The Women Who Remain Today: A Good Friday Reflection by Rev. Dr. Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP

https://open.substack.com/pub/bridgetmarymeehan/p/the-women-who-remain-today-a-good?r=2kfqor&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

On Good Friday, we stand once again at the foot of the cross.

And we remember.

John’s Gospel tells us:

“Standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.” (John 19:25)

At the cross, it is not the powerful who remain.
It is the women.

While others fled in fear, these women stayed.
Not because they were without fear—
but because love held them there.

Their presence is not passive.
It is courageous.
It is prophetic.

Feminist theology teaches us something essential here:
presence itself is resistance.

To remain.
To witness.
To refuse to look away.

This is not weakness.
This is holy defiance.

The Women Who Remain Today

And the story does not end at Calvary.

I see these women still.

I see them in mothers who stand at hospital beds, holding vigil through long nights, refusing to leave their beloved.
I see them in grandmothers raising grandchildren with quiet, fierce love.
I see them in women who protest in the streets for justice, placing their bodies where truth is being crucified.

I see them in survivors who transform their wounds into healing for others.
I see them in caregivers, nurses, chaplains, and teachers who remain present to suffering when others turn away.
I see them in women who speak truth in churches that would rather silence them.

And yes—I see them in women priests.

Women who have stood at the cross of exclusion and still said “yes” to their call.
Women who break the bread of Eucharist in inclusive communities, proclaiming with their lives that all are welcome at Christ’s table.
Women who remain in love with a Church that does not yet fully recognize them—and who trust that the Spirit is not finished.

I see them in our communities of equals—
around kitchen tables,
on Zoom screens,
in small chapels and living rooms—
where the Body of Christ is honored, shared, and lived.

These are the women who remain today.

Not perfect.
Not powerful in the world’s eyes.
But faithful.

And their presence is changing the Church.

God Is Not Above the Cross

And I recognize something else:

God is not above the cross.

As Elizabeth Johnson reminds us, God is not a distant ruler demanding sacrifice. God is the Living One who suffers with us.

On Good Friday, we do not worship a God who stands apart from suffering.

We encounter a God who enters it.

God is on the cross.

God is in every violated body.
God is in every silenced voice.
God is in every mother grieving her child—lost to violence, war, poverty, racism, or hatred.

And God is in us—
when we choose to remain.

The Invitation of Good Friday

This is the invitation of Good Friday:

To stand where love is breaking.
To be present where suffering cries out.
To trust that even here—especially here—God is.

Like the women at the cross, we are not called to fix everything.
We are not called to understand everything.

We are called to remain.

To love.
To witness.
To stand in solidarity with the crucified peoples of our world.

And in that faithful presence,
we become witnesses to a love that death cannot destroy.

Closing Prayer

Loving God,
you who dwell not above suffering but within it,
give us the courage to remain.

When fear tempts us to flee,
root us in love.

When suffering overwhelms us,
open our eyes to your presence in the broken places.

Make us companions of the crucified,
bearers of hope,
and builders of communities where all are welcomed and cherished.

May we, like the women at the cross,
stand in holy defiance—
trusting that love is stronger than death.

Amen.