www.facebook.com Famed Hollywood director Martin Scorsese known for movies like Goodfellas, Casino and The Departed, to name just a few, recently asked Pope Francis how older people can help the younger generation cope with cruelty and violence.
The Holy Father gave the director an answer that some might find puzzling. I know I did until I began thinking more deeply.
He answered (in part): “here there is a word that we must speak: the wisdom of weeping.
Today many of us believe crying is unhealthy, and a sign of emotional weakness. We know however, that Jesus wept. Jesus was a compassionate person. Don’t forget that he was totally human and divine. He had human emotions. He wept when Lazarus died. Jesus was a friend of Lazarus so he had deep grief in losing a friend, but he was also weeping for Lazarus’ family. Click here to continue reading other occasions when Jesus wept.
On a spiritual level we know that crying can help us get in touch with our feelings. By crying for suffering and violence that we witness, we can begin to feel it more deeply and not become hardened to it. Holding back tears and feelings of sorrow makes us numb and allows a distance. Crying is cathartic and brings us closer. Then we can begin to help others and find solutions.
From a medical perspective, excessive crying or crying for the wrong reasons may be a sign of trouble. But in general crying is healthy. “Crying activates the body in a healthy way,” says Stephen Sideroff, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist at UCLA