Joy Beyond Suffering

– “He is Risen” by Jorge Cocco

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices, so that they might go and anoint [the body of Jesus], and very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.

– Mark 16:1-2

The Wild Reed’s 2024 Holy Week series concludes with a fourth excerpt from Joyce Rupp’s 2023 book Jesus, Companion in My Suffering: Reflections for the Lenten Journey.

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Several women hurried in the early dawn to anoint the body of Jesus. As precious as the spices they carried was the devoted love stored in their sorrowful hearts. This tender affection, strong as their grief, moved the women onward toward this compassionate deed. As the women walked to the tomb, they could not have envisioned anything that would soften the pain of the previous days. Had they stayed home, they would have missed the powerful experience of hope that arrived in the angel’s announcement.

The story of these women assures us that our suffering, too, can be transformed. When we go forth to anoint others with our attentive compassion, we find that our wounded hearts have something of value to offer them: empathic understanding and intentional care.

If we are willing to look beyond self, to reach out to those who bear life's injuries and sorrows and anoint them with our kindness, we will find our own pain lessened. I've known this in my life and in that of others who've borne the weight of suffering. The joy we receive will be not as earth-shattering as the Resurrection of Jesus but more like a slow-flowing stream that gradually washes the pain from our hearts and turns us toward gladness.


Joy of My Life,
may the love that dwells within my heart
be as fervent as that of the dedicated women
who intended to anoint your entombed body.
Come and surprise me with the gift of renewed hope.
Revive what has been lying dormant in my spirit.


Today: I anoint people around me with the joy of gladness.

– Joyce Rupp
Excerpted from Jesus, Companion in My Suffering:
Reflections for the Lenten Journey
Ave Maria Press, 2023
pp. 106-107

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• He Is Risen, and So Are You
• Resurrection in an Emerging Universe
• Resurrection: A New Depth of Consciousness
• A Discerning Balance Between Holiness and Wholeness: A Hallmark of the Resurrected Life
• Jesus: The Revelation of Oneness
• The Resurrected Jesus
• And What of Resurrection?
• Jesus: The Breakthrough in the History of Humanity
• To Believe in Jesus
• Resurrection: Beyond Words, Dogmas and All Possible Theological Formulations
• The Passion of Christ – Jesus Appears to Mary
• The Triumph of Love: An Easter Reflection
• “And Still We Rise!” – MayDay 2015 (Part I)
• “And Still We Rise!” – MayDay 2015 (Part II)
• Easter for Mystics

Image: “He is Risen” by Jorge Cocco.