(Luke 1:46-55 NKJV)“ My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.”
In my spiritual life, I have become very traditional, even "catholic" in broader sense of a word. So it is not so strange I have had to ponder on my relationship with Mary. But actually, it's not correct to say "ponder", since even as I have read a lot, first and foremost I consider myself a Mystic. Mystically speaking, I can put it this way: Mary originally approached to me in prayer, and now she has taken place by her Son in the centre of my devotion. When I first prayed the Rosary, it was very powerful experience.
However, there is one thing that needs to be understood here: Although it's only natural I see her in traditional figure like artists have portrayed her through the centuries, it is not self-evident if I actually think she is Mary of Nazareth, mother of Jesus. She might as well be an Archetype. I have a same reservations about Jesus himself. But these are things I don't really trouble my head with. Practical relationship, prayer life, is important.
God the Father is an abstract idea to me - perhaps due to my distant relationship wiht my own father - and that's exactly the meaning of Christ Jesus: Through Him the Father, whom no one has ever seen, is manifested. Same could be true about Mary and the Holy Spirit, and even more about Mary and Sophia, Divine Wisdom. Who could actually say they understand who or what is Sophia, without using memorised phrases? Not me. But if Mary is, in a way, Sophia incarnated or earthly reflection of her, it becomes easier to comprehend.
When we take a look at the Old Testament, we may find a concept of Shekinah, a name that in Heprew is feminine. It is used especially in Talmud and Kabbalah to describe feminine characteristics of God's presence, manifestation of her presence on earth. In literature Shekinah is also called the Holy Spirit, which is related to Wisdom of God, often personified as feminine in both the Old and New Testaments. Philo of Alexandria identified Wisdom with a concept of Greek philosophy, Logos, and as such, Christ - Logos - is often identified with Wisdom, but Wisdom is also seen as the bride of Logos. Theophilus of Antioch identified Sophia with the Holy Spirit. Heprew word for "Spirit" is feminine too, Ruach, but it was lost during translation from Heprew to Greek; The Holy Spirit, Pneuma Hagion in Greek, is neutral, and it was turned to masculine when translated to Latin!
Ancient symbol of feminine Divinity, a dove, is related especially to Mary in art, for instance, as Central figure in decent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Holy Family in canonical Christian iconography is also seen as an image of the Trinity: Joseph representing the Father, Jesus representing Christ, and Mary representing the Holy Spirit. Gnostic Gospel of Philip states, "Some said, 'Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit.' They are in
error. They do not know what they are saying. When did a woman
ever conceive by a woman?"
Some say, women priests in protestant Churches derive from the fact, that feminine is reformed out of Churches with Mary. However, Martin Luther said: "[She is the] highest woman and the noblest gem in Christianity after Christ...She is nobility, wisdom, and holiness personified. We can never honor
her enough. Still honor and praise must be given to her in such a way as
to injure neither Christ nor the Scriptures." (Sermon, Christmas, 1531).
"Mary is the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of all of us even though it
was Christ alone who reposed on her knees...If he is ours, we ought
to be in his situation; there where he is, we ought also to be and all that
he has ought to be ours, and his mother is also our mother." (Sermon, Christmas,
1529).
Protestants easily imagine that Catholics think Virgin Mary is divine because of herself, and equal to Christ. But the principal glory of Mary lies in her nothingness, in an exemplary Faith she expressed: “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” (Lk 1:38 NKJV)
At a Wedding in Cana, Mary points at her Son, saying: “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:5 NKJV)
And on the Cross Jesus says to her mother, “Woman, behold your son!” , and to John: “Behold your mother!” , thus making a statement that His mother is Our Mother, Mother of the Church. (John 19:26 NKJV)
There is, however, a group within the Catholic Church, that is promoting for the Fifth Marian Dogma: Mary Co-Redemptrix.
There is, however, a group within the Catholic Church, that is promoting for the Fifth Marian Dogma: Mary Co-Redemptrix.
I have already written on Virgin birth [Jesus Christ: Life and Mission]. I only repeat the words of late Finnish Lutheran Vicar, Voitto Viro, who wrote in the 60's: "It's not important how Jesus was born, but the fact that he was born in the first place." Abd-Ru-Shin writes,
"Every conception arising out of pure love and a
heartfelt looking upwards to the Creator, in which the sensual instinct is only
an adjunct and not the basis, is an immaculate conception in the physical
sense. In reality this occurs so seldom that there was every
justification for laying special stress upon it."
St. Ambrose said: "Let Mary's soul be in us to glorify the Lord; let her spirit be in us that we may rejoice in God our Saviour."
And Angelus Silesius, a Mystic and Poet: "The Virgin I must be and bring God forth from me
Should ever I be granted divine felicity. "
"'Virgin mind' is the innocent and open
mind, untrammeled by knowledge and words, and, as it were, without
'conception' (profane conception), and therefore ready to be filled by the
Sacred seed."
As Dictionary tells us, "conception" is
1. the act of conceiving; the state of being conceived.
2. fertilization; inception of pregnancy.
3.a notion; idea; concept.
Indeed, I think "virginity" in this sense, is related to being like a child, that Jesus says is a requirement for entering the Kingdom of Heaven, which I see as realm of creativity and imagination. Both "virgin" and a "child" were also seen in early Christian writings as androgyne beings, symbols of wholeness.
I am in contact with the Liberal Catholic Church in Finland, and they see Mary as motherly face of God and she is called the World Mother. According to C.W.Leadbeater, "There are three distinct ideas involved in the ordinary thought of Her:
1. The story of the mother of the disciple Jesus; what She was and what She
afterwards became.
2. The sea of virgin matter, the Great Deep, the water over the face of which
the Spirit of God moved.
3. The feminine Aspect of the Deity."
To me it is obvious, that the Highest Godhead is above all we can say, and it is neither masculine nor feminine. As St. Maximus the Confessor wrote, even as we worship the God beyond everything as Trinity and Unity, he is not three nor one as we know these numbers. Personally I don't like image of God as Michelangelo portrayed him, as an old bearded man on the cloud. Yet many Christians have made God unto their own image. My God is not white, heterosexual man. However, all opposites in manifested world merge into one Godhead in perfect harmony, and symbolically it's possible to say that God is the Mother as much as the Father. Many mystics have said the same, Juliana of Norwich being one of them. There are even modern versions of the Lord's Prayer taking this into account.
Lords Prayer, from Aramaic into
Old English:
Translation by G.J.R. Ouseley from The Gospel of the Holy Twelve
Our Father-Mother Who art above and within:
Hallowed be Thy Name in twofold Trinity.
In Wisdom, Love and Equity Thy Kingdom come to all.
Thy will be done, As in Heaven so in Earth.
Give us day by day to partake of Thy holy Bread, and the fruit of the living Vine.
As Thou dost forgive us our trespasses, so may we forgive others who trespass against us.
Shew upon us Thy goodness, that to others we may shew the same.
In the hour of temptation, deliver us from evil.
Amun.
Some Bible verses on God as the Mother:
"When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take care of me." (Ps.27:10)
"Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you." (Isaiah 49:15)
"As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you." (Isaiah 66:13)
"The LORD shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies. I have held My peace a long time, I have been still and restrained Myself. Now I will cry like a woman in labor, I will pant and gasp at once." (Isaiah 42:13-14)
Jesus said also: "How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings." (Mt.23:37) Some female mystics have called Jesus their mother, and even experienced him nursing them from his side wound.
Jesus, as a mother you gather your people to you:
You are gentle with us as a mother with her children;
Often you weep over our sins and our pride:
tenderly you draw us from hatred and judgment.
You comfort us in sorrow and bind up our wounds:
in sickness you nurse us,
and with pure milk you feed us.
Jesus, by your dying we are born to new life:
by your anguish and labor we come forth in joy.
Despair turns to hope through your sweet goodness:
through your gentleness we find comfort in fear.
Your warmth gives life to the dead:
your touch makes sinners righteous.
Lord Jesus, in your mercy heal us:
in your love and tenderness remake us.
In your compassion bring grace and forgiveness:
for the beauty of heaven may your love prepare us.
Anselm of Canterbury
On Assumption of Mary, C.G.Jung saw this papal declaration addressing “the profoundest problem afflicting the human psyche: an imbalance which favored masculine principles and archetypes over the feminine ones."
"When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take care of me." (Ps.27:10)
"Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you." (Isaiah 49:15)
"As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you." (Isaiah 66:13)
"The LORD shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies. I have held My peace a long time, I have been still and restrained Myself. Now I will cry like a woman in labor, I will pant and gasp at once." (Isaiah 42:13-14)
Jesus said also: "How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings." (Mt.23:37) Some female mystics have called Jesus their mother, and even experienced him nursing them from his side wound.
Jesus, as a mother you gather your people to you:You are gentle with us as a mother with her children;
Often you weep over our sins and our pride:
tenderly you draw us from hatred and judgment.
You comfort us in sorrow and bind up our wounds:
in sickness you nurse us,
and with pure milk you feed us.
Jesus, by your dying we are born to new life:
by your anguish and labor we come forth in joy.
Despair turns to hope through your sweet goodness:
through your gentleness we find comfort in fear.
Your warmth gives life to the dead:
your touch makes sinners righteous.
Lord Jesus, in your mercy heal us:
in your love and tenderness remake us.
In your compassion bring grace and forgiveness:
for the beauty of heaven may your love prepare us.
Anselm of Canterbury
On Assumption of Mary, C.G.Jung saw this papal declaration addressing “the profoundest problem afflicting the human psyche: an imbalance which favored masculine principles and archetypes over the feminine ones."
"In
the declaration that Mary had been physically assumed into heaven, Jung
saw the Church as accepting at long last the physical world. But more
importantly, in that declaration which affirms that a woman has been
bodily assumed into heaven and has taken her seat on the throne of
glory, Jung saw the Church as harvesting and celebrating the feminine
and gentle element built into creation", writes Fr. Alexis Luzi, OFM.
I find Apparitions of Mary around the world fascinating. They all are not officially approved by Rome, but the people have affiliated with them anyway. And they are not restricted to Roman Catholic world either. One occured in Coptic Church, Zeitoun, Egypt, in 1968-70. Famous locations are Fatima and Lourdes. Personally I like especially Maria Rosa Mystica in her simple beaty. Nowadays the most famous apparition site must be in Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina. I enjoy how Jayden Cameron in his Gay Mystic Blog writes about Medjugorje.
There is no doubt in my mind, that position of Mary in Catholicism is continuity of Pre-Christian Goddess-worship, like that of Isis, popular in Roman Empire in the beginning of Common Era. For many Christians this could prove against it, but I see it the other way round, just like so many other things in Christianity stem from Pre-Christian Mystery Cults, and they reflect certain universal spiritual truths.
They say, the return of the Divine Feminine in contemporary world is wittnessed by many things like expansion of the rights of women, popularity of alternative medicine, recognition of animal rights, development of gay rights, to name a few.
I find the ritual an important way to approach the Divine, and so I have collected for my own use a ritual, that I call "The Sophian Service"; you might call it Christo-pagan.
Hail Mary Sophia,
There is no doubt in my mind, that position of Mary in Catholicism is continuity of Pre-Christian Goddess-worship, like that of Isis, popular in Roman Empire in the beginning of Common Era. For many Christians this could prove against it, but I see it the other way round, just like so many other things in Christianity stem from Pre-Christian Mystery Cults, and they reflect certain universal spiritual truths.
They say, the return of the Divine Feminine in contemporary world is wittnessed by many things like expansion of the rights of women, popularity of alternative medicine, recognition of animal rights, development of gay rights, to name a few.
I find the ritual an important way to approach the Divine, and so I have collected for my own use a ritual, that I call "The Sophian Service"; you might call it Christo-pagan.
No comments:
Post a Comment