THIS MARY, MOTHER OF GOD FROM KERALA, INDIA is bosomy - not pressed down, hidden and de-sexed. She's happy with Gabriel's pregnant news. Even her earrings, bracelets, sash and shawl reflect the joy. Her lovely face reminds us of the Virgin at Lourdes, who when Bernadette relayed the doubting pastor's probing questions, she only smiled.
If you trust in the Lord and do good then you will live in the land and be secure. If you find your delight in the Lord, He will grant your heart's desire, (Psalm 36: 3,4). Here the psalmist displays tender insights into God's promises which reach a fulfillment in the Resurrection of Jesus and the Assumption of Mary. Here is a new approach to life - full of glad hope.
Then turn away from evil and do good
And you shall have a home forever;
For the Lord loves justice
And will never forsake his friends.
(Psalm 36: 27,28)
The psalmist thinks of us as God's friends. For the Lord will never forsake his friends. How twisted up religion becomes when it's defined by words like: licit and illicit, valid and invalid, observances and obediences and a kind of language that we never use in our everyday communicating. I'm not talking about the use of Latin at Mass but language that's philosophical, diplomatic, moral, defining, scholarly. This is language which simply hands on to people what they have to believe rather than inviting a deep and intimate communion of hearts. To be God's friend.
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Look again at the picture. This angel has jumped over the wall to deliver the news of God come to be with us. And all of human history has built a separating wall around it. But God hurdles barriers in Christ, born of Mary.
Most people know something of the down side of their family history: where there's the barriers of addiction, suicide, depression, mental illness, incest, infidelities and broken relationships, domestic violence, physical and mental abuse.
Most people know something of the down side of their family history: where there's the barriers of addiction, suicide, depression, mental illness, incest, infidelities and broken relationships, domestic violence, physical and mental abuse.
Here's a meditation in response to that human tale. We might imagine our families - even going back a very long time - gathered in this room with Mary and the life-announcing angel of joy. Imagine the healing flowing over and into all these ancestral-souls - our family lineage as far back as we know. Even if we never met the person but have only heard the stories.
The "room" of my meditation may feel toxic, infected, even possessed for awhile. But be patient and allow the flower-bearing angel, the newly pregnant Mary and the embryonic Holy Child within her to speak and en-grace.
The "room" of my meditation may feel toxic, infected, even possessed for awhile. But be patient and allow the flower-bearing angel, the newly pregnant Mary and the embryonic Holy Child within her to speak and en-grace.
