The Magdala Story
I’d read The Soul of the Apostolate and understood that fruitful ministry only comes from abiding in the Lord. (After all, the soul that He is most concerned about saving is always your own). And I knew I needed others to pray for me, too. When people were praying, I sure felt it every time.
Combine the daily grind with the very real spiritual resistance of ministry and it wasn't long before laboring in the Vineyard started to feel blazing hot.
I longed for shade from the sun.
But I also knew that prayer was often the first thing to get pushed aside. In between planning programs, making copies, recruiting volunteers, ordering food, adjusting budgets, answering e-mails, and doing all of the things that come with being continually spread too thin, my best intentions became my last resort. I found myself texting a quick prayer request just before a program launch or an important meeting. Or frankly, I forgot altogether.
Then I came home. I was a mom to small children and didn't want to neglect my primary vocation for the sake of my secondary one. Stepping away from full-time ministry to be with my family was a gift, but suddenly I faced new challenges. The work itself wasn't objectively hard (diapers, meals, and laundry are pretty mindless stuff), but it was nonstop and often lonely. My contribution felt invisible. I longed for meaning in the mundane.
Around then, my pastor asked if I would coordinate a Seven Sisters Apostolate for him. It was such a beautiful idea and I wanted to say yes, but I struggled with the commitment to a weekly holy hour. As much as I would have loved the opportunity for silent prayer, the relentless demands of young kids, a husband working long hours, and a household to manage made me hesitate. After a lot of thought and prayer, I begrudgingly told my pastor “no.”
Still, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Maybe there was a way for me to do something similar without leaving my house. I couldn’t give the weekly holy hour, but I could give the diaper changes, meal-making, and laundry. I could offer up the middle of-the-night waking, sick kids, and potty training. I could dedicate my loneliness, exhaustion, and interrupted prayer time. I had more to give than I thought!
That’s when the idea for Magdala Grove was born.
What if the soil of this hidden season could offer shade and protect those in the heat of the Lord's Vineyard? What if seven "cloistered" women offered their daily sacrifices for the intentions of a priest, deacon, or ministry leader? What if we created “groves” of prayer where women found solidarity and meaning in their hiddenness?
As I invited friends to "plant" the first grove, I discovered they loved the idea, too! It gave us a way to “bottle” up our very real sufferings, offering them for the salvation of the world...or at least those who needed them most.
If you've stumbled across this site and find yourself in a hidden season of your own, consider planting a Magdala Grove for a priest, deacon, or lay ministry leader in your own parish. Come and be part of this spiritual root system, abiding in the Lord and supporting the Church in her love for souls. The sacrifices of this season are not an obstacle to our prayer...they are our prayer. Let's offer them up together! I'd love for you to join us.
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Welcome to the underground! (Isaiah 49:2)​
Jacqueline
Why Magdala?
Mary Magdalene is known for a lot of things, not least of all for being the very first to witness the resurrection and then joyfully proclaim this good news to the rest of the disciples. That earned her the title, "Apostle to the Apostles."
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Like her, we believe in bringing good news to the apostles in our own time. Priests, deacons, and parish leaders are often overworked, underresourced, and spread thin. And the springtime of the New Evangelization can be laden with mud, weeds, and even the unexpected May snowstorm.
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As apostles labor in the Vineyard, we come bearing good news, empowering their ministry with our hidden sacrifices and prayers and enabling them to carry out the Church's mission with renewed zeal and grace.
Saint Mary Magdalene, pray for us!
Mary Magdalene Announcing the Resurrection to the Apostles, Artist Unknown, St. Albans Psalter, St Godehard's Church, Hildesheim
"...the first witnesses of the Resurrection, by Jesus’ will, were the women who had remained faithful at the foot of the Cross and therefore were more steadfast in faith. Indeed, the Risen One entrusts to one of them, Mary Magdalene, the message to be passed on to the Apostles (cf. Jn 20:17-18)."
Saint Pope John Paul II
"I love being part of a Grove and part of a group of women in a similar stage of life, offering up our daily challenges for a priest in our deanery. When my day is loud, monotonous, messy, or doesn't go as planned, being able to offer that to a greater purpose makes it simpler to surrender to what it is, rather than wish it looked differently."
Audrey B.