Thank God the Church has given us St. Mary Magdalene: the prostitute-turned-first nun (of sorts). It's quite a help for both young men and women struggling with their sexuality and with lustful passions.
My picture of Mary Magdalene is this: I agree with the traditional Church view that she is one and the same with St. Mary of Bethany, the younger sister of Martha and Lazarus of Bethany. And yes, for a while she was a prostitute and adulteress who also had seven demons in her, who was saved from stoning by Jesus at the beginning of her dramatic conversion, which ultimately led to her being the first recorded witness of the Risen Christ (after she had been the first to prepare for his Passion by anointing his feet with luxuriant perfume).
Here is my own intuitive theory about her life:
Being the baby sister of Martha and Lazarus of Bethany (I hazard she was nearly 20 years younger than Martha and 15 or so than Lazarus), she was a supposedly good little girl who was raised by her much older brother and sister after their elderly parents both died; they were a very decent, pious Jewish family, so naturally this pretty little soul was specially targeted by the Devil, since her disgrace would bring enormous humiliation and suffering to the whole town of Bethany.
Around marrying age, say 14, this hitherto nice Jewish girl who probably prayed and fasted in emulation of her older brother and sister had also become a budding young woman of exceptional beauty and a very attractive figure, and naturally Martha and Lazarus felt very protective towards her because of all the attention she began to draw from men.
And this is where the Devil struck, very subtly but slowly and surely: "Look, Mary, you're such a beautiful young lady now, strong and independent, and your brother and sister have no right controlling you anymore like you're a little baby. Maybe you should stand up for yourself - they're not your mom and dad!"
Unfortunately, the Devil took exceptional care to ensure that he nailed Mary: he dispatched some of his most dependable anti-purity demons for this job, spirits with a particular gift for corrupting feminine beauty through the art of seduction and vanity.
And so it happened: Mary would not allow Martha and Lazarus to screen the many suitors for her hand in marriage. When a good candidate came forward, wholeheartedly approved by her parental siblings, she would not consent. At length, she began to associate with men who were specifically unacceptable to Martha and Lazarus, leaving them no choice but to attempt to discipline her. With that, she fled home altogether.
And thus began her life of dissipation. Was it some rich swindler who introduced her to the world of high-end harlotry? One can easily see the impressionability of a 16- or 17-year-old girl who had bitterly abandoned her religious family to check out the world with all its pomp and splendor on her own terms (or so she thought to be).
Probably wishing to be as far away from Bethany and Jerusalem (i.e. Jewish religiosity) as possible, she relocated far to the north, to Magdala near Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee, a region known for its cosmopolitan secularism (being under the rule of the decadent Roman puppet King Herod). Her career as a prostitute probably lasted about 7 years, as I estimate she was about 24 at the time she was rescued by Jesus towards the start of his public ministry in Galilee.
My own theory is that she was already looking to settle down at that point: her shelf life as a top-end hooker had run out, and with all her ill-gotten wealth she began looking for some real love. Of course, her only prospects were similarly vice-riddled men either of questionable repute or with secret double lives. She probably ended up with one of the latter type. She must still have been really hot and sexy, otherwise the Pharisees wouldn't have bothered to peep on her to catch her in the very act of adultery.
All that said, I guess I now have a special friend I can turn to if I ever feel compelled to share Christ with some female who kicks my male hormones into high gear.
St. Mary Magdalene, pray for us!
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