Archbishop gets inside Mary Magdalene's mind

It is the tenth anniversary of the ordination of women. Yesterday, the Archbishop of Canterbury gave a sermon in which he gets inside the mind of Mary Magdalene. Ruth Gledhill excerpts the sermon on today's Times:

The lament of the Magdalene, a scorned woman in another time
Ruth Gledhill

But you can read the complete sermon on the Archbishop of Canterbury's web site:

Sermon to mark the 10th anniversary of the ordination of women
Sunday 16 May 2004

But it’s harder with the ones who know me better, the ones who knew him better. They remember who I was, they remember the seven devils. When they listen to me, they think, ‘Yes, she lived in a world of terror and fantasy and pain all those years, she’s had a life that’s been so damaged, you can’t really be surprised if she’s still only half in touch with normality.’

They’ll say that and mean it kindly, of course. It’s true; I lived with devils, I was being eaten alive from the inside for years. Normality? I don’t know what it means really. But which of us does? I think most people are being eaten alive most of the time, but they don’t notice it. I just didn’t have the defences, didn’t have the language or whatever. I just gave in, and let my mind fill up with strangers, with voices accusing me and screaming at me. Perhaps it’s what most people only know when they have nightmares, the feeling of being completely helpless, completely despised and hated. Only I had it all day and every day . . . .