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| Barbara Billey ARCWP |
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| Sharon Beneteau, and Barbara Billey ARCWP |
Sharon Beneteau enacting the myth of Echo
How many of us resonate with the
lamentations of the nymph Echo from Greek mythology? She parrots other peoples'
thoughts and beliefs. She falls in love with Narcissus who, in his all-consuming
preoccupation with himself, cannot love her. "Farewell, farewell, farewell.,"
Echo laments. She has lost herself by loving, where love cannot be found.
We can fall in love with the ideologies
of politicians and religious leaders who promise security at the expense of others'
freedoms. Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to send thousands of
military to the Mexican border in order to block access of refugees from
Honduras. I could go on at length about the multiple injustices that are
persecuting women, men and their children.
We can also be swept away by institutions,
parents and partners who love on the condition that we reflect their image. What
is the cost of this kind of compliance?
In her poem Encounter, bishop Michele Birch-Conery
writes,
Tears came.
I could have wept
a
year, a hundred years,
centuries
even.
All our loss, grief
of
every kind,
Then, now
and
yet to come.
Holy Wisdom cries out her pain for our
nations' peoples; our religious and other institutions; our natural resources;
and for all who cannot live out their sacred calling.
(Pic
of women of the early Church)
Pictures available in google search --- Priscilla Catacombs or Roman Catacomb frescoes
On this All Soul's day, when the veil
is thin between us and our ancestors, we call in the women of the early
Christian Church. The picture above captures images of these women drawn by
artists on the walls of ancient catacombs. They were leaders of Christian
communities - deacons, priests and bishops - who carried forward Jesus' message
of mercy, love and justice.
By the 4th century A.D., male, Roman
Catholic Church leaders usurped women's voices. They assumed power over our religious
tradition and human rights, established canon laws that dictated women's place
in Church and society. Ordained women
religious leader were silenced and disappeared.
In the Gospel we heard Jesus say,
"A tree is known by its fruit"(Matt 12:33). For hundreds of years,
women and girls have been exploited and sexually abused in all religious
traditions. We have been excluded from positions of leadership and denied our
right to follow our sacred callings. These practices echo through the halls and
boardrooms of government, education, business and family. Where is the fruit?
"We were here once and now we
are back!," says bishop Michele. Through our women priest movement in the
Roman Catholic tradition we no longer echo the voice of patriarchy. We have untangled
ourselves from the sticky web of oppression and found our voices. How?
Our model of priesthood embraces
Jesus' values of compassion, inclusion, equality and justice. We love our
tradition and we, with the people of God, are re-creating the future Church.
We are meeting the spiritual and
practical needs of people in these complex times through ministering to fractured
families, refugees, LGBTQI persons, those who are disenfranchised from the
institutional Church, the aging and ill. We focus on systemic change through gender
and eco-justice.
Our liturgies are sacramental prayer
that creates the conditions for meaningful encounters with the Sacred through
the use of contemporary theologies and expressive arts. In our non-clerical,
non-hierarchical stance, each person has a voice around the table of worship, including
sharing collective wisdom within the homily. Our theology is about blessing,
acceptance and gratitude; rather than, atonement that focuses on our sinfulness and unworthiness.
As we deepen into our liturgy today,
you'll notice images of and metaphors for God that are gender inclusive and
devoid of monarchial designations such as King and Lord.
We reverence our planet Earth and all
created beings. The Cosmic Christ is a living reality with us. Our liturgies
are rituals of transforming and empowering grace.
Through our ordinations, we dare to break
an unjust, canon law that disregards the rightful place of women called by God
to be leaders in the Church. Our ordinations are valid through apostolic
succession. The Divine Feminine is being birthed through us and all who are
with us. We are bearing fruit.
(Barbara Billey leading
body prayer)
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| Barbara Billey ARCWP |
Again from the poem Encounter.
Wisdom Divine
She brings us back to ourselves.
She pushes us
Through her great birth passage
sending
us everywhere.
We come forth
from
her head, her heart,
her
hands, her feet.
She has borne
us,
again and again,
from
her whole self.
We have become her.
She was already us.
Each one of us is called by Holy
Wisdom, and by the Risen Christ whose essence is Wisdom to echo new sounds of
freedom and justice for all. On this All Soul's day in the presence of our
women ancestors, we might ask ourselves, What words of justice and peace do I
echo? (Sharing response with another
person)
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| Sharon Beneteau, Suzanne De Froy and Barbara Billey, Heart of Compassion Faith Community. |
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