The Annunciation: (March 25) ARCWP Founder’s Day
Mary said “Yes” to Gabriel. Women are saying “Yes” to The Call to Roman Catholic Priesthood.
https://youtu.be/2WTs3rhaZKw
https://youtu.be/__RAZDpzfys
Celebrating Our Anniversary.
Mary’s “Yes” and Our “Yes”.
March 25
Dear Friends,
I listened to a meditation today from Joanne Parsons at The School of Christian Mysticism called The Primordial Yes. I was inspired to adapt her meditation to celebrate today in honor of The Feast of The Annunciation to remember Mary’s “Yes” and our individual and collective “Yes” to our calls to ministry commitments and ordinations. This may also be a way of remembering The Woman who Anointed Christ. A ritual often missing from traditional Holy Week Celebrations. I am remembering both Mary Magdalene and Mary of Nazareth with the following.
Find my adaptation meditation below. I suggest using Lectio Divina or whatever prayer practice works for you.
Happy Anniversary! Blessings,
Karen Kerrigan
Reading 1: Words and Actions of “Yes” by Mary from The Writer of John.
Before Jesus raised Lazarus, she said to him, “Yes, Beloved. I have come to believe that you are the Anointed, the Child of The Human One, the one who is coming into the world.”
(adapted from John 11:27 NABRE)...
Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead… * Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then Judas the Iscariot, one [of] his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?” He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. So Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
( adapted from John 12: 1-8 NABRE)
Reading 2: A Wisdom Reading from Thomas Merton
In our being there is a primordial “yes” that is not our own,
It is not at our disposal;
It is not accessible to our inspection and understanding;
We do not even fully experience it as real.
(except in rare and unique circumstances)
And we have to admit that for most people this primordial “yes”
Is not something they ever advert to at all.
It is, in fact, absolutely unconscious, totally forgotten.
Basically, however,
My being is not an affirmation of a limited self,
But the ‘yes’ of Being itself, irrespective of my own choices.
Where do “I” come in?
Simply in uniting the ‘yes’ of my own freedom
And the ‘yes’ of Being that already is…
There is the actuality of one ‘yes’
In this actuality…
the ego vanishes.
Meditation Song: Magnificat by Simon de Voil
https://youtu.be/vb3pixhJe4Q?
*Note about John 11 and 12. Recent scholarship by Dr. Elizabeth Schrader-Polczer hypothesizes that there may only be one sister of Lazarus, Mary. The person known as “Martha” may have been imported from The Gospel of Luke. You can read more about this from Diana Butler Bass’ recent substack here.
https://mail.google.com/mail/
One Lectio Divina Method for your reference:
Lectio (Read) —Read the passage slowly for context.
Meditatio (Meditate) — Read the passage again. Try focusing on a word or phrase from the passage. What word or phrase seems to shimmer for you?
3. Oratio (Pray)—Read the passage one last time. Allow the meditation to lead you to a conversation with Holy Mystery. Why did that word or phrase resonate with you?
4. Contemplatio (Contemplate) —Spend some quiet moments resting in the presence of Holy Mystery!
Mary’s “Yes” and Our “Yes”.
March 25
Dear Friends,
I listened to a meditation today from Joanne Parsons at The School of Christian Mysticism called The Primordial Yes. I was inspired to adapt her meditation to celebrate today in honor of The Feast of The Annunciation to remember Mary’s “Yes” and our individual and collective “Yes” to our calls to ministry commitments and ordinations. This may also be a way of remembering The Woman who Anointed Christ. A ritual often missing from traditional Holy Week Celebrations. I am remembering both Mary Magdalene and Mary of Nazareth with the following.
Find my adaptation meditation below. I suggest using Lectio Divina or whatever prayer practice works for you.
Happy Anniversary! Blessings,
Karen Kerrigan
Reading 1: Words and Actions of “Yes” by Mary from The Writer of John.
Before Jesus raised Lazarus, she said to him, “Yes, Beloved. I have come to believe that you are the Anointed, the Child of The Human One, the one who is coming into the world.”
(adapted from John 11:27 NABRE)...
Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead… * Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then Judas the Iscariot, one [of] his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?” He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. So Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
( adapted from John 12: 1-8 NABRE)
Reading 2: A Wisdom Reading from Thomas Merton
In our being there is a primordial “yes” that is not our own,
It is not at our disposal;
It is not accessible to our inspection and understanding;
We do not even fully experience it as real.
(except in rare and unique circumstances)
And we have to admit that for most people this primordial “yes”
Is not something they ever advert to at all.
It is, in fact, absolutely unconscious, totally forgotten.
Basically, however,
My being is not an affirmation of a limited self,
But the ‘yes’ of Being itself, irrespective of my own choices.
Where do “I” come in?
Simply in uniting the ‘yes’ of my own freedom
And the ‘yes’ of Being that already is…
There is the actuality of one ‘yes’
In this actuality…
the ego vanishes.
Meditation Song: Magnificat by Simon de Voil
https://youtu.be/vb3pixhJe4Q?
*Note about John 11 and 12. Recent scholarship by Dr. Elizabeth Schrader-Polczer hypothesizes that there may only be one sister of Lazarus, Mary. The person known as “Martha” may have been imported from The Gospel of Luke. You can read more about this from Diana Butler Bass’ recent substack here.
https://mail.google.com/mail/
One Lectio Divina Method for your reference:
Lectio (Read) —Read the passage slowly for context.
Meditatio (Meditate) — Read the passage again. Try focusing on a word or phrase from the passage. What word or phrase seems to shimmer for you?
3. Oratio (Pray)—Read the passage one last time. Allow the meditation to lead you to a conversation with Holy Mystery. Why did that word or phrase resonate with you?
4. Contemplatio (Contemplate) —Spend some quiet moments resting in the presence of Holy Mystery!
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?hl=iw/#inbox/FMfcgzQgKvLWXkrFNSNpQZXHsMlgrbCN?projector=1
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