Isaiah 58: 6
Book of Wisdom
6: 12-16
Mark 5: 41-43
Psychiatrist and internationally known author Jean Bolen
says that
there is a call in the world today from the Sacred Feminine
to bring the
feminine principle into consciousness.
The message of the Sacred Feminine today, she says, comes
from
a Maternal Voice and this voice is calling out saying,
"Gather the women, Save the world!"
"Gather the women, Save the world!"
And all around the world~~~~
Women are hearing it . . .
Men are hearing it . . .
Children are hearing it . . .
And most importantly, little girls are hearing it.
Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, both New York Times
journalists,
have co-written a book titled, HALF THE SKY: Turning
Oppression Into
Opportunity For Women Worldwide---in the book they assert
that the
paramount moral challenge of the 21st century is the
struggle for gender equality around the world.
In the world today, girls are burned with acid and shot for
going to
school~~~~~~
In every country of the world today, girls and women are
trafficked into
brothels------
All over the world today, women are murdered by
husbands-----
In many places of the world today, little girls are forced
into marriage----
In this country, colleges can be hostile places for young
women;
Dartmouth College has been in the news lately for a campus
website that has
a rape guide. A young woman's name and photo can be posted
and she is
suddenly made a target for sexual assault on campus.
This last week, the Women's Center and the Dean's Office at
the Louisville
Presbyterian Seminary hosted a screening of the film
"Girl Rising."
One of the stories featured in the film is about a little
girl from Haiti
named Wadley.
Wadley is a bright and determined little girl.
Although she and her mother are poor, she is able to attend
school.
Wadley loves going to school!
But the earthquake of 2010 changed everything.
She was ripped from her home and from her beloved school.
Death was all around.
The storyteller repeats the words, "ashes to ashes,
dust to dust,
ashes to ashes, dust to dust" as the camera shows
Wadley
walking along the debris.
The teacher at the makeshift schoolhouse that was set up
amidst the rubble refused Wadley as a student
because her mother did not have the money.
But Wadley, the bright and determined little girl that she
is,
told the teacher that she was going to show up at the
school every
day until the teacher decides to let her stay.
Wadley is a little GIRL RISING from the dust of poverty and
devastation.
Wadley is a little girl who hears something in the secret
recesses
of her soul a message about her immense worth.
Many scholars, mystics and pastors today are hearing the
voice of the
Sacred Feminine. There has been brilliant work done in the
uncovering
of the Sacred Feminine in our Hebrew and Christian
Scriptures.
When first century Christians reflected on the saving
significance
of Jesus of Nazareth, they turned to Female Personified
Wisdom in the Old
Testament. What Judaism said of Sophia, early Christian
hymn-makers
and Gospel and epistle writers said of Jesus. The early
Christians presented
Jesus as Sophia Herself, even though Jesus was biologically
male.
Carmelite Sister Constance Fitzgerald explains the impact
of Jesus Christ
Sophia in the soul of 16th century Spanish mystic John of
the Cross-----
"After the silence and suffering of a long dark night,
secret Wisdom
awakens" him. And John of the Cross writes,
"How gently and lovingly you wake in my heart,
where in secret you dwell alone;
and in your sweet breathing,
filled with good and glory,
how tenderly you swell my heart with love."
The Christ Sophia Who dwells deeply in the secret recesses of
the heart
of this mystic is the Jesus Sophia Who walks into the room
of the little
girl in today's Gospel. In this room of deep, dark despair
where
the parents are grief-stricken, where the little girl lay lifeless,
there was a touch of hands, and words spoken,
"Little girl, get up."
The little girl hears the words of Jesus Sophia, the words
of the
Sacred Feminine, and the Girl Rises.
During this season of Lent we can make a conscious decision
of the heart
to desire the Sacred Feminine.
We can pray to hear Her as She summons us to Her table, to
wait at Her
gate.
Like John of the Cross, we can be desire that She enter
into the secret
recesses of our soul for our own healing and nourishment.
In the context of a Catholic Woman Priest movement and in
the context
of a world where hatred of the feminine disparages so many,
we can ask that She breathe and whirl through our
collective,
communal soul.
We can ask Her to energize us to prophetic living where we,
like Isaiah and Jesus Sophia,
insist that every yoke be broken and the oppressed
are set free~~~
And together we can joyfully say those holy words,
"Little girl, get up."
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Christ Sophia Inclusive Catholic Community
Louisville, Kentucky
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