“Hello, thanks for calling Maggie’s Place, The Magdalene House! This is Maggie speaking.”
Ever since my interview with Maggie’s Place, the joke has been to see how many times someone would ask me if I was the founder of Maggie’s Place. It has happened more times than I ever imagined it would. How humbling.
No, I am not the founder of Maggie’s Place, and no, I did not name Maggie’s Place after myself. All the credit goes to our patroness, St. Mary Magdalene. The founders just shortened it to Maggie. Maggie’s Place is named after one of Jesus’ closest followers.
St. Mary Magdalene is beautiful woman to have as our patroness. In this Year of Mercy, it is even more pertinent. St. Mary Magdalene was a woman who received healing and forgiveness directly from Jesus. She was touched by His mercy and love and from then on, she dedicated her life to Christ. The founding community of Maggie’s Place chose St. Mary Magdalene due to her reputation as someone who had made mistakes but then turned her life around when she met Christ.
As MissionCorps, we are asked to be Jesus’ hands and feet to our moms and babies. St. Mary Magdalene is a perfect example of how to serve others like Jesus served. Mary Magdalene was possessed by seven unclean spirits when she met Jesus. Jesus cast out these evil spirits and the love and mercy she showed her changed her life. She was served by Jesus in the most profound way. I hope that I serve the moms and babies in a way that reflects the love that Jesus bestowed on Mary Magdalene.
All of us have our own “unclean sprits” like St. Mary Magdalene. We all need to have Jesus come in and clean our souls. Being at Maggie’s Place as a MissionCorps, I am reminded daily of how I need Jesus to come in my life and purify me. The more I reach out to Jesus the more I am given grace to serve our moms and babies more humbly and purely.
The next time you call Maggie’s Place and ask for Maggie, the founder, there won’t be anyone. Yes, there isn’t a Maggie at Maggie’s Place, but we have St. Mary Magdalene in heaven praying for you, me, the MissionCorps, staff, donors, volunteers, but most importantly our moms and babies.
St. Mary Magdalene, pray for us!
By Maggie Hagenauer, a MissionCorps member
