I love Saint Mary Magdalene, and for many reasons. The first reason is, "she loved much".The second reason is, she was totally true to herself that she was not afraid to show her weakness. When she saw the empty tomb, she started to cry, and it is in this state of weeping that Jesus encountered her.
For many people, crying, especially weeping, is a sign of weakness. How many people would want to be seen with their puffy eyes and red nose? I don't think we would find many. Each person wants to show to the world that he or she is strong. Nobody wants to be laughed at or pitied.
But in reality, how many of us can really say that everything is really okay. I mean, deep within our hearts, can we really say that nothing or no one really touches us to the point of crying?
When I reached forty, I have had a lot of exercise in crying. In fact, a friend called me a "cornball". My childhood friends and my classmates in high school and college would not believe this because they have always known me as the "jolly-bing". Anyway, nowadays I cry for a lot of reasons: when I have a headache or other physical pains, when I am tired, when I am touched by what I am reading or what I am watching, when I wax nostalgic, when I have a strong experience of any sort, when I realize the goodness of God expressed especially in small things, when I think about the transitoriness of life, etc., etc.
Actually crying does me a lot of good. I don't really cry in full view of others because I still haven't overcome human respect. But I do a lot of crying. It does me good because it makes me realize my boundaries, that at the end of the day, everything is on loan. Crying helps me to be in solidarity with the countless men and women who suffer for small or big reasons. It makes me remember that I need God, and that this God I believe in is a tender God who comforts those who mourn, who wipes away the tears...
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