Even though I was baptized Catholic and my first church experiences; a Christmas fiesta and my grandmother’s funeral, were Catholic, for most of my life I have attended Protestant churches. And yet, and yet, and yet…. It was my choice to attend a Catholic theology school, it was my choice to connect with ecumenical ministries which combined the forces of Protestants and Catholics in unity of mission for our one God, one Christ, one Spirit but there was something about Mary.
In the protestant traditions one the of the greatest issues they have is the Catholic veneration of Mary. Even I struggled with this, the epistles speak little of Mary as they discuss the ways of the new church that followed Jesus, and having been well taught in my churches, I felt this was a major problem of the Catholic church. However, when on retreat in Mexico I was drawn to the honoring of Our Lady of Guadalupe, of her presence and importance to the people. Somewhere in time I realized that within my collections were a variety of art forms of the blessed mother of Jesus.
Here in Italy, it is taken to a new step for me, especially in this month of May, where every mass is opened with the Rosary. In Piegaro, where on Good Friday the importance of Mary at Jesus’ death is vital to the procession, something that spoke to my heart. There is awareness here of the importance of Mary as the mother of Jesus that is so profound and evident in oh so many places. There is her face looking down from doorways blessing homes, there is her picture and words of blessing in the old church, there is her statue and her face as evidence of miracle in the art of the larger church, and she is present in countless roadside shrines and in the homes of most people. Mary is ever present.
Which had me thinking of how important Mary’s role as mother IS, not was. She was an amazing, amazing mother who is the only person who was with Jesus from before conception to his death and resurrection and even further, at the start of the church in the book of Acts. She is a constant presence before, during and after his life. In contemplation of how important her place as mother of Jesus truly is, it made me sad to think of how we have lost her importance in the Protestant church, as if the mother was a side note, something that just happened at Christmas with Jesus’ birth.
But seeing Mary on her knees praying for her son, weeping for her son during the procession on Good Friday emphasized for me how woven completely into the story of Jesus Mary was. There is no doubt in my mind that as I believe in eternity that it is vital to realize that Mary’s story did not end in the book of Acts with the founding of the church, but is as eternal a life as Jesus, as ours. The story of the life of the mother is eternal.
The loss of the importance of Mary was not complete in the Protestant traditions, and in my reflecting on her it was easy to think of the speech of Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I a woman.” In this speech Sojourner is one of the women called to give a message of faith and there are men present who are being rather dismissive of women’s role in the church. Sojourner, a former slave who stood over six feet tall and is being described as masculine delivers her to the point message, “Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.” She spoke of the anguish of a mother who’s children were sold into slavery, she spoke of the importance of women as mothers, this Protestant woman knew the importance of Mary.
Tomorrow is mother’s day globally, we will celebrate here in Italy as well as folks back in the states. I pray for the mothers at Church of Mary Magdalene, where they have seen an increase of 200% in the last year of women with children in need of shelter for the night. Mothers and their babies waiting for weeks, over a month for a permanent place to lay their heads for the night. I pray for Mary’s Place and Church of Mary Magdalene where the funds for vouchers for the year 2011 are already used up because of this increase in need and there was never public funds for this service so desperately needed. For all the women sleeping in cars with their babies, sleeping in doorways, just looking for a safe place….I pray, and as I am here in a church that prays to Mary, it is she I pray to, because who in heaven could know better the struggles of a mother than the mother of Jesus?
My faith has been changed in my time here, it has deepened my understanding of ecumenical, it has made me more open to seeing the feminine holiness that we forget often in the Protestant church. Mary, mother of Jesus, mother of all who pray, knows the heart of mothers everywhere. It is beautiful to see her face in the tranquility of understanding the importance of Jesus, and in the weeping sorrow of a mother feels her child’s pain. God bless the mothers everywhere, God bless every woman who has ever offered mothering love, even when they were not physically mothers. God bless the world, may we cherish the women who are sacred in our lives.
Who are the women who inspire you in faith?
Who are the women who have offered you mothering love?
How do you live out the feminine spirit of God as Mary did in caring for Jesus?
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