Posts Tagged ‘Mary’
Listening, Like Mary – Br. James Koester
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Br. James Koester
One thing people notice when they come here for the first time is the number of times we refer to the Blessed Virgin Mary throughout the day. The chapel, indeed the whole monastery, is dedicated to her. There is a smaller chapel also dedicated to her, where you can find her statue along with a bank of candles. People frequently come in to light a candle or leave flowers there. The windows in the chapel depict the mysteries of the rosary. Other windows show her as the central figure, especially the glorious rose window. And we begin Morning and Evening Prayer reciting the Angelus: “The angel of the Lord announced unto Mary… Hail Mary, full of grace.”
There are those who argue all this is very un-Anglican. Yet, I would argue it is very Anglican. One of the distinguishing marks of Anglicanism is our love of Christmas. This is not simply because we love a good celebration, although we do. Rather it is because at the very heart of Anglicanism is a firm belief in the mystery of the Incarnation – the truth that God, in the person of Jesus, took on human flesh, and lived among us. As John’s Gospel puts it: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us” (John 1:14). Stripped to its essence, that is Anglicanism. Read More
A Whole-Self Response – Br. Lain Wilson
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Commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, God-bearer
Our reading from today’s Gospel passage had me casting my mind back to high school English.
We naturally read the woman in the crowd’s statement, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” (Lk 11:27), as an example of synecdoche, a figure of speech that substitutes a part for the whole: “womb and breasts” stands in for “woman,” or, more specifically, “mother.” I’m sure you’ve heard versions of this: hungry mouths, a pair of shoulders, a willing hand.
But even if these only stand in or point to the whole, they nevertheless overemphasize a specific function relative to everything else. If the mother is only identified as the parts of her body necessary for giving birth and sustenance to a baby, then what about the rest of her? What about those infinite permutations of histories and emotions and motivations that make each of us who we are, that make each woman, each mother, who she is? We are each more than our parts, more than our biological functions.
Jesus’s response may on first hearing seem overly harsh: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!” (Lk 11:28). But he doesn’t deny his mother Mary blessedness; rather, he affirms that she finds blessing in her whole-self offering. “All generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48)—not because Mary just happened to have a womb, but because she heard the words of God through the angel, because she pondered and questioned and ultimately said yes: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Read More
Knowing More Than We Know – Br. Curtis Almquist
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Br. Curtis Almquist
The Blessed Virgin Mary
Jesus expresses thanks: “What God has “hidden from the wise and intelligent [God] has revealed to infants.” To infants and, presumably by extension, to young children whose cognitive abilities are underdeveloped; and to those without formal education; and to the elderly whose mind is slipping away. I’m wondering whether what God “has hidden from the wise and intelligent” in someway includes his own mother, Mary, whose improbable pregnancy was announced to her by an angel.[i] No reasoning, no wisdom could explain to her what she was being asked to do, or how, in becoming the birth mother of the Messiah. There was nothing to figure out. The angelic invitation and revelation to Mary was deeper than her mind. The poet, Madeleine L’Engle, writes:
“…Had Mary been filled with reason
There’d have been no room for the child.”[ii]
This is not to denigrate our God-given ability to think and to reach conclusions that we deduce from reasonable facts. However Jesus is talking here about something More. The etymology of the English word “educate” comes from the Latin educere – “to bring out, to lead forth” – which presumes a kind of inner revelation that is being brought forth into our awareness, a way of knowing that may be “hidden from the wise and intelligent.” Read More
Considering Mary’s Response to God’s Call – Br. David Vryhof
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Br. David Vryhof
Common of the Incarnation
It has been the custom in monasteries such as ours to honor Mary, the Mother of our Lord, on the Saturdays in Ordinary Time between the seasons of Pentecost and Advent. Mary’s example – particularly the graciousness, generosity and humility with which she responds to God’s call – has been an inspiration to monastics throughout the ages, and to all who have sensed that God is summoning them to a particular task or way of being in the world.
The call that comes to Mary is a daunting one. God promises, through the angel Gabriel, to bless her with a son, who “will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High,” and through whom God’s people will be established forever. This, despite the fact that she is a virgin. Remarkably, she accepts the intervention and the promise with openness and trust, and responds with those familiar words, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Read More
The Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Godbearer – Br. Curtis Almquist
Br. Curtis Almquist
The Dormition of Saint Mary the Virgin, Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ
We find nothing in the Bible about the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom we celebrate today. The word “dormition” is from the Latin, dormitio, from which comes the English word “dormitory.” Dormitio is the act of sleeping.[i] Since the early centuries, this is how the church has remembered the death of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She simply “fell asleep” and was miraculously taken up into heaven. Mary has been heralded the saint of the saints: her death as mysterious as the birth she gave to Jesus.
If you were raised in an Eastern Orthodox or Roman Catholic tradition, today’s celebration will likely be familiar and comforting. If you come from a Protestant tradition, or no church tradition, today’s celebration may be quite foreign, perhaps quite inviting. There is an “assumption” of meaning around Mary which has grown through the centuries, where many have found Mary’s life story worthy of veneration, and a channel of help and hope. Over the centuries the Blessed Virgin Mary’s importance has grown for two reasons: because of recollection and because of revelation.
The church’s recollection traces back to the ancient predictions about the long-awaited Messiah. Centuries prior to Jesus’ birth, Isaiah had prophesied: “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”[ii] But this does not fit Jesus’ pedigree. Jesus was born without title. Neither were his mother Mary nor his “stepfather,” Joseph, of noble lineage. Jesus’ birth to Mary would not only have been a disappointment to some, she could have been a scandal. Mary is a peasant, and she is unmarried. Mary clearly knows this. When she received the announcement from the angel Gabriel that she was to bear the Christ child, Mary was both afraid and incredulous. “How can this be?” she cries out. Read More
Vulnerable Courage – Br. Lain Wilson
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Judith 9:1, 11-14
John 20:11-18
Psalm 42:1-7
We encounter tonight two very different women.
The first prays to God for the success of her plan of deception to save her besieged city.
The other, a young woman, stands weeping by an empty tomb.
What connects these two women—the one, daring all to save her people; the other, alone and bereft, met in the garden by her savior?
Faith, for sure. But something else—courage.
This is of course obvious with Judith. During the siege of her city, she goes out alone, seduces the Assyrian general Holophernes, and while he sleeps uses his sword to strike off his head. Hers is a story of plotting and brutal action.
Courage is less obvious with Mary Magdalene, whom we remember today. But if we let ourselves encounter this familiar passage anew, we will find it there, too. On that first Sunday, Mary has come to the tomb and found the stone removed. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him,” she cries to the other disciples (Jn 20:2). We can imagine Mary following behind Peter and John as they race to the tomb, confused and grief-stricken. The other disciples leave, “but Mary stood weeping outside the tomb” (Jn 20:11). Read More
Mary’s Brain – Br. Lain Wilson
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What if this story is all about Mary’s brain?
The beats of today’s Gospel reading are familiar to most of us. Here at the Monastery, we recount them in the Angelus, which we pray before Morning and Evening Prayer. “The angel of the Lord announced unto Mary . . .” pause, “and she conceived by the Holy Spirit.”
So much happens in that pause. And what if it’s all about Mary’s brain?
Of all the young women God could have chosen, God chose Mary. And what is the first thing we find out about her? That she hears the angel’s news, is perplexed, ponders over his words, and questions him. The first thing we find out about Mary is that she responds to God by using her own God-given faculties of reason and intelligence.
Byzantine writer Nicholas Mesarites provides a cognitive description of this episode: “The word comes to the hearing of the Virgin, and enters through it to the brain; the intelligence which is seated in the brain at once lays hold upon what comes to it, recognizes it by its perception, and then communicates to the heart itself what it had understood.”[1] This then leads Mary to question the angel to determine the truth of the angel’s words. Only after she verifies the truth does Mary gives her yes to the angel, and to God. Read More
Welcome Visit – Br. Luke Ditewig
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Br. Luke Ditewig
Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth
Colossians 3:12-17
Luke 1:39-57
“Restore us, O God of hosts; show the light of your countenance and we shall be saved.” I love that line from Psalm 80. God, turn your face toward us. Look at us. See us. See me. A small yet significant request, to be seen. When we are seen in love, when another’s face lights up at seeing ours, we feel love.
Mary set out and went quickly to visit Elizabeth, a normal visit turned extraordinary. By divine power and blessing, now both Mary, a young virgin, and Elizabeth, a barren elder, are pregnant. They also bear the burden of public shame. The scandal since Mary claims pregnancy through the dream of an angel. Who did she think she was? The long years of ridicule for Elizabeth who had never born a child. Rumors swirled about why she was now.
Bearing children and shame, Mary goes to Elizabeth. This holy visit. They both believe, have faith in what they can’t see or explain. Both are filled with Holy Spirit. Elizabeth exclaims in a loud voice. The baby leaps in her womb. Mary sings her song. Read More
Stress and the Blessed Virgin Mary – Br. Jack Crowley
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Br. Jack Crowley
The Blessed Virgin Mary went through many stressful situations in her life. Think about how stressful those nine months of her controversial pregnancy with the son of God must have been. Then to give birth while traveling. Then to have to flee into Egypt. Then the pressure of raising a son who is the Messiah.
So imagine how Mary felt that fateful Friday in Jerusalem watching her son slowly tortured, mocked, and executed by the authorities of her day. Her son did not die a clean, quiet death. The crucifixion would have been loud, chaotic, and messy. After all the stress Mary had been through in her life, for it to culminate with her son dying on a cross like that feels like a cruel fate.
Mary did not give in to self-pity or despair. Our Gospel this morning demonstrates how Mary endured the stress and trauma of the crucifixion with quiet resilience. The Gospel writer tells us that as Jesus hung on the cross, Mary and the Beloved Disciple stood beside each other. I personally find great comfort in this image, Mary and the Beloved Disciple standing in solidarity focused on Jesus. They were not running away or shielding themselves from the horror unfolding before them. They took it all in. They were able to take the pain together. Read More
Behold Her Son – Br. Luke Ditewig
Feast of the Annunciation
Luke 1:26-38
God’s invitation and Mary’s “yes,” which we celebrate today, began a journey. Pregnancy and birth both wondrous and shameful. Surprising shepherds and sages. Simeon said amazing things about Jesus and then to Mary: “a sword will pierce your own soul, too.”[i]
Jesus was born into, lived, and died in community: family, neighbors, friends, and through it all, his mother Mary. She and Joseph anxiously searched three days for 12-year-old Jesus when he went missing. At the wedding in Cana, Mary prompted about the wine running out. Perhaps a push and pull, the mother encouraging her son to live into his vocation.
At the cross, Mary and the beloved disciple stood before Jesus. “Woman, behold your son. … Behold, your mother.”[ii] Perhaps Jesus is focused on giving her into the care of his friend. But what if Jesus speaks first of himself? “Woman, behold your son.” Look at me. Read More