Today is day 26 of Thirty Days with Mary and
Day 3 of the Art Novena for Our Lady of Lourdes
Today we are reminded of the universality of Mary
and the mystery of who she is.
To some she is the literal figure in a Bible story;
to others she is a Western goddess;
some know her as Queen of Heaven and the Angels
and still others know as her Mama, Gaia,
Mother Earth and our nature.
‘I realized that all the powers of the Mothers, of Tara, Durga, Kali are in Mary.
She has Tara’s sublime tenderness;
Durga’s inaccessible silent calm force;
the grandeur and terribilta of Kali.
But Mary is also a woman,
a poor woman
and a human mother. – Andrew Harvey
Visionary or apparitional culture is no static force, a cultural ‘given’
that people can join as members.
It is dynamic, responding to contemporary political, social and religious realities
and shaping those realities, and is also shaped
by the individuals who identify themselves as Marian devotees
and visionaries.
Visionary culture is a confluence of Catholic devotions, symbols,
and traditions of innovative responses to modern
contexts of negotiations among social, religious and interpersonal
forces of the interactions of apparitions believers
and apparition doubters and of the loving
and guiding influence of Our Lady, who for believers is imminently present.
Visionary culture is a worldview, a palette of practices, an understanding
of the cosmos, a palette on which individuals paint
the stories of their lives.
Extract from Out Lady of Emmitsburg by Jill Krebs
that people can join as members.
It is dynamic, responding to contemporary political, social and religious realities
and shaping those realities, and is also shaped
by the individuals who identify themselves as Marian devotees
and visionaries.
Visionary culture is a confluence of Catholic devotions, symbols,
and traditions of innovative responses to modern
contexts of negotiations among social, religious and interpersonal
forces of the interactions of apparitions believers
and apparition doubters and of the loving
and guiding influence of Our Lady, who for believers is imminently present.
Visionary culture is a worldview, a palette of practices, an understanding
of the cosmos, a palette on which individuals paint
the stories of their lives.
Extract from Out Lady of Emmitsburg by Jill Krebs
In her the full path of the sacred feminine is lived.
In her we have a complete image of the Divine Mother,
an image at once transcendent and immanent,
other-worldly and this-wordly,
at once mystical and political and practical.
In Mary the Divine Mother comes to earth and lives on earth
and lives, the passionate, strong, serious,
simple and transforming life that shows us all how to live.
Who is she to you?
What are the whispers in your ear?
What are the winds stirring up in your heart?
It takes great courage to answer that call
and to step out of the comfort and security
of the unexamined room in which we live.
Has she been calling you?
Then today is the day to answer.
into the unknown
To do that which you have been avoiding,
to see and hear that part of yourself that has
been tugging on the hem of your coat,
begging for attention
Magnificent Mary may I remain open
to the impossible
May I remember not to ignore the very subtle
messages of Spirit;
and may I undertake each task as the sacred task that it is
Ave Maria
Om jai mata Mary ma
jai jai ma
blessings
Hettienne
