Who Are We?

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, caregivers, creation, earthly concerns, global warming, mortal, psalm 85, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Psalm 8 is a lyrical reminder of our place in creation, calling us again today to our duty and privilege as “caretakers” of all God has made. In one lovely but haunting translation that calls us to recognize “the book of beauty that God’s fingers wrote,” the psalmist asks: “Who are we to stand before all this and see?” The answer comes as gently as the question that has been asked.

We are mortal beings set in this world, below the splendor of transcendent space…You placed us here and gave the earth into our care. You bid us cherish all this that’s ours, all the beasts and creatures of the wild. The birds of air, the fish of sea, the plants and everything that lives and moves are we here to know and love…*

My question as the images of all these creations pass before my inner eye is one of evaluation, knowing the effects of global warming and destruction of habitats causing the increased extinction of entire species. How well have we cared? Who are we in the role we have been given? Who are we?

*Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p.16)

Mary’s Birthday

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birthday, caregivers, celebration, devotion, gratitude, immaculate conception, Jerusalem, model, mothers, nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary, Nazareth, Protoevangelium of James, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I have lots of people whose birthdays I remember and I celebrate them at least in my mind if not with a card, a call, or (these days) with an e-mail. Today Eastern and Western Catholic Churches celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary – a birthday I always mark with a smile and/or a prayer of gratitude for her role in our life. This morning I wondered who came up with this date as probably no birth certificate exists to prove her arrival and most of what we know from that time is less than an exact science. What I found was that the first written mention of Mary’s birth was in the apocryphal text called the Protoevangelium of James, a document probably in its final written form in the early second century. It speaks of her parents, Joachim – a wealthy member of one of the tribes of Israel – and Anna, but is not clear about where or when she was born. Some accounts speak of Nazareth as her birthplace and some say it was a house near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. The date for commemoration of her birth was logically set, but not until the sixth century, as nine months after the celebratory date of the Immaculate Conception.

Regardless of historical accuracy, the Christian Churches have always celebrated Mary in many ways during the year with great devotion. She is particularly dear to mothers around the world who look to her even on the ordinary days as a model for living – in good times and times of suffering. Perhaps that is a good reminder for us today to give thanks for our own mothers and/or those who have “mothered” us with their care and love – all those who have encouraged our birthing into spiritual maturity. I will think on those women today and mark this day joyfully in celebration of them.