Mary, Friend and Prophet

On June 16, 2023June 16, 2023 By Renee Yann, RSMIn Books, Faith, Jesus, Mary, spirituality5 Comments

Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
June 17, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061723.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we celebrate Mary, our beautiful human kinswoman who allowed God to take flesh within her. In so doing, Mary taught us how to enflesh God in our own lives. Over a lifetime of prayer with her, we will continually learn her lesson.

Concepts of Mary, and her role in Salvation History, abound in theology and culture.

Madonna della Seggiola ~ Raphael

While many of these images introduce us to a particular understanding of Mary, some can also limit her to deficient descriptions as sweet, passive, and limited in her role as young mother and wife.

The hope is that Christians today will look beyond any limited definition to find the Prophet who voices a strong, faithful witness to Christ and to his Gospel for the poor and disenfranchised – a Mary whose life offers inspiration for the challenges we face in our own lives.

The Annunciation by Henry Ossawa Tanner 1896

The Annunciation ~ Henry Ossawa Tanner

Dr. Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ is distinguished Professor Emerita at Fordham University. In her ground-breaking book on Mary, Truly Our Sister, she says:

“Remembering Mary as a friend of God and prophet in the communion of saints, a woman who is truly sister to our strivings, allows the power of her life to play in the religious consciousness of the church, encouraging ever-deeper relationship with the living God in whom our spirits rejoice, and allying us with God’s redemptive designs for the hungry, the lowly, and all those who suffer, including in an unforgettable way women with their children in situations of poverty, prejudice, and violence.”

Today, in our prayer, let’s invite ourselves to an ever deeper understanding and relationship with Mary who, with her Immaculate Heart, is nevertheless truly our sister.

Windsock Visitation ~ Michael O’Neil McGrath, OSFS

Poetry: Women Weaving – from Incarnation by Irene Zimmerman, SSSF

Afterwards, Mary moved from fear
(Will they drag me to the stoning place?)
to pain (Will Joseph doubt my faithfulness?)
to trust (I fear no evil—Thou art with me.)
and back again to fear. “I must go to my cousin,”
she said, and set out in haste for Judea.

As her feet unraveled the warp and woof
of valleys and hills, darkness and days
from Nazareth to Elizabeth,
Mary wove the heart of her Son.

When her newly-womaned cousin came,
Elizabeth, wise old weaver herself
for several months by then, instantly
saw the signs and heavily ran to meet her.

‘Who am I,” she called, “that the mother
of my Lord should come to visit me?”
and helplessly held her sides as laughter
shuttled back and forth inside her.

Then Mary sang the seamless song
she’d woven on the way.

Music: Behold ( A modern Magnificat) ~ David Kauffmann ( Lyrics Below)

Behold, Behold
The mighty one has done great things for me
Behold, Behold
The mighty one has done great things for me
And Holy is your name
And Holy is your name

My soul exalts you
Behold my Lord whose mercy lies on me
My soul magnifies the Lord
My spirit rejoices in my savior
He looks at me with kindness
As with holy eyes of blindness
and all will call me blessed
Refrain

My soul exalts you
Behold my Lord whose mercy lies on me
Compassion inhabits those who fear him
He has done great deeds with his arms
Scattered the proud. Rulers are brought down,
and he has lifted the humble
Refrain

My soul exalts you
Behold my Lord whose mercy lies on me
He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent away the selfish empty handed
He has sent his servant, in remembrance of his mercy
and he has kept his promise
Refrain

My soul exalts you
Behold my Lord whose mercy lies on me
Whose mercy lies on me.

Psalm 89: Mary’s Echo

On June 19, 2020June 19, 2020 By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, Jesus, Mary, ordinary time, Poetry, Psalms, spiritualityLeave a comment

Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

June 20, 2020

Click here for today’s readings

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 89, as the Church celebrates the blessed humanity of Mary.

Yesterday and today, these beautiful “heart” feasts follow one upon the other, reminding us that both Jesus and Mary loved with human hearts like ours – Jesus as God, and Mary as God’s transformed Mirror.

As we pray with Mary today. Psalm 89 offers us a perfect context. The psalm was likely composed during a difficult time, when Israel began to doubt Yahweh’s enduring promise to care for them – some say during the Babylonian Captivity.

The psalm reminds the People of the Covenant and the Promise:

I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
Forever will I confirm your posterity
and establish your throne for all generations.

Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him,
and my covenant with him stands firm.
I will make his posterity endure forever
and his throne as the days of heaven.

Mary, born of the House of David, is the ultimate deliverer of that Promise in the person of her son, Jesus Christ. When, just before Jesus’ birth, Mary prays the Magnificat, we can hear echoes of Psalm 89:

And Mary said,
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior….

He has shown might with his arm,
dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.
He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones
but lifted up the lowly….

He has helped Israel his servant,
remembering his mercy,
according to his promise to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.

An extra song for Mary today, written in 1961 for a Firemen’s Choir

In our own times of trouble, or when a long endurance is required of us, our faith in God’s promises might waver too. Mary is a good one to talk to in such times. Her faith was refined from all need to place stipulations on God’s timing. She believed. Period.

And she wants to nurture that gift in us.

Poetry: I think Mary and psalmist would have liked this poem by Kahlil Gibran. I hope you do too. For me, it speaks of how faith deepens, as Mary’s did.

God
In the ancient days, when the first quiver of speech came to my lips,
I ascended the holy mountain and spoke unto God, saying, 
“Master, I am thy servant.  Thy hidden will 
is my law and I shall obey thee for ever more.”
 
But God made no answer, and like a mighty tempest passed away.
 
And after a thousand years I ascended the holy mountain and again
spoke unto God, saying, “Creator, I am thy creation.  
Out of clay hast thou fashioned me and to thee I owe mine all.”
 
And God made no answer, but like a thousand swift wings passed
away.
 
And after a thousand years I climbed the holy mountain 
and spoke unto God again, saying, “Father, I am thy child.  
In pity and love thou hast given me birth, 
and through love and worship I shall inherit thy kingdom.”
 
And God made no answer, and like the mist that veils the distant
hills he passed away.
 
And after a thousand years I climbed the sacred mountain 
and again spoke unto God, saying, “My God, my aim and my fulfillment; 
I am thy yesterday and thou are my tomorrow.  
I am thy root in the earth and thou art my flower in the sky, 
and together we grow before the face of the sun.”
 
Then God leaned over me, and in my ears whispered words of sweetness,
and even as the sea that enfoldeth a brook that runneth down to
her, God enfolded me.
 
And when I descended to the valleys and the plains God was there
also.

Music: Psalm 89: Forever I Will Sing the Goodness of the Lord – Brian J. Nelson; cantor David Adams

Immaculate Heart of Mary

On June 8, 2018June 6, 2018 By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, Mary, Mercy2 Comments

Saturday, June 9, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060918.cfm

Today, in Mercy, we celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Concepts of Mary, and her role in Salvation History, abound in theology and culture.

madonna-della-seggiola-artwork-photo-1 Madonna della Seggiola ~ Raphael

While many of these images introduce us to a particular understanding of Mary, some can also limit her to deficient descriptions as sweet, passive, limited in her role as young mother and wife.

immaculate heart

The hope is that Christians today will look beyond any limited definition to find the Mary who voices a strong, faithful witness to Christ and to his Gospel for the poor and disenfranchised – a Mary whose life offers inspiration for the challenges we face in our own lives.

The Annunciation by Henry Ossawa Tanner 1896

The Annunciation ~ Henry Ossawa Tanner

Dr. Elizabeth Johnson, a Sister of St. Joseph, is distinguished Professor Emerita at Fordham University. In her ground-breaking book on Mary, Truly Our Sister, she says:

“Remembering Mary as a friend of God and prophet in the communion of saints, a woman who is truly sister to our strivings, allows the power of her life to play in the religious consciousness of the church, encouraging ever-deeper relationship with the living God in whom our spirits rejoice, and allying us with God’s redemptive designs for the hungry, the lowly, and all those who suffer, including in an unforgettable way women with their children in situations of poverty, prejudice, and violence.”

Today, in our prayer, let’s invite ourselves to an ever deeper understanding and relationship with Mary who, with her Immaculate Heart, is nevertheless truly our sister.

windsock visitation

Windsock Visitation ~ Michael O’Neil McGrath, OSFS

Music: Behold ( A modern Magnificat) ~ David Kauffmann ( Lyrics Below)

My soul exalts you
Behold my Lord whose mercy lies on me
Compassion inhabits those who fear him
He has done great deeds with is arms
Scattered the proud. Rulers are brought down,
and he has lifted the humble
Refrain

My soul exalts you
Behold my Lord whose mercy lies on me
Whose mercy lies on me.

Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of MaryJune 17, 2023

Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
June 17, 2023