THE SCIENCE OF LOVE  
A Study in the Teachings of Therese of Lisieux
by John C. H. Wu

4. Some types of Saints : Martha and Magdalene  

Now, to Christians, there is no other way of loving God than by loving Jesus His Son, for it is through Jesus that God has revealed Himself to man. The Word took on flesh in order that all flesh might take on Divinity. The incarnation of the Word has humanized the relation between the Creator and the creature. For human purposes, to love Jesus is the same as to love God, for Jesus is God.

But what exactly is God to us? Is He our Father? Yes, He is our Father, but He is more than that. Is He then our Mother? Yes, He is also our Mother, but He is more than that. He is, besides, our Friend, our Brother, our Sister, our Spouse, our Lord, our Minister, our All!

His relation with us is so all-embracing that it includes all the five relations of men and something infinitely more. We may call Him this or that; but all these names are used analogically, for human language has its limits, beyond which it can no longer denote anything definite and can at best only hint. So long as we use them only as hints, all names of human relations can be applied to God, and with equal appropriateness.

Do you remember the question of Jesus, "Who is my mother and who are my brethren?" Pointing to His disciples, He said, "Behold my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father that is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother."[6]

So Peter the rugged fisherman was to Him not only brother, but sister and mother as well! This is how God uses human language, which is intrinsically so poor that there is no adequate term to designate our relation with Him, with the result that He Himself has to resort to figures of speech, to borrow, as it were, from human relations.

Now, of all relations, the dearest and the most fundamental is, at least according to the Chinese way of thinking, that between man and woman. It is, then, no accident that many saints, and among them some of the greatest, purest and sweetest, speak of their relation with God in terms of the Bridegroom and the bride. This is the highest offering that human speech can make to God.

What fitter language can we use toward Him than what we find in the Canticle of Canticles? "Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth: for thy breasts are better than wine, smelling sweet of the best ointments." "I found him whom my soul loveth. I hold him: and I will not let him go, till I bring him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her who bore me." "My soul melted when he spoke."

All saints have one thing in common, their love of God; and yet there are saints and saints. Some love Him primarily as their Father, some as their Lord, some as their Friend; some as their Brother, and some as their Lover. From these initial differences in their ways of loving Him arise different types of saints, for whom He provides many mansions in His House. In the home in Bethany, for instance, Martha loved Him in one way, while her sister Mary Magdalen loved Him in another way. St. Luke has given us a very vivid account of these sisters:

"Now it came to pass as they went, that he entered into a certain town; and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord's feet, heard his word.

"But Martha was busy about much serving, and she stood and said: Lord, hast thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? speak to her therefore, that she help me. And the Lord, answering, said to her: Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things. But one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her."[7]

Both Martha and Mary are saints, but the former served Jesus as her Lord, while the latter loved Him as her heart's adored. In the Feast of Life there are many dishes, and each of us will have to choose for himself, but there is no question that Mary Magdalen chose the best dish.

What a great lover Mary Magdalen was can be gathered from another account of her in St. Luke's Gospel:

One of the Pharisees asked him to dinner, and entering the house of the Pharisee he reclined at table. Now there was a woman in the town who was a sinner, and when she found out that Jesus was at table in the house of the Pharisee, she brought an alabaster flask of perfume and stood behind him at his feet in tears; as her tears began to wet his feet, she wiped them with the hair of her head, pressed kisses on them, and anointed them with the perfume.

When his host the Pharisee noticed this, he said to himself, "If he was a prophet, he would know what sort of a woman this is who is touching him; for she is a sinner." Then Jesus addressed him. "Simon," he said "I have something to say to you." "Speak, teacher," he said. "There was a moneylender who had two debtors; one owed him fifty pounds, the other five. As they were unable to pay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, now, which of them will love him most?"

"I suppose," said Simon, "the man who was most forgiven." "Quite right," He said. Then turning to the woman he said to Simon, "You see this woman? When I came to your house, you never gave me water for my feet, while she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair; you never gave me a kiss, while ever since she came in she has kept pressing kisses on my feet; you never anointed my head with oil, while she has anointed my feet with perfume. Therefore I tell you many as her sins are, they are forgiven, for her love is great; whereas he to whom little is forgiven has but little love."[8]

Jesus appreciated the love of Mary Magdalen so deeply that after His Resurrection it was to her that He made the first appearance!

But why have I dwelt so long upon Mary Magdalene? Because she is the prototype of Therese of Lisieux. She knew the art of love. Having given all, she feels as though she had given nothing. Therese herself has said, "Most of all do I imitate the behavior of Magdalene, for her amazing--or rather I should say her loving--audacity, which delighted the Heart of Jesus, has cast its spell upon mine.[9]
 

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