(St. Mary Magdalen depicted in marble at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Athlone, Ireland).

"As His Passiontide drew near its close and [Mary Magdalen] caught the last murmured expression of His feelings – the dying prayer of pardon for His foes – the sweet promise of Paradise to the penitent thief – the words of tender forethought for His Mother – His cry in His inexpressible anguish to His Father – the last appeal – the parting cry – what, even as it was, must have been Magdalen’s feelings as she knelt and listened; but what would they not have been could she have entirely comprehended, how her sin had brought all this woe; and how, had she been the only sinful creature in the world, Jesus would still have suffered, and suffered for her alone! Much of this no doubt she did feel, and all of it she would have felt, had she possessed the same distinct knowledge of the cause and character of Christ’s death as you possess: and had she known as clearly as you do, that her sins and yours had crucified the Lord Jesus...Then why should you not weep with Magdalen? Why should you not grieve over Jesus with her? If He was her Lord and God, is He not yours? Has He not loved you with an everlasting love as He loved her? Is He not for you as He was for her, Father, Master, Lord and Friend?"

~ Fr. Pius Cavanagh, O.P., Gleanings for Saints and Sinners about St. Mary Magdalen, 1888.