St. Mary Magdalene
Photo by Grant Whitty on Unsplash
I have found
The state of the world
To be rather overwhelming
These days.
I see the news
From Gaza,
And my heart aches
And my stomach churns
With sorrow
And literal nausea
For so much suffering,
And I feel paralyzed
To do anything about it.
I see the news
From Ukraine,
And I remember
Leading worship during Lent
In the year that the war began,
Beginning each service
With a responsive reading
Of a Psalm,
Praying for the war’s end,
And I can’t believe
That the end seems
No nearer now
Than it was then.
And I feel paralyzed
To do anything about it.
I see the news
Of raids
And arrests
And detention camps
And deportation flights
And billions of dollars spent
Against our beloved siblings
In our one, human family,
And I cannot believe
That we are here,
And yet I can,
Because,
Why wouldn’t we be?
And I feel paralyzed
To do anything about it.
And in the midst
Of this near paralysis
Of heart
Mind
And spirit,
I have returned
To a spiritual practice
That at some seasons
In my life
Has nourished
And sustained
And strengthened me.
The Feast of St. Mary Magdalene –
July 22 –
Has long been on my calendar
Because
She has long been
A prophetic
Source of
Inspiration,
Wisdom,
Solace,
And yes Courage
In my life.
Likewise,
Meditation
Upon a particular icon
Of Mary Magdalene
Has long
Rooted,
Grounded,
And centered,
Me.
And so,
In these overwhelming days,
In anticipation of Mary Magdalene’s
Feast Day,
I have returned
To the practice
Of Visio Divina –
Holy seeing
With
And through
The icon
© St. Mary Magdalene, Br. Robert Lentz; Courtesy of Trinity Stores, www.trinitystores.com, (800.699.4482)
Throughout my
Three-plus decades
As a Minister of Word and Sacrament,
Mary Magdalene
Has often kept me going.
In seasons when ministry has been challenging,
I have thought of Mary.
In seasons when I have served in places where
I was “the first woman,”
I have thought of Mary.
In seasons when my words,
As a woman,
Have seemed to others,
“an idle tale,”
Not worthy of belief –
(Thank you, Gospel of Luke)
I have thought of Mary.
And yes,
In seasons when of joys-overflowing
And the privilege of proclamation
Have filled my soul
With grace-upon-grace,
I have thought of Mary.
Now,
In this season,
In these days,
When I find myself
Overwhelmed
By the state of the world,
Nearly paralyzed with
Sorrow
And hopelessness
And, yes,
Fear,
I have turned again
To this practice,
To this habit
Of meditation
And contemplation –
Giving looking time
So that I might see,
And listen,
And receive
And then do.
In turning again
To Mary,
I have dwelt,
And continue to sit
With her image –
Penetrating eyes,
Confident posture,
Resolved expression –
White egg in her left hand,
Pointing to it with her right,
Confident
In what she has experienced,
What she understands,
What she knows,
What she believes –
Confident
In the Truth –
Confident
In God –
And in who God has called her to be,
And what God has called her to do.
Confident.
And curiously,
In this season,
In these days,
My paralysis
Has been penetrated
Through Mary’s image,
With Mary’s words –
Five of them,
To be exact.
The Christian scriptures
Record only 61 words
When they are translated into English –
That Mary spoke –
a lifetime of articulation
reduced to
a mere speck of dust
by the patriarchy
of her day –
and every day since –
And yet,
The patriarchy be damned –
It is her words
That spoke from her
Eyes
And into my heart,
Mind,
Soul,
And yes –
To my lips –
In these overwhelming days.
I have seen the Lord,
She said.
I have seen the Lord.
She did,
Of course –
After he had been
Tortured,
Executed,
And buried –
Mary saw Jesus –
And she talked to him, too.
The first to have this privilege
With the Risen One.
And then,
She did what those chosen of God
Have done
Since time immemorial -
She spoke
God’s Truth
To a disbelieving world –
And that Truth
Became embodied
In
And through
And with
Her very self
For the rest of her life –
And –
And in the witness
Of her life
Since she joined
The Great Cloud of Witnesses
Surrounding us
In our own
Journeys of faith.
In hearing,
Through her eyes,
And into my
Heart,
Mind,
Soul,
And yes,
My lips –
Those five words –
I have seen the Lord –
God has reminded me
Who I am.
God has reminded me
What I am called to do.
In hearing,
Through her eyes,
And into my
Heart,
Mind,
Soul,
And yes,
My lips –
Those five words –
I have seen the Lord –
God has reminded me
Of God’s baptismal call
Upon my life –
To renounce
The forces that defy God,
To renounce
The powers of this world that rebel against God,
To renounce
The ways of sin that draw us all from God –
And –
And—
To proclaim God –
The Creator of heaven and earth
To proclaim
Christ –
Love Incarnate,
Crucified,
Died,
And raised
For the liberation of the world –
To proclaim
The Holy Spirit –
Making us,
And the whole creation,
New,
Now.
Today.
And every day.
And I hope,
Beloved ones,
That these five
Precious,
Powerful,
Poignant
Provocative,
Words –
I have seen the Lord –
Might just do the same for you.
Because it is true for you, too,
You know.
You too,
Have seen the Lord,
I mean –
In water, bread and wine,
In the faces
Of the
Last,
The lost,
And the least.
In the hungry,
The naked,
And the imprisoned.
You have seen the Lord.
And –
And you,
Who have been sealed by the Holy Spirit,
You,
Who have been marked with the cross of Christ forever –
You know who you are called to be –
You are God’s Beloved Child.
You know what you are called to do.
See Christ.
Proclaim Christ.
Be Christ.
Love Incarnate for the liberation of the world.
Almighty God,
Who has called you,
Powerfully give you
The will
To do these things,
And –
And
Graciously give you
The courage,
The strength,
And the compassion
To do them.
Today.
Tomorrow.
And for the rest of your life.
