been lost, virtually eliminated by the Church.
The Da Vinci Code
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Church needed to defame Mary Magdalene [making her out to be a prostitute] in order to cover up her dangerous secret - her role as the Holy Grail.
The Da Vinci Code
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sophie moved closer to the image [The Last Supper painting by Leonardo da Vinci]. The woman to Jesus' right was young and pious-looking, with a demure face, beautiful red hair, and hands folded quietly….
"Who is she?" Sophie asked.
"That, my dear," Teabing replied, "is Mary Magdalene."
The Da Vinci Code
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of the historical record.
The Da Vinci Code

space between-dave mathews band

2006-06-17T02:49:00.000-07:00

"Love is all we need dear'
Posted on June 15, 2006 at 06:22:35 AM by dannoynted1

You cannot quit me so quickly
Is no hope in you for me
No corner could squeeze me
But Ive got all the time for you, love

The space between, the tears we cry
Is the laughter keeps us coming back for more
The space between, the wicked lies we tell
And hope to keep us safe from the pain

Will I hold you again?
These fickle, fuddled words confuse me
Like will it rain today?
We waste the hours with talking, talking
These twisted games were playing

Were strange allies
With warring hearts
What a wild-eyed beast you be
The space between, the wicked lies we tell
And hope to keep us safe from the pain

Will I hold you again?
Will I hold you...

Look at us spinning out in the madness of a rollercoaster
You know you went off like the devil in a church
In the middle of a crowded room
All we can do, my love
Is hope we dont take this ship down

The space between, where you smile and hide
Where youll find me if I get to go
The space between, the bullets in our fire fight
Is where Ill be hiding, waiting for you
The rain that falls splashed in your heart
Ran like sadness down the window into your room
The space between, our wicked lies
Is where we hope to keep safe from pain

Take my hand
cause were walking out of here
Oh, right out of here
Love is all we need dear
The space between, whats wrong and right
Is where youll find me hiding, waiting for you
The space between, your heart and mine
Is a space well fill with time
The space between...

=====================================================================================
the truth set me free!

http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=19680

2006-06-07T01:07:00.000-07:00

Scholars seek to correct Christian tradition, fiction of Mary Magdalene
By Jerry Filteau5/2/2006
Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com)
WASHINGTON – The fanciful fictions about Mary Magdalene in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code are not the only errors about the biblical saint that modern scholars are seeking to correct.
ST. MARY MAGDALENE DEPICTED IN WINDOW – St. Mary Magdalene is depicted in a stained-glass window in Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Modern scholars are trying to set straight centuries of erroneous Christian tradition that developed about the saint, especially in the West. (CNS/The Pilot)
They are also trying to set straight centuries of erroneous Christian tradition regarding her that developed, especially in the West.
In A.D. 591 Pope St. Gregory the Great preached a sermon in which he identified as one person the New Testament figures of Mary Magdalene, the sinful woman who anointed Jesus' feet and washed them with her tears, and the Mary who was the sister of Lazarus and Martha of Bethany.
Although he was only reflecting a tradition that had gained some ground in the West (and was resisted by many of the church's early theologians), the sermon became a reference point for later scholarship, teaching and preaching in the West, Father Raymond F. Collins, a New Testament scholar at The Catholic University of America, said in an interview.
The Greek Fathers – the great theologians of the early church in the East, who wrote in Greek – consistently maintained that Mary Magdalene, the unnamed repentant sinner and Mary of Bethany were three distinct women. That remains the tradition in the Orthodox churches.
The identification of Mary Magdalene as a repentant sinful woman was solidified in the Latin Church for centuries by the use of that story, reported in the seventh chapter of Luke, as the Gospel reading for Mary Magdalene's feast, July 22. In fact, in the Roman Calendar before the Second Vatican Council, the day was called the feast of "Mary Magdalene, penitent."
Father Collins noted that this changed in 1969 with the reform of the Roman Missal and the Roman Calendar. Since then the gospel reading for Mary Magdalene's feast has been chapter 20, verses 1-2 and 11-18, of the Gospel of John.
The first two verses tell of her coming to Jesus' tomb early Sunday morning, finding it empty and running to tell Peter and John that someone has removed Jesus' body. The second part of the reading tells of Mary staying behind, weeping, after Peter and John leave, and the risen Jesus speaking to her and telling her to announce to the rest of his followers, "I have seen the Lord."
Sister Johnson A. Johnson, a theologian at Fordham University and a Sister of St. Joseph, said the version of Mary Magdalene as "the prostitute to whom Jesus forgave much and who loved him... took on a profound Christian ideal of a sinner who repents and therefore is a model for Christians in that way. But what got lost in the process was her actual role as a leader of witnessing to the Resurrection in the early church."
Of the repentant prostitute version of the Magdalene, she said, "What a lot of us who've done some work on her say is... it's a wrong one and in the process it's robbing us of (appreciation of) women's leadership at a crucial moment in the early church. In other words, in a way it's easier... to deal with her as a repentant sinner than as she emerges in the gospels in her own right."
So who is the real Mary Magdalene? Father Collins, who wrote the "Mary Magdalene" article in the Anchor Bible Dictionary, said "Luke describes Mary Magdalene as a woman from whom Jesus cast out seven demons, and that characterization of Mary Magdalene is repeated in the longer canonical ending of Mark's Gospel."
But he noted that in Jesus' time it was not uncommon to attribute physical or mental afflictions to demonic possession and this did not imply that the possessed person was sinful. "Whatever affected Mary Magdalene was considered to be the effect of demonic possession so she would not have been considered a public sinner the way the medieval legends have made her out to be," he said.
He said she is called the Magdalene because she comes from Magdala, "a fishing village up in northern Galilee."
He said one also learns from Luke "that she supported Jesus from her resources," suggesting that she was a woman of some means, and that she was one of several women from Galilee who were disciples of Jesus and followed him.
Luke's Gospel is the only one that mentions Mary Magdalene by name in the narration of Jesus' public ministry. But all four gospel writers place her as a witness to Jesus' death on the cross, a witness to his burial and the chief witness to his resurrection, making her one of the most significant female figures in the gospels apart from Jesus' own mother, Mary.
Sister Johnson said that when one looks at the Magdalene's biblical role as the one the risen Christ appears to and commissions to announce the good news to the others it has "many implications for how we tell the story of the origins of the church. There is the typical story of where Jesus chose the Twelve and put Peter in charge and the women, you know, were accessories. When you put Mary Magdalene into the picture, you can't tell the story that way so simply anymore."
When asked for her own view of what that should mean for the church today, she said, "I would draw the implication that if the risen Christ saw fit to ask a woman to go and preach the good news of his resurrection, the church should do no less nowadays." - - -
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

'reminds me of a west side story'

2006-02-02T04:23:00.000-08:00

maria,maria
santana