(The view nowadays from the Cave of Mary Magdalen in southern France)

You might think that I scour old books looking for quotes about St. Mary Magdalene, :) but the truth is that because I love reading about the spiritual and temporal life of this saint, I often find writings about her when I'm not even looking for them! I find, in her transformation from sinner to saint, a wealth of meditation and comfort for the rest of us poor sinners.

"Sorrow for sin is consoling...Who will believe that the tears of Magdalene which fell so fast upon the Feet of Christ were signs of desolation, and not rather proof of her abundant love, gushing out with the fullness and refreshing softness of a 'long day's raining'? The tears of penitence are rather the overflow of God's grace...Let the heart...turn from what it before chose, and undo, as far as it can, the past; let it turn to God with an apology -- for contrition is an apology of the heart to God -- then the barrier is lifted and God's grace rolls in with a cleansing flood, and the pent-up heart finds relief in tears. Magdalene was in desolation, perhaps, as, dry-eyed, she faced the staring guests at the banquet. Magdalene was in consolation when she gazed upon Our Lord with tearful eyes. There is a rainbow of hope in every sky looked at through the shower of penitent tears."

~ Fr. Francis P. Donnelly, SJ, The Heart of the Gospel, imprimatur 1911.