A Plea
Michael Owens, “American Pieta”
Sometimes you cannot avoid the image of the Pieta, Mary with the body of her dead son in her arms. That deep, deep sorrow holds onto you as she held onto him.
These days we are held in the grip of the tragedy in Parkland, and all those similar tragedies here and around the world. We hurt with their hurt. We hurt with our own.
But then we see the comforters, the healers, the nurturers step forth. We see them tend to the wounded and help the wounded tend to themselves. We see magnificent power and enduring glory in its most tender form.
To me, this feels like the feminine manifestation of God in our world, always with us, always within each one of us. To me, this is feminine as true power, as strong, as forceful, and as sacred as its masculine complement.
Today, I lift up a plea for this kind of sacredness once again. We need the feminine always before us but especially in our designated holy spaces. We need women to stand up front, to call us forth, to pray, to speak, to lead, to inspire, and, most importantly, to consecrate. We need that kind of nurture, that kind of comfort, that kind of power and that kind of glory, that kind of love, today and every day so that we all can heal, regain hope, and go forth.
Amen.
2 Responses
Ellie Harty:
Wonderful post. We don’t hear enough about the healing power of the feminine in this context. It was the psychologist Carl Jung who wrote that a culture cannot be complete and whole until a man discovers the feminine power within himself. This is the anima principle outside the patrarchy. For Jung this state would represent a new, ensouled world, apart from Mars and the other martial gods.
The exclusively male priesthood obscures the divine feminine in Christ. For this reason, and many others, we need women priests and women bishops.