The Alabaster Light
Magdalene’s alabaster jar is more than a vessel—it is a luminous symbol of her very essence.
Read the entire House of New Bethany series here.
The Alabaster Light
Magdalene’s alabaster jar is the vessel of her syntax—the soft light through which her Being speaks. Its bright transparency reflects the fire of her heavenly ointments, the graces bestowed by Our Lord Jesus Christ and poured forth through a union of hearts. These ointments are not mere symbols but an overflow of her essence in Christ: repentance, contrition, divine friendship, and love. In Magdalene, these are not virtues merely held but radiated—her very mode of being is the alabaster brilliance of inceptual thinking, the gentle light that guides us through the Night.
This light is Aletheia—truth unveiled—circumscribed and safeguarded by metaphysics. Magdalene’s map of meaning draws its illumination from within Catholic Veritas, while the pathway we walk upon within that light is Aletheia itself, the truth unfolding in Being. What we seek in prayer remains hidden within the alabaster glow—concealed yet offered. The lighted pathway through Magdalene’s map is an order of Being discerned through spiritual empathy, a receptivity awakened by the Holy Spirit.
To walk this way is to unite our hearts with Magdalene, our sister and patroness, Foundress of our royal house. Following her alabaster light, our souls are infused with love for the Holy Spirit and enflamed with adoration for the Divine Trinity. We learn to live as she lived—in contrite joy, in radiant humility—until we can say with her: God is all we desire; He is our only possession.
The alabaster light is Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, her gaze lifted toward what lies hidden behind His divine countenance. It is the grace of Jesus Christ shining through the heart of Mary Magdalene, gifted to us by the Holy Spirit and willed by the Father. To live within this light is to love God utterly—to know Christ as He Who Is, and to rest our souls in the radiant stillness of His Being.


