Mary, Holy Mother, Loving Sister, Faithful Companion, First Priest is with us as we bless, protect and serve those in need
While the doctrine that Mary Mother of Jesus was bodily taken up to heaven at the end of her earthly life, was not dogmatically defined until 1950 by Pope Pius X11, evidence of this belief can be found in patristic narratives from the third and fourth centuries.
The Assumption of Mary was celebrated in the fifth century and became official in the ninth century. In the 21st century, we can reclaim its liberating message to challenge gender oppression and affirm the sacredness of women’s bodies. With Mary, we can pray a Magnificat of blessing for a new order of justice and equity for the excluded and marginalized everywhere.
We live in a world where female bodies are abused, violated and trafficked for profit every day. The World Health Organization reports that globally about 1 in 3 (30%) of women worldwide have been subjected to either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. (WHO,March 25, 2024 )
The significance of Mary’s Assumption affirms that not only Mary’s body is sacred, but all women’s bodies, and the embodied selves of all genders are sacred. Our full humanity reflects our glorious divinity. As we sing in our liturgy: “We are holy, holy, holy!”
In their article entitled “Mary, Mother of God, Mother of the Poor, Latin American theologians Ivone Gebara and Maria Bingemer write:
“Mary’s assumption brings a new and promising future for women…{it} restores and reintegrates women’s bodiliness in the very mystery of God.
Starting with Mary, the dignity of women’s condition is recognized and safeguarded by the creator of that very bodiliness.
In Jesus Christ and Mary the feminine is respectively resurrected and assumed into heaven – definitively sharing in the glory of the Trinitarian mystery from which all proceeds and to which all returns.”
Dr. Ann Lee at university of Divinity in Australia cites, the authority of Mary as the basis for the ordination of women priests today. She concludes:“if the world received the body of Christ from this woman, Mary, then women today should not be excluded from giving the body of Christ, as priests, to the faithful at Mass.”
Indian feminist Kochurani Abraham describes Mary’s Magnificat as bringing about a new vision: “the vision of a new social order based on equality, justice and freedom for all. This new vision would subvert social hierarchies and power structures that are oppressive and this is what we hear foretold in today’s gospel.” ...
This new vision which we call the reign of God would be realized wherever people share, where they love the earth and all is creatures, where they take a stance to include the excluded ones of this world into the table fellowship of life.” (Homily “birthing a new order. (Catholic Women Preach)
According to the Synod on Synodality, the Church must be a Church for everyone including the marginalized. The means that the institutional Church must subvert hierarchies and male-only power structures in order to foster an inclusive Church of baptized equals.
The good news is that inclusivity is the vision of the emerging Church – the thousands of small faith communities around the world -who are following Jesus’ example of inviting everyone to an open table for the Eucharistic feast.
Let us rejoice with Mary and proclaim our own Magnificat as we lovingly bless and offer compassionate care to our sisters and brothers in word and deed!
Let us live our prophetic vocation in this community of baptized equals to speak truth to power and to work for justice- trusting that we will have all we need to do what God is calling us to do!
Let us celebrate with Mary our glorious humanity -one in Christ -in the Divine Heart of love as we bless, protect and heal our sisters and brothers who are suffering in our world!
“ Last week, my colleague Father James Martin traveled to Atlanta to address the 2025 assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. As he acknowledges in his remarks, which we have adapted forthis week’s Cover Story, this is a difficult time for many religious orders in the United States. Drawing on his recent book on Lazarus, Father Martin acknowledges the sadness that many feel at this moment:
“We can wonder why we are no longer getting as many vocations, why so many in our circle of friends are dying and why our beloved ministry sites are closing. And we can wonder: Jesus, where are you?”
This is a question that Martha and Mary also asked when Lazarus was near death. Where is Jesus? Why isn’t he here to help us?
The answer to that question, then and now, may be unanswerable. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing we can do.
Father Martin points to Lazarus, who did not know what Jesus was calling him to when he announced, “Come forth!” But he got up anyway and followed the sound of his master’s voice. “
“Can we,” he writes, “like Lazarus, fully trusting in Jesus, confident in the future because we are confident who it is who is calling us, say yes to God?”
Is anyone better equipped to answer this call than the women religious we know and love?
Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10; Hebrews 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53
August 17, 2025
As we saw in the Gospel lesson, religion can cause conflict between people, even family members. No matter the religion, no matter the time it appears in history, when people begin to move into new religious expressions, there will be quarrels within families and communities.
Sometimes it can get serious. Jesus was nailed to a cross because people opposed his words and actions. We read that Jeremiah the prophet was thrown into a cistern by members of the royal family because they didn’t like what he was saying.
We like to call our religion “peaceful,” but we just read where Jesus challenges the assumption that His coming guaranteespeace in our hearts, peace in our families, peace in our communities, peace in our nation, or peace in the world. If we ever expand out into the galaxy, I’m sure our religious differences will create some level of division even there.
Like every religious tradition that has ever existed, the gospel of Jesus Christ often divides people. One can imagine sons, daughters, and in-laws in both Jewish and gentile familiesjoining the new Christian movement, which lead to division and conflict.
This continues today in many places around the world. But for the most part, people in ourfamilies generally belong to the same or similar religion, such as Christianity. Even when we disagree about some of the finer points, we are not likely to fight about it too much. We are much more likely to fight about politics.
Division, conflict, animosity, quarrels, squabbles, and disagreements are inevitable, but we shouldn’t accept this to bethe end of the story. Yes, we should operate under the assumption that anytime we take our faith seriously, someone will not like it. However, rather than accept conflict as the norm, we should be motivated and inspired to create the peace that is not guaranteed.
Rather than back down and sweep our faith under the rug, we should tell ourselves, “Challenge accepted.” After all, Jeremiah didn’t give up his mission after he was thrown into the cistern by people who hated him.Jesus didn’t give up his mission after he was nailed to the cross. And we shouldn’t give up our mission because people don’t like what we have to say.
Peace might not be guaranteed, but we should accept the challenge to pursue peace. We can start with inner peace. Peace begins within each one of us. When our hearts are anchored in peace, our presence becomes a refuge for others.
Once we find peace within ourselves, we can speak peace into existence. We can say the right things. As Proverbs 15:1 reminds us, “A gentle answer turns away wrath.” Whether it’s in our families, workplaces, communities, or congregations, we can choose words that heal, not harm.
Along with our words, we can create peace through our actions. On a small or large scale, we all have the ability to seek peace and its companion, justice, with our words backed up by our actions. Accepting the challenge to create peace means standing up for the marginalized, listening to the unheard, and working toward a world that reflects God’s desire for peace.
Another way to help create peace is to forgive. Nothing restores peace to the world like an act of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a weapon of peace in a world addicted to violence and revenge.
When you add all this up, a peacemaker is a bridge builder. The real challenge is to listen more than we speak, to understand more than we judge, and to love more than we construct boundaries. As Paul challenges us in Romans 12:18: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
Accepting this challenge of creating peace in a world of conflict means waking up each day and choosing love over hate, unity over division, and hope over despair. It’s not easy, but challenge accepted.
We Are Church International wish to make it clear that we have not beeninvited to meet with Pope Leo XlV in October as reported in some media.
We applied to take part in the Jubilee of the Synod Teams 24-26 October2025 in Rome as anotherparticipating organization.
We were pleasedthat our registration was accepted upon submission. To us, this is a positivesign that confirms the Church is listening to everyone.
Along with manyhundreds of delegates from around the world we look forward to hearing Pope LeoXlV deliver his address. But we are clear that no special meeting will takeplace with the pope and our group.
The Vatican shared that representatives from the group will “meet with Pope Leo XIV and walk through the Holy Gate” as part of the Holy Year’s celebrations.
We Are Church International (WAC) confirmed to PinkNews that they will be participating in the Jubilee of Synodal Teams, held from 24 – 26 October 2025, as “another participating organisation”.
I think this is a positive first step in fostering a Church for all.
My question is: does this invitation include a delegation from our international Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement- ARCWP/RCWP?
In 2023, I was one of the ordained members of our movement who presented a talk on the women priests' movement at the Alternative Synod in Rome sponsored by We Are Church International.
Wouldn't it be wonderful to see a delegation from our movement participate in this Jubilee Celebration?
A warm welcome to Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community Zoom Liturgy.
Today we celebrate the Feast of the embodied Mary in heaven.
With Mary we celebrate the sacredness of our embodied selves. Let us "untie the strong woman" and recognize divinity in female bodies and in all genders. Let us live Mary's Magnificat vision of justice and equality to transform oppressive power structures and hierarchies. We rejoice that she moves through us as we bless, protect and serve our sisters and brothers everywhere.
And from now on I shall be called woman most highly blessed
Holy is our God whose kindness never ends
Who by great strength has scattered the proud
And raises up the poor and gathers them into all fullness
For God has come to this servant Israel
To show all mercy now and forever as was promised
Sarah and Abraham and the children forever.
Transformation Rite:
Presider: Bridget Mary
We pause now to affirm the divinity of our embodied selves. Take a moment to get in touch with the sacredness of your body.
(Pause briefly and extend your hand over your heart)
Let us open our hearts to Infinite Love moving through every cell of our bodies. Let us be aware that our Holy Mother Mary moves through us and protects every life on earth.
All: We rejoice in Boundless Love embracing us, and guiding us to healing and wholeness. Amen, Alleluia!
Gloria: Please join in praying the Gloria together
Presider: Jeanne S. and ALL:
Glory to the Spirit of Life, for the Divine Mystery in which we live and move and have our being.
Glory to the Spirit of Life, for the gift of inner peace- peace in our hearts, peace in our thoughts, peace with one another.
Glory to the Spirit of life for Mary, whose Assumption reminds us of the sacredness of our bodies and all living beings.
Amen, So be it! Alleluia!
Opening Prayer
Presider: Bridget Mary
Let us pray:
Holy One, on this Feast of Mary's Assumption, we celebrate the gift of life in our embodied selves. May we -like Mary- challenge oppressive power structures and hierarchies that devalue women's bodies and humanity. May we- like Mary- be prophetic witnesses of justice for the excluded ones and welcome all to the Banquet Table of your Boundless Love. May Mary accompany us as we live our call to bless, protect and heal our sisters and brothers who are suffering in the world.
ALL: So be it!
Liturgy of the Word
Reader: Jim B
First Reading: A Reading from Untie the Strong Woman by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
This word Memorare, chosen as the first word in the first line of the prayer, doesn’t mean turn back and make some vapid recall, be of fluffy sentiment. It’s not a weak effort to remember.
No, this Memorare means Remember! Wake up!
It is a command from the soul to remember who you are and what powers have been born into you; that you are the son, the daughter, of Blessed Mother…
Even as the Great Woman wears “the shirt of arrows” slammed onto her by the ridiculing, the scorning, the opprobrium of the overculture for her relentless stance in protecting all the vulnerable souls of the earth — she continues nonetheless to shelter and to intercede for the spirit of the child in all souls, of any age…
Who needs protection, who will ever need protection and justice, are the souls of her earthly, vulnerable children, regardless of their number of years lived. The Great Woman’s own Child said it free and clear: Whatever you do to the least of us, you do to Me.
In this way, the Mother who wears “the shirt of arrows” teaches us that all souls belong under the armor of her starry mantle, cradled beside her precious Little Child. She takes on the protection of all.
So, despite human failings, our own and/or others’, we continue to chant the Memorare so that all — the sighted and the semi-sighted and the not-yet-sighted, the hearing and the not hearing, the heartful and the not heartless perhaps but rather more accurately the not-yet-heartful — will all be aided in ways that can support them, and us, to be made whole again.
All are understood as worthy of understanding and mercy. With Blessed Mother, no one is left out.
These are the inspired words of spiritual teacher Clarissa Pinkola Estes and the community responds to them by saying
A Reading from Abounding in Kindness by theologian Elizabeth Johnson (pp.309 -310)
Mary’s canticle finds special resonance in the hearing of women who struggle against sexism as well as against racism, classism, heterosexism, and all other injustice that demeans their humanity.
They note that this is the longest set of words on the lips of any woman in the whole New Testament, the most any woman gets to say.
In its spirit, they draw many and varied lessons of encouragement.
One of the strongest and most unusual lessons in light of traditional Mariology is the right of women to say “no.”
Leonardo Boff makes the point well: “Men toiling in the service of male power interests represent Mary only as the woman who knew how to say yes.”
But here she takes on as her own the divine NO to what crushes the lowly. She stands up fearlessly and sings out that injustice will be overturned.
No passivity here, but solidarity with divine outrage over the degradation of life, coupled with God’s merciful promise to repair the world.
In the process she bursts out of the boundaries of male-defined femininity while still every inch a woman.
Singing of her joy in God’s victory over oppression, she becomes not a subjugated but a prophetic woman.
These are the inspired words of theologian Elizabeth Johnson and the community responds to them by saying
Mary didn’t waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country, straight to Zachariah’s house, and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby in her womb leaped.
She was filled with the Holy Spirit and sang out exuberantly.
You’re so blessed among women, and the babe in your womb, also blessed!
Why am I so blessed that the mother of my God visits me?
The moment the sound of your greeting entered my ears, the babe in my womb skipped like a lamb for sheer joy.
Blessed woman, who believed what God said and believed every word would come true!
And Mary said,
I’m bursting with God-news,
I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.
God took one good look at me, and look what happened—I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!
What God has done for me will never be forgotten, the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.
God's mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before the Holy One.
God scattered the bluffing braggarts.
God knockedtyrants off their high horses, pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold.
God embraced the people.
God remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.
It’s exactly what the Holy One promised, beginning with Abraham and Sarah and right up to now.
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then went back to her own home.
These are the inspired words of the Evangelist Luke. And the community responds by saying:
All: So be it.
(adapted by Bridget Mary from The Message New Testament by Eugene H. Peters)
HOMILY STARTER: Bridget Mary
While the doctrine that Mary Mother of Jesus was bodily taken up to heaven at the end of her earthly life, was not dogmatically defined until 1950 by Pope Pius X11, evidence of this belief can be found in patristic narratives from the third and fourth centuries.
The Assumption of Mary was celebrated in the fifth century and became official in the ninth century. In the 21st century, we can reclaim its liberating message to challenge gender oppression and affirm the sacredness of women’s bodies.
With Mary, we can pray a Magnificat of blessing for a new order of justice and equity for the excluded and marginalized everywhere.
We live in a world where female bodies are abused, violated and trafficked for profit every day. The World Health Organization reports that globally about 1 in 3 (30%) of women worldwide have been subjected to either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. (WHO,March 25, 2024 )
The significance of Mary’s Assumption affirms that not only Mary’s body is sacred, but all women’s bodies, and the embodied selves of all genders are sacred. Our full humanity reflects our glorious divinity. As we sing in our liturgy: “We are holy, holy, holy!”
In their article entitled “Mary, Mother of God, Mother of the Poor, Latin American theologians Ivone Gebara and Maria Bingemer write:
“Mary’s assumption brings a new and promising future for women…{it} restores and reintegrates women’s bodiliness in the very mystery of God.
Starting with Mary, the dignity of women’s condition is recognized and safeguarded by the creator of that very bodiliness. In Jesus Christ and Mary the feminine is respectively resurrected and assumed into heaven – definitively sharing in the glory of the Trinitarian mystery from which all proceeds and to which all returns.”
In the beautiful graphic from the Women’s Ordination Conference citing Dr. Ann Lee at university of Divinity in Australia, the authority of Mary is the basis for the ordination of women priests today. She concludes: “if the world received the body of Christ from this woman, Mary, then women today should not be excluded from giving the body of Christ, as priests, to the faithful at Mass.”
Indian feminist Kochurani Abraham describes Mary’s Magnificat as bringing about a new vision: “the vision of a new social order based on equality, justice and freedom for all. This new vision would subvert social hierarchies and power structures that are oppressive and this is what we hear foretold in today’s gospel.” ...
This new vision which we call the reign of God would be realized wherever people share, where they love the earth and all is creatures, where they take a stance to include the excluded ones of this world into the table fellowship of life.” (Homily “birthing a new order,”Catholic Women Preach)
According to the Synod on Synodality, the Church must be a Church for everyone including the marginalized. The means that the institutional Church must subvert hierarchies and male-only power structures in order to foster an inclusive Church of baptized equals.
The good news is that inclusivity is the vision of the emerging Church – the thousands of small faith communities around the world -who are following Jesus example of inviting everyone to an open table for the Eucharistic feast.
Let us rejoice with Mary and proclaim our own Magnificat as we lovingly bless and offer compassionate care to our sisters and brothers in word and deed!
Let us live our prophetic vocation in this community of baptized equals to speak truth to power and to work for justice- trusting that we will have all we need to do what God is calling us to do!
Let us celebrate with Mary our glorious humanity -one in Christ -in the Divine Heart of love as we bless, protect and heal our sisters and brothers who are suffering in our world.
Community Sharing
Prayer Leader: Jim Brandi
Community Statement of Faith
Together let us profess our Faith.
All: We believe in you O God, Creator of the universe, whose divinity infuses all that exists, making everything sacred.
Jesus, we believe in You, messenger of the Divine Word, the bringer of healing and the heart of Compassion.
We believe in you Holy Spirit, the breath of our innermost life, and the Sustainer who heals and energizes us when our spirits grow weary in our journeys.
We believe that You are here with us today in this gathering, calling us to be a loving and just people.
We believe the poor have a priority in your plans and we are called to do our best to serve them in your name.
We believe you are offering us freedom and grace to become our true selves, so that we can turn from false, worldly securities and look to you for our true identity as your children.
We believe that as You were anointed by God to do God’s will, through our baptism, we too are called to be a sign of God’s Kindom on earth where we are all sisters and brothers.
PRAYERS OF AND FOR THE COMMUNITY
Luca C: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns.
Response: Bless, protect and heal them
Sacred Spirit, we bring to the table all those who are taken from work, from colleges and schools, from their homes, and forced to leave our country, those who indeed have visas and who pay taxes on their earnings:
Response: Bless, protect and heal them.
We bring to the table our immigrant families, who are denied entrance into our country, who are returned to their country of birth or sent to other countries , who are put away in prison without the benefit of our systems of justice.
Response: Bless, protect and heal them.
We bring to the table our veterans who are losing their benefits after serving our country with honor, and all women who have lost their right to make medical decisions with their doctor because of unjust laws promulgated by our country.
Response: Bless, protect and heal them.
We bring to the table all women of the world who are mothers and all those who have been “mother” to others. May they be inspired by the life of Mary the mother of Jesus, and may we recognize that the power and Spirit of Mary lives within us, within all genders, always giving us strength and wisdom.
Response: Bless, protect and heal them.
We bring to the table the intentions in our MMOJ community prayer book. (Joan shares)
Response: Bless, protect and heal them.
And for what else shall we pray? Please feel free to voice your concerns beginning with the words: “I bring to the table……… and we respond:
Response: Bless, protect and heal them.
We pray for these and any other unspoken intentions. And together we say:
Response: Bless, protect and heal them.
Offertory
Presentation of the bread and wine
Presider: Bridget Mary
God of all life, through your goodness we have bread, wine, all creation, and our own lives to offer. Through this sacred meal we become your new creation.
Presider: Jeanne S
O Holy One, You dwell in all of us, and you accept our gifts that we offer in service to our faith community. We do this in memory of our brother, Jesus. Amen.
Eucharistic Prayer
Prayer Leader: Jim
The Holy One is with you.
Prayer Leader Luca and All:
And also with you.
Prayer Leader: Jim
We lift up our hearts.
Prayer Leader: Luca and All
We lift them up to the Holy One, the Love of our Hearts.
Prayer Leader: Jim
We give thanks and praise to our compassionate God.
Prayer Leader Luca and All:
It is right to give the Holy One thanks and praise.
Prayer Leader:Jim
We join with the angels and saints as we sing this joyful song of praise:
We celebrate Mary the Mother of Jesus as a liturgical leader who praised God, preached the gospel, led the prayers, and healed with her hands. She continues to move through us to protect every person, child and life on earth.
During Jesus’s life on earth, he lived and died loving the poor, healing the sick and challenging the injustices within society. Because of his ministry, Jesus was feared by the authorities of his day, and they sought out ways to bring him to his death.
Invocation of the Holy Spirit (extend you hands in blessing)
Presider and All: Bridget Mary
You bless us O Sacred Spirit and you enliven all that exists. You transform these gifts of bread and wine, and our lives, by boundless grace that nourish and sustains us on our journey.
On the night before he faced his own death, Jesus sat at the Seder supper with his companions and friends. He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly with them, he bent down and washed their feet.
(All lift your bread and pray)
When Jesus returned to his place at the table, he lifted the bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread, and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat, this is my very self. (pause)
Preside and All: Jeanne S:
(All lift your cup and pray)
Then Jesus took the cup of the covenant, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:
Take and drink.
Whenever you remember me like this,
I am among you. (pause)
Presider: Jeanne S
Let us proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace, remembering that we are bearers of light and hope.
All:Christ of the Cosmos you are the spark of love in whom we believe; the Wisdom of Sophia in whom we trust; and the desire for justice that consumes us.
Presider: Bridget Mary
Sacred Spirit, we remember Mary, Mother of Humanity, who birthed Jesus into our world. We rejoice that the Universal Christ remains always and ever present within and around us. We remember all those who have transitioned from life on earth to complete union with the Sacred Presence: Mary of Nazareth and all great saints, prophets and martyrs.
Prayer Leader: Luca
We remember all the members of our MMOJ Community, our family members and friends who have transitioned into New Life. We give thanks for all those who have blessed our lives and whose memory continues to inspire us.
… (Pause and remember the names of your loved ones in silence…)
Prayer Leader: Jim
We pray that the Holy One renew in our hearts our commitment to journey always in faith and hope as we reach out and support our religious and political leaders, comfort and love those closest to us, those who live in our country and all the people of the earth.
And we respond together by singing the Great Amen.
What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives; as we share communion, we become communion, both Love’s nourishment and Love’s challenge. We are the hands and feet of Christ in our world. May it be so Amen
Bridget Mary:Introductions,Prayers of Thanksgiving and Announcements
Blessing:
Presider: Jeanne s
We together raise our hands as we bless one another.
All:
May we -like Mary- rejoice in our blessed humanity and divinity!
May we - like Mary- speak truth to power and work for justice and equality.
May we - like Mary- bethe face of God- joyful and loving- serving our sisters and brothers in the world.
Amen, Alleluia. So be it!
Closing Song:
Courageous Women – Jan Novotka, Video by Mary Theresa Streck
If you would like to invite another person to attend our liturgy please refer them to www.marymotherofJesus.net where the day’s liturgy is found. Zoom instructions are also included there.
