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Dear catholic.com visitors: This Catholic Answers website, with all its free resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. We receive no funding from the institutional Church and rely entirely on your generosity to sustain this website with trustworthy, accessible content. If every visitor this month donated $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.
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Q&A

Was it possible for Jesus to have been romantically attracted to Mary Magdalene?

Catholic Answers Staff

Question:

Was it possible for Jesus to have been romantically attracted to Mary Magdalene?

Answer:

Romantic attraction is a normal human emotion. As Jesus was fully man, it was within the realm of possibility that he experienced it. Scripture tells us that Jesus experienced normal human emotions such as anger (John 2:14–17), love (John 11:5), grief (John 11:32–35), and joy (Luke 10:21). He also experienced normal human desires such as hunger (Matt. 21:18), thirst (John 4:7; 19:28), and the desire for rest (John 4:6). Nevertheless, there are certain things we have to keep in mind.

Rightly ordered emotions draw a person to fulfill a rightly ordered need or desire. Rightly ordered romantic attraction draws a person into marriage. Jesus was not only without sin but also without concupiscence (the inclination toward sin that is a consequence of original sin), so he did not suffer disordered romantic attraction. Jesus’ mission did not include marriage to a human being—his bride is the Church (Eph. 5:25–33)—so there was no apparent purpose for him to feel romantic attraction. Therefore, while we cannot know with certainty, it is unlikely he felt romantic attraction for Mary Magdalene or any other woman.

Scripture does not mention or imply that Jesus was romantically attracted to or involved with anyone. He was focused on his mission of saving mankind.

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