Saint Mary Magdalene: The angels took her up and down from heaven

On the occasion of the feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, which is celebrated every July 22, we share an ancient tradition in which it is told how the saint was taken up and down from heaven by angels, several times a day, until she died. of love in the presence of a group of priests.

In the book Golden Legend o Golden Legend From Blessed Santiago de la Vorágine it is narrated that after Christianity began to expand, Saint Peter the Apostle left Saint Maximinus, one of the 72 ancient disciples of the Lord, as spiritual guardian of Mary Magdalene.

Maximin, together with Saint Mary Magdalene and his brothers Saint Martha and Saint Lazarus, toured various places preaching. At the end of her life, Magdalene retired to a desert and made her home in a kind of cave, where she remained for about 30 years.

Tradition has it that the saint was taken to heaven by angels 7 times a day, just at the time of the canonical hours, which are various types of songs, psalms and prayers that the religious of the world pray at certain times, and which are contained in the Liturgy of the hoursas a plea of ​​the Church to God.

In heaven, Saint Mary Magdalene attended each of these divine services in which she listened to the songs that the heavenly armies recited. When finished, the angels lowered her to earth and left her in her home.

One day a priest, who was also looking for a secluded life in the desert, saw how the angels descended, took a woman to the heights and after a while returned her to the ground.

The priest entrusted himself to God and went to find out what all he had seen was. Before reaching the place he began to feel that something was preventing him from moving forward and that his strength was leaving him. Thus he shouted three times, in the name of God, asking whoever was in the cave to come out and tell him if he was a human being or another rational being.

Then he heard a voice that told him to come a little closer. The priest, afraid, obeyed. Thus, the saint explained to her that she was the one who washed the Master’s feet with her tears, an episode narrated in the Gospel.

She also told her that for 30 years the angels had been taking her up and down and that Christ told her that he would soon leave this world.

Thus, the saint entrusted the priest to go to Saint Maximinus to tell him that on Easter Sunday, when he prayed matins (one of the prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours that is prayed before dawn) he should go only to his oratory and that he would find her there.

The priest could not see the saint, but upon hearing a voice that seemed heavenly, he quickly went to Saint Maximinus to tell him what had happened.

When Easter Sunday arrived, Bishop Saint Maximinus entered his oratory very early and saw the saint there suspended in the air, accompanied by angels. She asked him to come closer and he could see how the Magdalene’s face already seemed angelic, bright and resplendent.

Saint Maximinus brought in all his clergy and the priest who brought the message. Then he gave communion to Saint Mary Magdalene, who shed tears of love and happiness. Finally, at the foot of the altar, the saint lay down on the ground and her soul returned to the Father’s House.