The Real Mary of Nazareth

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Assumption, Blessed Mother, catholic, courage, cross, Elizabeth Johnson CSJ, faith, joy, Mary, morals, Pope Pius XII, Scripture, suffering, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, theology, truly our sister, wonderful mother

In 1950, Pope Pius XII declared a feast celebrating Mary, the Mother of Jesus, as a dogma of the Catholic faith. There are many feasts of Mary and this one was not a new thought; it’s reality had been celebrated by Christians with rituals from as early as the sixth century. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven is, ironically, something “assumed” since there is no concrete evidence of the fact that Mary, like Jesus, was taken body and soul into heaven at the time of her death, because of her esteemed role in the birth and life of Jesus in this earthly realm. It is one of those instances that the Church follows the sensus fidelium, a time when “from the bishops to the last of the faithful, they manifest a universal consent in matters of faith and morals.” The Pope was, in a sense, just certifying what people had believed and practiced for centuries.

More recently than this proclamation has been the publication of an extraordinary book by Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ entitled: Truly our Sister: Mary in the Communion of Saints. I say it is extraordinary because of Sister Elizabeth’s exhaustive study of both the theology and the Scriptural evidence of Mary’s life. The added section on life in Nazareth in the first century of Christianity grounds our knowledge and appreciation of Mary as “one like us” who was a true human being, a mother who raised her child with all the worries of every mother, and then some. Mary’s joy was extreme as was her suffering and her service to us a blessing that calls for the gratitude of all. The wonderful conclusion of Sister Elizabeth’s work, therefore, is that Mary is totally approachable, not at all out of the reach of any of us. She is a model for us, but not in the manner of “Superwoman” – rather more like a wonderful mother, or “truly our sister.”

Let us honor her as such and think of her, as today’s gospel tells it, as running to share the news of her pregnancy with her kinswoman, Elizabeth, with all the awe and fear it held for her. Let us see her in the home of Elizabeth, a refuge from her confusion about how her life will unfurl, listening to stories and gathering her courage to return home to face what awaits her. And let us follow that life to the cross and beyond, wondering about her last days and the mix of emotions that must have been hers in those days until she was taken to her true home in peace. May we hold her in our hearts today and celebrate her willingness to be God’s presence in this world.

 

 

 

 

 

Becoming Love

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catholic, fire, heart, holiness, Jesus, John, love, most, sacred heart of Jesus, sacrifice, solemnity, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, a designation that makes me, as a “cradle Catholic,” sit up and take notice. It’s the words Solemnity and Most that call attention to the holiness of Jesus as the model for life. In this way, my focus shifts from the beating and bleeding heart in the images of Jesus on the walls of many Catholic homes to a deeper consciousness that does not negate the truth of that devotion but expands and personalizes it in a new way. Lest the reader assume that I have left tradition behind, it seems important to mention that I have an image of the Sacred Heart in my prayer space at home. It is the totality of the symbols – the face of Jesus, the heart and fire illuminating it – and yes, drops of blood as a sign of his life’s sacrifice – that guides my prayer toward love each day.

The second reading for today speaks strongly of what I feel about this feast. Listen to John’s first letter (4: 7-16).  Beloved, let us love one another because love is of God…In this is love: not that we have loved God but that God has loved us…Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and God’s love is brought to perfection in us…(Here’s the “punchline” – the crux of it all) God is love.

I read a quote once on a card that stays with me. It said, “We are not God but we are a seed of God..” I don’t remember the exact conclusion to that thought but it spoke of our responsibility to grow into God in ways that reflect God’s light, God’s love: the being of God. How might I nurture that movement today?

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the Glory of God

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Ad majorem Dei gloria, catholic, enough, For the greater glory of God, Jesus, Joseph, Mary, St. Ignatius of Loyola, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Your love and Your grace

I was reminded this morning of one of the customs of life in a Catholic school. At the top of our test papers (and probably our homework assignments as well) we wrote +JMJ, a reminder to dedicate our work to Jesus, Mary and Joseph. As we got older this was sometimes replaced by the Latin phrase, Ad majorem Dei gloria (+AMDG), For the greater glory of God. I’m sure that sometimes we wrote it to assure a good grade rather than as a reminder of the purpose of all our work, but something of motivation must have been instilled in us with this habit.

Today is the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola whose life story is a long and tortuous recounting of transformation from soldier to mystic and founder of the religious community called the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits. It was Ignatius who took as the motto +AMDG for his “band of brothers” and who early in his conversion wrote what has become an intensive retreat model for spiritual seekers the world over called The Spiritual Exercises. The spirituality of Ignatius is summarized in a short prayer that mirrors the way he lived his life and has motivated others to deeper love for God over the past five centuries. A modern translation in song by Jesuit John Foley is my favorite rendering; the repetitious refrain especially calls to me.

Take, Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, understanding, my entire will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; that’s enough for me. Your love and Your grace are enough for me. Take, Lord, receive all I have and possess. You have given all to me, now I return it. Give me only Your love and Your grace; that’s enough for me. Your love and Your grace are enough for me. Take, Lord, receive, all is Yours now. Dispose of it wholly according to your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; that’s enough for me. Your love and your grace are enough for me.

Universality

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catholic, Charles Lwanga, energy of love, martyr, Teilhard de Chardin, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unity

I was young when I learned that the Roman Catholic Church (into which I was born) is “one, holy, catholic and apostolic.” That is not to say that I understood what those terms meant and it took a very long time for me to even consider the question. Thus, I remember distinctly hearing in 1964 when I was in high school that Pope Paul VI had named a group of 22 young Africans from Uganda as “official” saints of the Church.  (d. 1886) and his companions, whom we celebrate today, were jailed and later murdered for refusal to renounce their faith. Perhaps I need to brush up on my church history and martyrology, but the reason I remember this announcement was my surprise that we now had the first African saints. Embarrassing as that seems, I was living at that time in the cocoon of an Irish ghetto on the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts where only four years before we had celebrated the fact that John F. Kennedy had done the impossible – become President of the United States as a Roman Catholic. We heard all the news in those days from newspapers and radio, as well as increasingly on television – but not instantaneously as we do today.

The word catholic means universal but it took centuries for our church to look outside of Europe for examples of ordinary believers – never mind saints! Today I think of my privileged experience of a beautiful Sri Lankan Mass on a Sunday at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris and a video of African children dancing in an offertory procession to a Mass in their village as examples of this new consciousness. It is true, as Catholics sometimes say in defining themselves, that we can go to church in any country in the world and find the same ritual – not in the same language, obviously, but with the same core, the same heart. In the past ten years, I have also come to know that this is true in a broader sense when I gather with Christians of many denominations for wisdom studies. In these moments, the rituals differ but what holds us together is the peace, the growing love, between us.

Unity in diversity is growing in our world. I look forward to a day when our hearts will be so open that we will recognize the vision of Teilhard de Chardin who said: Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.

A Cheerful Giver

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catholic, cheerful giver, generous, giving, laughter, lightness of life, pay homage, piety, sanctity, singing, Sirach, smiling, St. Philip Neri, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This morning’s first reading from the Book of Sirach (35:1-12) sounds like an ad for “sacrificial giving” in church. It is talking about paying homage to the Lord but goes beyond tithing, which ought to be accomplished in a spirit of joy. Expansion of the theme of actual donation is also implied in such language as: in generous spirit…be not sparing of freewill gifts and Give to the Most High as he has given to you, generously, according to your means. Upon reading this I was thrown back to a song that we used to sing during our novitiate days that began: God loves a cheerful giver; give it all you’ve got! (great emphasis on the second part – sort of like a football fight song, gestures and all). Certainly, we were not singing about monetary contributions to the Church but rather the attitude with which we lived our lives.

Serendipitously, today is the feast of St. Philip Neri who lived in the 1500’s, a tumultuous time for the Christian Church. A summary comment from the website http://www.americancatholic.org offers the following:

Many people feel that such an attractive and jocular personality as Philip’s cannot be combined with intense spirituality. Philip’s life melts our rigid, narrow views of piety. His approach to sanctity was truly catholic, all-embracing and accompanied by a good laugh. Philip always wanted his followers to become not less but more human through their striving for holiness.

So, if they’re not already part of your spiritual backpack, it sounds like a good idea today to add smiling, singing and considering those you meet as friends just waiting to be found, with whom the lightness of life can dispel some of the heaviness of the world.