THE OTHER FACE OF GOD: UNCONDITIONAL LOVE" by Diana Milesko

The Book of Ruth reveals a relationship based on unconditional love, and hesed, or God’s loving kindness toward another. It shows the courage of Ruth, who faces the unknown, and the wisdom of Naomi, who guides Ruth. Ruth’s courage and Naomi’s wisdom embody God’s love and validate ordination of women today. They offer evidence that Roman Catholic women priests can enrich the spiritual growth of everyone, and illustrate how women can achieve their place in the church. First, Ruth reflects godliness in her unconditional love, as opposed to a “conditional” love of a patriarchal institution based on obedience and prejudice. Second, Ruth honors an older woman; in turn, Naomi shows Ruth that obstacles are not insurmountable. Third, Ruth, has the courage to demand justice, without rancor or subservience.
Unconditional Love
That beautiful passage(1) in which Ruth declares her love for Naomi, reminds me of a holy woman in my own life, my Mother, who signed all letters to her seven children, her ten siblings, her students, and everyone she cared for, with, “My Unconditional Love.” Hers was a matriarchy, where all children were equal in the eyes of the mother; her love was unconditional. Ruth is a kindred spirit of the holy in Mother.
In contrast to this unconditional love, in a patriarchy of privilege and power such as the church, love is conditional, based on good behavior and conformity. The institutional church fears loss of this power for themselves more than they value spiritual gain for the many. (2)
Yet every human needs unconditional love. Early Church anchoress, Julian of Norwich (1342-1416) repeatedly declares God’s love is not earned by good behavior nor lost by sin. God’s love is unconditional, like that of a good mother. She stresses that God is both our mother and our father. This idea was also developed by Francis of Assisi in the thirteenth century. (3)
Unconditional love bears hurts, forgives thoughtlessness, and surmounts prejudice, knowing that buried within them is an ember of God’s energy waiting for a breath of love. Women priests are this breath of love, from which a brighter, warmer church will arise.
Respect for other Women
Contrary to abundant and demeaning mother-in-law jokes, Ruth demonstrates love and respect for the elder Naomi. Unfortunately, this respect is not seen often enough. Too many women perceive other females as competitors for men. Consequently, they master techniques and dress to emphasize sex appeal, since that attracts males. They claim, as if it is desirable, “I prefer the company of men over women.” Sexual attraction is normal, of course. But it cannot be the sole quality upon which to esteem women.
Columnist Ruth Marcus observes how much appearance matters for female candidates. “It is no accident that the two most prominent women in the Republican Party today, Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman, are trim and attractive.”(4)
Ruth would hold that female attractiveness is not of prime importance, and discrimination against women is deeply wrong.
In 1970 our first Jewish Congresswoman, Bella Abzug was elected from New York’s Manhattan District 19. Called “Bellicose Abzug” by Time Magazine (5), she was known for wide-brimmed hats, a fiery personality, as well as work for feminism, peace, and civil liberties. She said, “ I began wearing hats as a young lawyer because it helped me to establish my professional identity. Before that, whenever I was at a meeting, someone would ask me to get coffee.” Ruth would deem Bella Abzug a soul-sister, hat and all. Both were strong, determined, and just. Both women knew that self-respect and courage are agents for attaining equality. Like Ruth, Bella Abzug was a role model for the holy.
Courage to Demand Justice
Ruth goes to work in a foreign field knowing God accompanies her. She is independent and demonstrates self-esteem when talking with Boaz. “Ruth has rights and she knows it. She is entitled by Jewish law to the leftovers in the fields. She seeks justice, not favors. The word of God in Ruth is that women have rights. Women, too, are a Word of God and are also worthy of being heard.” (6)
Women today must have courage to assert, again and again, that there is no defense for discrimination. When women are insistent in this, they expand godliness in everyone. The church opposes women priests because they threaten it’s patriarchy. That is a good thing. For the patriarchal church is a harsh, authoritarian thing with a God that loves only conditionally and is male. Ironically, the church’s central image is not a powerful oppressor, but a crucified and powerless victim (7) who loves and respects women. It follows, then, that the church was founded on a love and concern for society’s outcasts. This foundation is anticipated in the Book of Ruth. God works primarily through Ruth and Naomi, and not Boaz, to bring new life to the line of David from which the Messiah comes. “Women plot the liaison between Ruth and Boaz, initiate the relationship, make plain the resolution, name the baby. And Ruth hands the baby to Naomi as her own. This is woman’s work. And of God. ‘The Lord made her conceive,’ the Scripture says. Boaz is not even in the picture.” (8)
The story of Ruth gives further evidence of God’s love for the marginalized. The Moabite, Ruth, marries Boaz and their son, Obed, is grandfather of King David. It is a Moabite, whom the Torah curses, (9) an outcast woman, from whom Israel’s greatest king and its future come. The story of Ruth makes clear that God works through everyone. She proves women are designed for the priesthood; they bring God’s love to the world. In contrast, the 1994 papal declaration of John Paul II stated that now, and for all time, women cannot be priests. Many Catholics are troubled by such blatant and boastful claim to male supremacy. One in ten Americans are former Catholics. (10) Women leave the church because it does not accept them in God’s love. They know that Christianity, spoken by Jesus, affirms God’s love equally for everyone. Unconditional love cannot co-exist with a patriarchy that asserts only what men do is important and women are inferior and exist largely for men’s use.
Bella Abzug once observed, “The establishment is made up of little men, very frightened.” She could be speaking of the church. Men in the institutional church are afraid to admit their limitations, so distort Scriptures to “prove” their superiority. This is not new. In the 12th century, the name of a strong woman, Junia, was changed to that of a male in the Bible. (11) Apparently as a woman, Junia was too threatening to the patriarchal church.
Today, insecure males use false tradition and phony law to dominate women. They hide behind strange definitions of religion and questionable interpretations of historical texts. Religion should help us see the God in each of us. Church leaders should ask a question so popular that it has attained a cult quality. Nonetheless, the question is always valid. “What would Jesus do?” Would Jesus, a victim who defended outcasts, permit church tradition to discriminate against women? Of course he wouldn’t. Like his ancestor Ruth, (through his mother, Mary, lineage of David,) Jesus loved and respected women as well as men.
Ruth would champion the thousands of women like Bishop Bridget Mary Mehan and Janice Sevre-Duszynska, who are moving the church out of it’s calcified prejudice toward a loving acceptance of women as equals in the priesthood. There is no ‘ordination’ anywhere in the New Testament, much less a law forbidding women to be priests. “Jesus was a revolutionary. The Last Supper was not an ordination. Jesus never ordained anyone. He called us to a community of equals, with mutuality: a circle, not a hierarchy. He challenged the religious and civil authorities of his time to empower the marginalized, including women.” In 1976, no biblical obstacles were found to women's ordination. Women's rights are human rights. Who are Shaughnessy and his brother priests at the Vatican to say that God calls only men? Such thinking and behavior is a sin against women and our loving God.” (12) It is this commitment to justice, this principle of life, that Ruth would celebrate as an image of the holy.
Today’s Catholic women, like Naomi and Ruth, have no intention of being victims. They are moving forward, living God’s message of justice and change. Like Ruth, they are the other face of God--a nurturing, loving face that is courageous, wise and strong. They value themselves; in turn, others value them as well. They seek justice with dignity. They become Catholic priests. This is how change happens. Bit by bit, woman by woman. They don’t wait for a patriarchy of frightened old men to grant ‘permission.’ Their courage reveals the true meaning of God--love of self; love of everyone--and helps future generations of women, and men as well, become more Godly. Like Ruth, they move the human race toward a better spiritual future.
“The fact that women keep striving for fullness of humanity may be the greatest act of faith they make in a just and loving God.” (13)
When Boaz marries Ruth, he gives what he possesses; Ruth gives what she is. In giving what one is, one becomes more than one is. Ruth is wisdom, and “Wisdom [is] the feminine personification of God in the Hebrew Scriptures.” (14)
When the institutional church disallows women priests, it diminishes the entire Catholic community. Most especially, it diminishes itself. Women are as spiritual, if not more, than men. Women are the backbone of the church. They do the work; they sing the songs; they teach the young. Women and men are two faces of God; when they become collaborators in faith, they expand our reach toward the best in humanity; the best in godliness.
But if they are denied the priesthood--the place that can best use their courage, their nurturing, and their wisdom--they look for wholeness in other arenas. Some turn to eastern practices. Each yoga practice begins and ends with the greeting, “Namaste,” which means, "the Divine in me greets the Divine in you." That is reverence. It is far removed from, “the puny thing that religion has been allowed to deteriorate into over the years.” (15)
“It is wrong to leave half the human race--its most caring and compassionate side--out of the discussions. How can there be a decent life decision unless based on care, compassion? The presence of women is necessary if a human race on the brink of extinction from war, racism, starvation and global violation is itself to be saved.” (16)
Ruth shows that life is to be shaped, not endured; that women can surmount the impossible. The authoritarian church is preoccupied with power and control; it fears change, and ordaining women is change. Yet the world is rapidly changing, and the church must change as well. Ruth would call for the church to rejoice at the ordination of women priests.
Conclusion
A wise old woman, once told me, “The challenge in life is its daily-ness.” Years ago, I went to church looking for help in this daily-ness, with no luck. “Nothing is said in the pulpit to rouse...to inspire...to dare...to...spiritual achievements.... The lessons doled out to women are meekness and self-abnegation...to do some humble service for men,” said Elizabeth Cady Stanton. (17) Her words mirrored my experience.
One exception was Sheil Center at Northwestern University where I attended mass in the 1970‘s, when our children were young. Fr. Krump was genial, but his true talent was his sermons. He didn’t give many. Each week he invited someone from the community to speak. God’s energy permeated the chapel on Mother’s Day when a mother spoke about the delight and challenge of her role, or on Father’s Day when a father talked about the wonder of his responsibilities. Such speakers reflected the holy. Ruth would be proud.
The simple story of Ruth is an inspiration for all women, but especially for those who want to be priests. Ruth does not rationalize; she loves both men and women. She takes advice from Naomi, her mother-in-law, and speaks as an equal to Boaz. Ruth shows unconditional love and hesed, God’s loving kindness toward another, and reveals women as images of the holy. Her story gives strength and inspiration to women priests whose ordination is crucial. For women priests will help the Church find the God in all of us.





BIBLIOGRAPHY
for DM640 Women of the Bible
THE OTHER FACE OF GOD: UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
Lessons from the “Book of Ruth”
by Diana Milesko
Page 1 (1)1(Ru 1:8,9,14-17) “Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you.
Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die; there will I be buried.”
(2) Catholic Patriarchy Towards a Liberal Catholicism: “Psychology and Four Women” by Peter C. Morea. SCM Press. 2000, pp.96-110.
(3) Wikipedia: Julian of Norwich
(4) Columnist Ruth Marcus, October 6, 2011 “Erie Times” p 7B
Page 2 (5)“The CIA: Prying into Mail, Plotting Murder”, Time Magazine Mon, Mar. 17, 1975
(6) The Story of Ruth: Twelve Moments in Every Woman’s Life by Joan D. Chittister (Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids MI/ Cambridge UK 2000) p 49
(7) Catholic Patriarchy (ibid)
(8) The Story of Ruth: (ibid) p 54
(9) Deut 23:3 An Ammonite or Moabite may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever do so.
Page 3 (10) Bridget Mary’s Blog, October 3, 2011
(11) Praying with Women of the Bible, Bishop Bridget Mary Mehan, Liguori/Triumph Press Liguori, MO, 1998. pp. 109-110
(12) Bridget Mary’s Blog, October 3, 2011: Janice Sevre-Duszynska Priest, Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests Lexington
Page 4 (13) The Story of Ruth (ibid) p 75
(14) Praying with Women of the Bible p 35
(15) “What Is Prayer? A Conversation with Srr Joan Chittister” by Janet Haag, The Huffington Post, June 8, 2010
(16) The Story of Ruth (ibid) p 81
(17) Praying with Women of the Bible pp 27- 28 Elizabeth Cady Stanton

***Note from Bridget Mary Meehan

This insightful paper connecting Ruth to contemporary issues of justice and equality was written by Diana Milesko for a Global Ministries University D. Min. course- DM640 Women of the Bible.
For more information about Global Ministries Univeristy, visit: www.globalministriesuniversity.org