Translate

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Roman Catholic Womanpriests: "Dancing with God" by Eileen DiFranco

Sing joyfully, be glad and rejoice. Exult with all your heart. Fear not and do not be discouraged. The Lord God is in your midst. Zep. 3
This was a real dream that I had about ten years ago. I wrote it down immediately because I never wanted to forget how I felt when I woke up. I had this dream.
I was dancing in a country garden with lush green grass. Tulips and daffodils and hyacinths bloomed against a low stone wall. Magnolia, cherry, and dogwood trees draped their branches over the top of the wall. The sun shone in a blue sky with soft edges and the wind was the sweet breeze of late spring. I recall wondering in my dream why I was dancing in the middle of the day when I should be at work, and went right on dancing. There were, I think, three other women with me. Two, I recognized as my friends. Mary danced with her book bag over her shoulder, Monica carried her paint brush. I held my pen. The third one, who stood next to me, had a round, pleasant face and wore her blonde hair in braids coiled around her head. She was dressed in a frilly white dress dotted with small flowers while the three of us wore business clothes. All of us were barefoot. My first thought when I saw the woman in the white dress was that she was grotesquely fat from the waist down. Never in my life had I ever seen a woman with hips that large. I immediately felt guilty for thinking that she was fat. We all did some kind of dance. We kicked out our legs and waved our arms up at the sky. The woman next to me moved agilely in spite of her great girth. And then we all began to sing. The words we sang over and over were snippets of hymns we might sing at church although there was a lot more. I just don't remember it. While we were singing and dancing in that garden I asked myself again with more joy than I could ever remember, I began to wonder. Who is this strange woman with the golden crown of braids want from me, from us?
At the conclusion of our dance, the large woman began hugging all of us, one at a time. When she hugged me, I realized that she was not made of flesh and blood. Her body felt like the aluminum poles we use to give shape to our tent. I looked up at her face in wonderment. She drew me to her in a closer embrace and then I saw that inside Her was the earth, and that She was giving shape to it with her Body. "All of the earth," She told me, "Is my Body and My Blood. Rejoice and be glad.” Her human Face smiled this very loving smile. Her golden braids sparkled in the sunlight. She lifted Her Hands in blessing and the three of us danced out of the garden, waving streamers.Then I then realized that there were hundreds of other people in the garden behind us, lining up. They, too were going to be given the rules of the universe and to get their chance to dance with God.
Eileen DiFranco, RCWP

No comments: