Heroic Friendship

Would you be a friend to Mary Magdalen? Would I? She walks in to church to drop off her child and the other mothers turn their heads. They shun her. They don't necesarially mean to, it's just that they don't know what to say to her, or if they even want to say anything to her at all. She betrayed her husband. She betrayed her children. She betrayed her community. She caused so many to suffer; now, she should suffer for her sin. It's what is just. This scene calls to mind another scene we find in the book of John where we read, "Then the scribes and the pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultry and made her stand in the middle.... 'Now in the law, Moses comanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?'... 'Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.'" John 8:3-7 Christ, in this story, sets a new standard for men. He offers us the oportunity to offer foregiveness. In the old law, there was no room for forgiveness or redemption. The law was firmly set and conversion was not an option. But for Jesus, this situation enables Him to show us the great example of God's merciful love. That's all well and fine for Mary Magdalen, she was a wayward woman with serious issues, afterall. She didn't know God's love or the true faith. But the woman I spoke of above lives in the 21st century. She has the Mass and the sacraments. She knows better. It's interesting to me to hear people speak of others as if their sins are so scarlet red that they can never be forgiven. It amazes me to see how eager we are to accept the conversion of perfect strangers, yet hold out little to no hope for the conversion of our neighbors. Our Catholic church is filled with speakers who tell the most incredible stories of sin and conversion, and we embrace them and hang on every word of their inspiring stories, but when we meet up with one of our Catholic sisters or brothers who are knee-deep in a very similar, painful journey, we turn our backs to them. Somehow, they are not worthy of our love and kindness. Of course we are not to embrace the sinner and tell them not to worry, that God understands. God himself tells us in the corporal works of mercy to "admonish the sinner". Admonish, not shun nor chastize. Their is an important difference. Christ does not call us to be our brother's judge. We may be able to see the sin of our bretheren, but that doesn't give us the entire picture. Often times, we are not privy to what happens after the great offense. We are not in the confessional. We do not experience the penance. We do not feel their pain amd shame. We are not worthy of the intimate details of their healing. So the question that raises up in my heart after hearing this conversation is this: "What kind of friend am I?" Am I a heroic friend? One who could grant forgiveness to even the greatest sinner? Perhaps the sinner does not ask us for our foregiveness. Perhaps they are so ashamed, they can not look us in the eye and beg compassion. Mary Magdalen did not ask Jesus to help her. She did not defend her actions or plead for mercy. She held her head in shame. It was Christ who initiated her conversion. It was He who sent the pharisees and scribes away to reflect on their own sins. It was he who extended forgiveness and offered His heroic friendship. Am I worthy of the title heroic friend? I don't know. I truly hope I am. I know I am a sinner. I know I have judged my bretheren. I know I desperately want to be worthy of being called a heroic friend, because I know that is what Christ calls me to be. But am I?