Close Cousins

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a voice crying in the desert, David Haas, Elizabeth, Jesus, John the Baptist, Mary, the chosen one, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As the Church celebrates the birth of St. John the Baptist, I start thinking about the relationship of John to his cousin, Jesus. I find it hard to talk much about it as there are few mentions in the Scriptures but this morning I decided to use what I have read about them together and go from there.

It doesn’t seem that they were close in childhood, unless Elizabeth and Mary wrote a lot of letters describing their “boys” to one another and sharing them with the kids. It’s so much easier for us in the age of technology. We can watch children grow up in pictures and videos and as soon as they can write, they can enjoy a relationship – if they have the tools. I wonder what the mothers of these two shared, if anything. And what, as they grew, were the stories about them in their neighborhoods?

John certainly knew his place in adulthood. “A voice crying in the desert” is how he described his role and he never seemed to mind that Jesus was “the chosen one” and he the “sidekick,” the associate, the one to do the bidding of God in Jesus. He went to prison because of Jesus. He was beheaded for loving him. It doesn’t seem that they had much time together but when they met it seemed like they knew each other immediately on a deep level. And I’m so glad to know that John had the privilege of baptizing Jesus. What an honor and a humbling event, for sure!

All that makes me think of a David Haas song that speaks of the relationship we might have with Jesus. It’s the words and the music of the refrain that cause a stirring in my heart. And when I think of John the Baptist I can imagine that if he never even met Jesus (although how wonderful for both of them that he did!) he would have sung this refrain.

Without seeing you, we love you. Without touching you, we embrace. Without knowing you, we follow. Without seeing you, we believe.

Mary in June?

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Blessed Mother, coronavirus, Genesis, good old days, John, Mary, May, prejudice, solutions, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Everything seems so up-ended, disordered, chaotic…even as I turned first to the USCCB website this morning for the liturgical readings of the day. “It is June, is it not?” I asked myself, as I looked at the liturgical calendar and saw the heading: “Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.” Most “good Catholics” of at least “middle age” have been aware since childhood of the dedication of May as “the Month of Mary, our Mother.” We grew up with Marian hymns and May Crownings, flowers and May Devotions with special attention to the rosary and awareness of a twinning of sorts of Memorial Day as May 30 and the feast of Mary as Queen of Heaven on the 31st.

I admit my age when I say these things so please don’t think I have returned to the “good old days” before all calendars became rather fluid to accommodate work schedules/weekends and other updates seen more sensible to the majority of people, at least in the USA. It’s just that I could always count on celebrating May first as my own mother’s birthday and the 31st as that of our Blessed Mother Mary. Silly me, to hold to a calendar when the world is in chaos all around me.

After my rant and a closer look inside, I find it ironic but also telling that the readings for today seem correct. From the Hebrew Scriptures (GN 3:9-15, 20) we hear the conversation in the Garden of Eden between God and Adam after he and Eve have eaten the forbidden fruit. It is all about excuses and blaming and judgment. (Eve has joined the conversation midway through). More striking is the gospel recounting (JN 19: 25-34) of the Crucifixion of Jesus.

Our country is burning with looting and mourning, frustration and pain over racism and pandemic. The coronavirus is not a punishment from God, nor is the sin of racism. We need to look deeply at the situations and ask ourselves how we might now contribute to solutions rather than adding to the chaos. What have we done to stem the tide of infection? Are wearing a mask in public and washing our hands at home too onerous strictures? More deeply yet, we need to look at reasons for prejudice against our brothers and sisters who do not look like us or talk like us or celebrate life like us. Do we know the hearts of others rather than just their skin? What have we done to welcome difference into our lives and love it in the name of the God who created us all?

I am talking to myself here as much as to anyone else and I need this day to look at my own life and do more than wish that it could be different for all of us. I have no more words. I rely on your prayer as I offer mine to you. May God help us all.

Blessed Joseph

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Blessed Mother, Mary, mother, Sisters of St. Joseph, St. Joseph, St. Joseph the Worker, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There are so many reasons to celebrate St. Joseph today on this feast of St. Joseph the Worker. Most obvious for me is that I live as a Sister of St. Joseph whose heritage is dedicated to and modeled on the person of Joseph, husband of Mary. We believe him to be a quiet man who worked as a carpenter – simple yet noble work – in service to God and his family and as a teacher to his son. Somehow that image remains although he is also named as Patron of the Universal Church for Catholics and has come to the attention of workers the world over since the Papacy of Pope Leo XIII as the champion of the social teachings of the Church. The promulgation in 1891 of his encyclical, Rerum Novarum, which addressed the condition of the working classes, gave a platform for workers that still directs the actions of justice workers throughout the world.

Closer to home and heart, however, is the devotion of my mother, Mary, whose birthday is today and who celebrated each year by placing flowers in church at the feet of St. Joseph’s statue. I continued this tradition in her honor after her passing from this world. This year it would be impossible because our church participation is necessarily virtual, but I plan to go outside later and walk to the border of our land where my siblings and I had forsythia bushes (30 of them!) planted in memory of our lovely mother after her death. She loved those “golden bells” and it does not surprise me that this year they are so prolific and beautiful that they always make me smile.

So I welcome this beautiful month and give thanks to God for the models of steadfast love so present in Joseph and Mary, and my own holy mother.

Go Deep

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authority, Jesus, John, Lazarus, Martha, Mary, Psalm 30, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, voice

Today’s gospel – the very long story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead – (JN 11: 1-45) offers several themes worthy of reflection. It’s easy to give it a cursory reading because we know the story from the moment Jesus got the word from Martha and Mary that Lazarus was ill, through the delays, the strange behavior of Jesus (not rushing to the home of the sick man, his dear friend), theological conversation about the end times when all will be raised, to the cinematic moment when Lazarus emerges from the tomb still bound in burial bands, when Jesus gives the order to untie him and let him go and John concludes that many people came to believe in Jesus from that day. (Whew! Try to diagram that sentence, if you will.)

What I noticed today more clearly than ever before when reading this story was the authority in the voice of Jesus at every turn. Clearly, he had come to understand his mission – the reason he had come into the world – and perhaps how Lazarus could illustrate something that Jesus knew about God’s willingness to save us all.

I’m still ruminating on the themes…so I urge you to read the text aloud, stop at each juncture and wait listening (as Psalm 130 urges us today) for deeper understanding of what Jesus was saying and doing to ready us for the events that await us in the remaining days of Lent.

Annunciation

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Anunciation, devotion, divine design, divine grace, Mary, Tangel, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Have you ever wondered about the encounter of Mary and the angel who brought her the news that she was to be the mother of Jesus? I know that we have the gospel passages that help us put the pieces together but we don’t have much to go on – especially because there were no witnesses to the event except Mary herself. The fact that it is one of the foundational tenets of Christianity and has been celebrated in art for centuries and written about and debated in theological circles for nearly two millennia should be convincing enough for us. But how was it for Mary really? Did she see an angel with her human eyes? Was it a being of light or a human form? Did she hear the message as if spoken from human lips or was the message transmitted by telepathy? Was she really as quick to answer as the gospel tells us or did she hesitate longer than just that one question: “How can this be since I do not know man?” (or closer to our language “I have not had intimate relations with a man.”)

Some of us have deeper devotion to Mary than others of us so we may conjecture different scenarios. Some of us probably never spend any time with the scene at all. Today, I suggest that we do spend some time in what some call “the imaginal realm.” Go to a place in your inner self where you can reconstruct the event of Mary coming to know that she was to carry the child that would become Jesus the Christ.

Then put yourself in the equation.

I suggest this last practice after having read the reflection from Franciscan Media this morning. It just carries the experience toward us to a place that perhaps we have never gone. See what happens, if you will.

Sometimes spiritual writers are accused of putting Mary on a pedestal and thereby, discouraging ordinary humans from imitating her. Perhaps such an observation is misguided. God did put Mary on a a pedestal and has put all human beings on a pedestal. We have scarcely begun to realize the magnificence of divine grace, the wonder of God’s freely given love. The marvel of Mary—even in the midst of her ordinary life—is God’s shout to us to wake up to the marvelous creatures that we all are by divine design. (www.franciscanmedia.org)

Two Choices

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avoidance, Blessed Mother, Jonah, Mary, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

If ever there was a “wild and crazy” juxtaposition in the Scripture readings from the U.S.Bishops’ Conference, it is today. To be honest, however, there are two different sets of readings: one from the “regular” lectionary calendar and one from the calendar of feasts. Today we honor the Blessed Mother Mary, mother of Jesus, as she is remembered in the prayer dedicated to her. It is the feast of the Most Holy Rosary. (Lots to learn on the internet about the provenance and development of that devotion.)

In the daily lectionary readings we have the very familiar story of Jonah and the whale (JON 1 &2) where Jonah tries everything to get out of completing the mission he has been given by God and ends up in the belly of the whale. It’s a cautionary tale, to be sure, and the moral is the futility of dismissing God’s uncomfortable directives. (To be fair to God, Jonah was saved by being harbored for a time in the belly of the whale and spewed out in the end after which he gave in to the mission he had been given…but that comes in a later chapter.)

The reading for the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is the story in Luke’s gospel of the Annunciation of Mary’s call to be the mother of Jesus. There seems to be no hesitation in her affirmative response to this incredible message brought to her by an angel. (traditionally translated as: “Be it done unto me according to your word.”) The gospels are like shorthand, I think, and there are places where I would wish for a more complete description of the stated event. It seems unfair to have such a brief conversation (LK 1: 28-38) for such an important event. One translation (J.B. Phillips) that seems to speak more of who Mary is has always been my favorite. Mary says, “I belong to the Lord body and soul. Let it happen as you say.”

While Jonah was busy sleeping in the hold of a sinking ship, trying to avoid God, Mary was practicing the love that directed her entire young life and enabled a consistent response to something she didn’t really understand but was willing to trust. A telling juxtaposition…and something upon which to reflect when we are faced with a difficult assignment from God.

The Stuff of Legend

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Blessed Mother, Holy Family, Jesus, Joseph, Mary, St. Anne, St. Joachim, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

A legend, the dictionary says, is “a traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated.” Today’s feast in Christianity celebrates the parents of Mary, mother of Jesus, even though we know nothing factual about them except the fact that they existed. Even their names (Anne and Joachim) come from a legendary source written more than a century after Jesus died. “The heroism and holiness of these people, however,” (says franciscanmedia.com) “is inferred from the whole family atmosphere around Mary in the Scriptures. Whether we rely on the legends about Mary’s childhood or make guesses from the information in the Bible, we see in her a fulfillment of many generations of prayerful persons, herself steeped in the religious traditions of her people.”

I smile as I think of St. Anne, whose name I carry (Lois ANN) and have cherished as grandmother throughout my life, imagining what she must have been like. I see her caring for and teaching Mary the small tasks of the household and showering her with love as my own mother did with me. There is comfort and joy and no harm at all, I think, in this kind of imagining and so I will go about this day reflecting on this spiritual grandmother of mine whose life gave birth and much more to the one we call Blessed.

The Company of Women

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companions, Elizabeth, full of grace, Luke, Mary, motherhood, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Visitation of Mary, women

I am grateful today for all the wonderful women in my life who have played a part in my development and have nurtured me from before my birth until today. Why? Today’s gospel recounts that rich and meaningful story of Mary and Elizabeth, both pregnant with their first child. Elizabeth, the barren, aging one, has longed for motherhood and finally knows it is coming to her. Mary, her teenage relative, comes to visit in turmoil. She, with child when hardly more than a child herself, wonders how this has all happened and needs the solace of an elder woman who will, perhaps, help her to understand. Wonder of wonders, Elizabeth recognizes what is happening in Mary because of the gifted one she herself is carrying!

The story of the Visitation (LK 1:39-56) could be seen as a model for woman-to-woman relationships in all manner of situations. Sharing the fears and joyful expectations of motherhood, the trials and accomplishments of growing children, the prayer and struggles of women at work when challenges come – women need companions in these complex times. Younger women need older, wiser women for wisdom and elders need the young to help them accept the realities of aging.

Whether in a corporate office of a large company or in the kitchen chatting over paring vegetables, women need each other to help them feel whole. I love this gospel because if she had not had Elizabeth whose openhearted welcome greeted her, where would Mary have found the strength to manage what faced her? “Full of grace” herself, Mary recognized the one who recognized her with loving acceptance. And both were blessed.

I will spend this day, both physically and virtually, in the company of the women who sit in my memory and my reality and I will give thanks for the richness that is mine because of them.

Annunciation

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, Annunciation, David Haas, Mary, Psalm 40, readiness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

How does one know when God is speaking? Today the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar celebrates the willingness of Mary to acquiesce to God’s choice of her to be the mother of Jesus the Christ. In reading a commentary on Psalm 40, chosen for today’s feast, I read the following:

In this psalm we hear about the sense of waiting for God to act, and in the end God does so in a marvelous way for which the psalmist gives thanks. There is, however, another side to the experience which is also present in this psalm, the divine perspective. Does God act arbitrarily (only when God sees fit for some private reason), or is the divine act in response dependent upon the human condition? Sacred teaching speaks about “readiness.” When the heart is ready God acts swiftly, without delay or hesitation. God willingly gives the divine Self to an open and empty heart. This is the key. (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p. 101)

Clearly this state of heart does not come without preparation. I can imagine Mary sitting in silence (or doing her daily chores with full attention) from early childhood, praying not just for herself but for her loved ones to be filled with love and the desire for God. My best guess of her prayer would approximate the lovely gospel acclamation of David Haas, Come now, O Word of God (because music lifts me beyond the capacity of the spoken word). Listen:

Fill our minds that we may hear Your wisdom. Touch our lips that we may speak Your truth. Hold our hearts that we may always follow You. Come now, O Word of God. (music on youtube)

Almost There

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Christ, Emmanuel, enlighten, hope, Joseph, journey of faith, King of the Nations, Mary, O Antiphons, radiant dawn, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Although away from the internet for two days, I have been very present to the O Antiphons. My favorite (except for the last but easily twinned with it) is the fifth, translated variously as “Rising Sun,” “Morning Star” or “Dayspring.” I prefer my own rendition (which I did not invent but heard somewhere along my journey of faith). As I wait today for the light to come, signaling a new day, my heart hopes for the sun to break forth over the mountain across the river. Such a powerful symbol of returning light can awaken me to a new day as nothing else can and so is best described as “Radiant Dawn.”

O Radiant Dawn, splendor of light eternal and sun of righteousness, come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

The sixth antiphon, wherein Christ is called “King of the Nations,” breaks all the definitional laws of how the world sees a ruler. Coming as a helpless baby to a poor family, living as a carpenter’s apprentice and then an itinerant preacher and lover of all certainly topples all notions of kingship. Isaiah describes his reign as follows: He shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they train for war again. (IS 2:4) Is this not the king we long for? The one we know to bring us to a new “radiant dawn?”

O King of the nations, and their desire, the cornerstone making both one: Come and save the human race, which you fashioned from clay.

This is the one we call Emmanuel, God with us. I will save consideration of this Great Light until tomorrow when the birthing begins and the promise is ready to be revealed.