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| photos by Rev. Barbara Zeman, RCWP |
Shared Homily by Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP and Janet Blakeley, with Magnificat Reflections by Mary Murray, Kevin Connelly, and Diane Campbell
Introduction:
Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP
Let us rejoice
today as we ordain Janet Blakeley a Roman Catholic Woman Priest.
Like Mary,
Mother of Jesus, we sing God’s praises that God is doing great things for us
and is working through us in marvelous ways!
On this special
occasion, I invited Janet to share her reflection on Mary’s canticle, the
Magnificat. Of course, she said YES!
Therefore, our
homily will present some of her insights and experiences in her faith journey
as well as insights from recent scholarship on Mary.
Today
there is a resurgent of interest in the historical Jesus and the Jewish Mary
whom we can imagine lighting the Sabbath candles, following Torah and
celebrating the festivals of faith in Nazareth, a small, poor village where,
according to scholars, most of the people were illiterate. For too long in our Catholic tradition, Mary
was imaged as a lovely lady dressed in
blue, meek and mild, a model of complete submission for good Catholic girls! Some of us were told that rolling up our uniform skirts made Mary cry!
Offering
another perspective German theologian, Diedrich Bonhoeffer views the Magnificat
as a passionate hymn by a prophetic Mary:
“This is not the gentle, tender, dreamy Mary who we sometimes see in paintings.
It is the passionate, the rendered proud, enthusiastic Mary who speaks out
here. This has none of the sweet, nostalgic tones of some of our Christmas
carols. It is instead a hard, strong inexorable song about collapsing thrones
and humbling the lords of this world, about the power of God who comes to save.
These are the tones of the women
prophets of the Old Testament that now come to life in Mary’s words.”
The
Mary, we meet in the Magnificat is a strong and bold woman of faith. She taught
Jesus about God’s vision of justice and compassion for humankind. In Luke’s
Gospel Jesus begins his ministry by declaring healing and liberation for the
broken and captive.
His words echo the words of Mary’s canticle proclaiming
God’s extravagant love for all: “The Spirit of Our God is upon me because the
Most High has anointed me to bring Good News to those who are poor.
God has
sent me to proclaim liberty to those held captive, recovery of sight to those
who are blind and release to those in prison- to proclaim the year of Our God’s
favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
Like mother, like
son, or as the Asian feminist theologians commented at a conference in
Singapore, the apple does not fall far from the tree. ( Elizabeth Johnson, “Will the Real Mary
Please Stand Up”, p. 6, CORPUS REPORTS, March/April 2016)
As a courageous prophet walking in
the tradition of her sisters in the Hebrew scriptures, Miriam, Deborah and
Hannah, Mary’s revolutionary canticle challenges the social order of her time.
She praises God that the exploited will triumph over poverty, abuse and domination
and that they will experience the justice promised to them by God.
In a world today, where millions
suffer from poverty, violence and oppression, Mary’s canticle reminds us that
our work for social and structural change is God’s will. The marginalized are
the blessed ones, not their oppressors.
So,
here we are are today, blessed beyond comprehension as we live our baptismal equality on the margins of the
Roman Catholic Church. Here, in a United Church of Christ, we gather around a
Banquet Table where everyone is welcome and everyone celebrates sacraments.
Here we are living Christ’s vision “that all may be one” as we share liturgical
celebrations with our sisters and brothers in the UCC.
With
Mary, we proclaim that God is doing great things for us and through us as we celebrate10
years of growth from a tiny house church in 2006 to this amazing MMOJ community
in 2016.
We are leading the Roman Catholic Church in a transition as we cross a
bridge from the present patriarchal model of church to the early Christianity’s
companionship of empowerment.
Like Mary, we can indeed proclaim our own joyous
Magnificat!
So now, let us reflect on our sister, Janet’s reflection on the
Magnificat:
Janet reflects: My soul
DOES proclaim
the greatness of God -and always
has.
From the age of four,
I have felt myself standing in the warm
light of God, absorbing it, and reflecting it back to God and all that
is within reach
of that light.
The desire to preach has been with me for at least
thirty years, although it was in great nervousness that
I began giving
homilies on retreats. The first time was at Boston College
with Cardinal Law living about a mile away from the pulpit in which I stood!
Mary proclaims:And my Spirit exults in God, my Savior. A
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| Photos by Alicia Bartol-Thomas |
Janet reflects: Fortunately, there are those who can listen
to my heart and hear my
deep love of God. A supervisor once said that
I became too
excited about God! So I learned to quiet that excitement on the outside, but not the inside!
Mary proclaims: For showing mercy on my lowliness, and my name will be
forever exalted.
Janet reflects: Through reason, I find the
institution of the priesthood to be
problematic because it doesn't seem to fit the emerging church of
the People of God. I have always acknowledged, however, that God continues
to call people to that role in life -and you can't argue with
that! In
my own case, I who talked openly and convincingly about there being no need for
priests, find myself invited by God to that very place. It seems that there is nothing
to do but walk as gracefully as
possible through the door that the God
of Surprises is holding open.
Mary proclaims: For the mighty God has done great things for me. And God’s mercy will reach from age to age.
And holy, holy is God’s name
Janet reflects: I am so happy to have had a good upbringing, a good family of my own- complete with beautiful grandchildren! -a partner who loves me, friends, the opportunity to travel and see this beautiful world,
the many chances
to learn, the gift of music, a roof over my head and food on the
table,- the list could go on indefinitely!
God has done great things for me. God's name is holy, holy, holy.
Mary proclaims: The hungry God has filled the poor with good things, the rich are sent empty away.
Janet reflects: I was rich and empty. Then I went to work with the poor in
Haiti and found them hungry but filled with good things.
In Haiti I understood that people who have
nothing with which to impress others, who by their poverty are obliged to simply be who they are, are
the most enriching people of all!
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| photos by Ed Dilgen |
Mary proclaims: God remembers the promise to our ancestors to Abraham and
Sarah…
Janet reflects: One of my
favorite Scripture readings is that of Abraham and Sarah It shows us the simple humanity
of these two old people, as well as the
beautiful graciousness of God. As for God 's mercy on them and their descendants, we are those
descendants and our lives are filled
with surprises, generation after generation, as we grow and evolve and draw nearer to God.
Bridget Mary Meehan
In
conclusion, like Sarah and Janet, we too rejoice at what the God of Surprises calls
us to do as we ordain Janet a priest in our discipleship of equals MMOJ
community.
Like Mary and Janet, each of us could write a
prayer of praise, a Magnificat, for the wondrous things God is doing as we
serve the people of God in grace-filled lives of compassion and love each day.
Today we have invited three
members of our MMOJ Community to share a personal Magnificat, proclaiming God’s compassion and justice. Mary Murray, Kevin Connelly, and Diane Campbell.
Mary Murray
Eternal, all powerful, nurturing Creator: The loving consciousness and presence you offer to all, without condition, teaches, consoles, enlightens, guides, and illuminates my life with laughter
You define my purpose to be fully a woman human being: Relishing my differences in the seeing and experiencing of this world dominated by men and their perspective:
so far
You give me courage to dissent when I see or hear injustice…speak up, take action, and pray for those who do not see the cruelties in our society…..all in service to you, and those fellow humans who are powerless in the world. You give me the freedom to be, and acknowledge, when I am wrong
You held me tight when I sought deliverance from a deadly addiction, and restored me to sanity through the people in my first real community of faith. It was as a part of that sheltering community, I surrendered to your love and power and became a fledgling human being
You have blessed my life with loving parents, beautiful children, grandchildren, three wonderful families, and two amazing faith communities. You consoled me when my dear son Jim died at 46. Much of that consolation was expressed in the kindness and shared tears of my companions in faith and the image of Mary in the Pieta gave me assurance I was not alone in my grief.
I live each day in You, with humanly limited, variable awareness. You are the power of love, present in everything and everywhere: absorbing all doubt, fear, and violence, and offering peace in this moment forever.
Kevin Connelly
It was just before dawn about 2000 years ago when a woman walked down a trail carrying with her oils to anoint the body of her beloved teacher and friend who was cruelly murdered 3 days earlier. As she walked along the trail coming towards her was a very familiar figure-familiar , but radiantly different- The risen Christ.
Mary of Magdala was the first person Jesus appeared to. It was Mary who carried that message to the rest of the Apostles. It was Jesus Himself who ordained women to carry His message—
And indeed they did for the next 400 years serving as priests, bishops and being equal partners in the Christian community. Men, for political gain, changed the message thus excluding half the human race from fully participating in Christ’s vision for us -reducing women to minor, subservient roles in Church structure.
Christ could have changed that, but as Christ’s partners in creation He wants us to do the heavy lifting. We do not learn anything if He did it all for us. It took us 1600 years to learn this! For 1600 years The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse galloped unchecked through the world.
Now we are bringing our Church back to its roots as Christ intended with the ordination of Mary of Magdala’s successors. Courageous women are answering Jesus call to service in full partnership with His vision.
Janet Blakeley has courageously accepted His call to serve and we are all enriched by her many talents,
spiritual insights, and keen intellect. May Jesus guide and direct you on your spiritual journey and may your service illuminate our path!
Magnificat by Diane S Campbell,MD
My
soul is ecstatic in the presence of the
Lord
The
Giver of my life, the Lover of my soul
Because
He has regarded the state of this lowly lesbian,
disregarded
my many, despised by some.
You
have seen the humble heart of this woman who has known no man,
and
yet you have chosen to make her fruitful,
and
a bearer of the Christ to others in the world.
I am
grateful to you, my holy Mother/ Father God,
for
the gifts of humor, and healing, empathy and compassion,
which
give me deep pleasure in my work every day.
You
have raised me up from very humble beginnings,
and
cleared a path through many barriers
to a station in life where I am available to
many,
and you can work through me to help make your
children well,
and
I can often witness lives transformed by your power.
I
praise You, my loving God, and express my gratitude
that
in my lifetime I have been able to see
the
translation of Your Powerful Loving Mercy
into
more and more justice for women,
people
of color, my gay and lesbian sisters and brothers,
and now the transgender.
I
thank you for my family, for bringing me up with a knowledge of you-
for
Elmer & Emma, Franklin & Myrtle, Betty, Charles & Sadie,
Richard
& Virginia
and
for my family of Faith and community of your Holy Spirit-
Francis,
Jean, Annie, Heidi, Mary, Angela,
Joan,
Maureen and Karen, Jim & Marie, Kathy,
and
Janet & Sally
Blessed
be God Forever.
