Perhaps we can understand Her action and what impelled her to so bold a deed (Mary Magdalen standing at the foot of the Cross).  She has been raised up from her unworthy life.  Her “seven devils” have fled, leaving her with the soul of a child, save that it is more ardent and filled with boundless understanding.  Through Jesus she has at last come to know true happiness.  Through Him she has learned not to desecrate love, and the love in her, now cleansed from defilement, wells up the stronger because it has so many mad follies to redeem.

After her blatant sins, must she not show a blatant sorrow?  Having in all else braved the eyes of the world, she will brave them now in humility, in greatness of soul, and in faith.  So magnificent will she be in her role that she will become a symbol of spiritual resurrection, a patroness of repentant sinners.  –Father A.G. Sertillanges ‘What Jesus Saw From the Cross’