Mary Magdalene Courage
Courage
“The other disciples left, but Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.” This is where we see Mary Magdalene’s courage. Not the courage to take up a sword, but the courage to stand, to remain in her grief, loss, and fear. This is a common, unheroic kind of courage – the vulnerable courage of waiting and trusting when hope seems gone, when we have no other hope than that God will provide. —Br. Lain Wilson, SSJE
We recently celebrated the Feast Day of Mary Magdalene on July 22. Mary Magdalene weeping at Jesus’ tomb is our icon for a very different kind of courage. It is the courage to stand by, wait, not run away, and stay still. It is the courage we see in people who are grieving and choose to stay with the grief, rather than anesthetize it with alcohol or drugs, work, shopping, or any other coping mechanism that allows them to escape instead of feel and work through the deep pain.
This is also the courage that comes to those who sit and wait with a grieving friend, not trying to say words that bring no comfort. It is the courage of the person who can cry with their friend. This is the courage we have when our friends are in trouble, and we stand by them even when the world mocks them. We don’t condone their actions, but we stand by them. Often, this courage comes to those who have made mistakes themselves and remember what it was like to have friends who stood by them. I see this in families whose teenagers have gotten into trouble.
I will never forget the image of Dr. Joycelyn Elders standing and walking beside her son, who was in trouble, when she was Surgeon General. I also see this with adults who have made a mistake, whose friends are not afraid to walk with them. This is the courage of the women at the cross and of those who go to the tomb on Easter Sunday. They put themselves at risk of ridicule and danger to support someone the world judges. This is courage that does not shout or make a scene. Biblically and traditionally, this has been a characteristic of women's courage, but we are increasingly seeing it in men. This is courage that has said its prayers and then stands or sits beside the person in need. This is courage that changes the world through its healing presence.
Joanna joannaseibert.com