Musings will offer contemplations from Mirari: The Way of the Marys from now until Easter Monday.
Holy Wednesday
Few in the swell of tragedy, can call the heart outward enough to ease a dread not their own. This Miriam of Magdala did, at the last hour that such was able to penetrate the pall of death.
Foreknowledge of a loved one’s death calls forth the same loosening of the ties that bind “to form,” and this is what she, whom you know as Mary Magdalene, and she alone, could greet with a vision of connection beyond death that would be real and present in life.
With this vision, she was able to care for her beloved with tenderness, and to pre-dress the wounds he would take into his death with him. She blessed the crown of his head, the back of his hands and the top of his feet. If not for decorum she would have blessed the place where the sword would enter . . .
From Mirari: The Way of The Marys, P.206
I wonder if there is a way that “the Marys” pre-dress our wounds with the words and feeling within “Mirari.” Perhaps the Marys call attention to the hurts we may never have acknowledged, or, admitted only in private. I savor the idea that this may be so, and that future wounds common to life are made more bearable as well. I wonder if it could be that it is such acknowledgment that draws our hearts outward and allows us to see the wounds of others as well as our own.
Image copyright SWPA.Photography
This is so beautiful. I have felt such grief this week relative to personal family loss, feeling likewise helpless to comfort others as covid protocols disrupt traditional gathering. I was encouraged by these concepts of “calling the heart outward” and “ pre- dressing wounds” to sooth others’ pain. It gives me hope that the deep love and blessingI have been sending might indeed be powerful medicine for my loved ones.
Knowing you, Lady, I have no doubt that you are a healer of wounds and a great comfort to many. I, too, wonder at all that has been disrupted in this time of Covid. But your words give me hope that the “powerful medicine” of our care is still being offered and received, even in these distanced times.
Yes, the wounds of others and mine are poignant and I am sure will be dressed this Eastern. Love is everything.
Thank you, Claude. Love is, indeed, everything.