Tag Archives: Mary
A Lifetime Commitment
Giving Birth to Christ A Lifetime Commitment Wednesday, December 9, 2020 My dear friend Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I. reminds us that giving birth spiritually is a dynamic and creative process. To bring Christ into the world involves an ongoing commitment to growth, to discomfort, to love, and to surrender. It is not for the faint of… Continue Reading A Lifetime Commitment
Receiving the Gift
Giving Birth to Christ Receiving the Gift Tuesday, December 8, 2020 Why, from the earliest centuries, have Christian people been so excited about Mary? What’s happening in the depths of our soul when we hear her story? Surely it must be about more than the miracle of the virgin birth. As Benedictine oblate, author, and… Continue Reading Receiving the Gift
The DNA of Creation
Giving Birth to Christ The DNA of Creation Sunday, December 6, 2020 Second Sunday of Advent We Franciscans believe that the first coming of “the Christ” is in creation itself. The Franciscan philosopher and theologian John Duns Scotus (1266‒1308), whom I studied for four years, wrote that “God first wills Christ as his supreme work.”… Continue Reading The DNA of Creation
“Mothering” God
Incarnation “Mothering” God Wednesday, December 25, 2019 Christmas, Feast of the Incarnation Here, in time, we are celebrating the eternal birth which God the Father bore and bears unceasingly in eternity, because this same birth is now born in time, in human nature. St. Augustine says, “What does it avail me that this birth is… Continue Reading “Mothering” God
Our Blessed Mother
Feminine Incarnation Our Blessed Mother Wednesday, June 12, 2019 Clarissa Pinkola Estés has spent many years gathering and sharing stories of the Divine Feminine across cultures and religions. In her book Untie the Strong Woman she helps us connect with the Holy Mother’s comfort, guidance, and vision. Read Estés’ words through your heart center more… Continue Reading Our Blessed Mother
The Deep Feminine
Feminine Incarnation The Deep Feminine Tuesday, June 11, 2019 I think Christians of the first thousand years understood Mary as the feminine incarnation on an intuitive and allegorical level. But by the time of the much-needed Protestant Reformation, all we could see was “She is not God.” This is entirely true, but we lost the… Continue Reading The Deep Feminine
The First Incarnation
Feminine Incarnation The First Incarnation Monday, June 10, 2019 In mythic imagination, I think Mary intuitively symbolizes the first incarnation—or Mother Earth. I am not saying Mary is the first incarnation, only that she became the natural archetype for it. Carl Jung believed that humans produce in art and story the inner images the soul… Continue Reading The First Incarnation
Archetypal Feminine
Feminine Incarnation Archetypal Feminine Sunday, June 9, 2019 Pentecost I know I am taking some risks writing about Feminine Incarnation. There are certainly limitations to the construct of binary genders. God and Christ are beyond gender, and all humans are a blend of masculine and feminine traits. But because Western Christianity and culture have primarily… Continue Reading Archetypal Feminine
Transforming Pain
Suffering: Week 1 Transforming Pain Wednesday, October 17, 2018 All healthy religion shows you what to do with your pain, with the absurd, the tragic, the nonsensical, the unjust and the undeserved—all of which eventually come into every lifetime. If only we could see these “wounds” as the way through, as Jesus did, then they… Continue Reading Transforming Pain
Blinded by Privilege
Bias from the Bottom: Week 2 Blinded by Privilege Sunday, March 27, 2016 You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. —Harper Lee (1926-2016), To Kill a Mockingbird Once in a place of power, after the 4th… Continue Reading Blinded by Privilege