Embracing the Mother: Embracing the Feminine.
A Reflection for August 15th, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary.
This weekend the Roman Catholic Church takes a detour in the readings to honor Mary, the Mother of God, the Theotokos (God-Bearer), the ever-virgin-always-innocent One who brought Jesus into the world. It is the Feast of the Assumption of Mary and one of the Holy Days that causes consternation among non-Catholic Christians and among Catholics who have spent time in scriptural study. There is of course no reference to the ‘assumption’ of Mary in canonical scripture. The source of the Feast is from a combination of tradition and apocryphal writings that date to the 5th Century, but the Feast itself was not promulgated until the nineteenth century by Pope Pius XII, in 1950.
There is abundant literature, mythology, and theology, written in regard to this particular Feast of Mary, with a great deal available online these days if you are interested. There are scholarly works that compare and/or contrast Mary with Eve. There are fragments of 4th and 5th century writings that celebrate Mary as the female equivalent of Jesus (she too is said to have been sinless and divinely touched from the time of her conception). Mary also figures in writings about Enoch and the Metatron (a particularly important angel found in the Kabbalah – Jewish mystical writings). In short, there is no dearth of information to sift through for the academically minded. I would like to approach Mary however from a different perspective than that of the archaic or academic inquirer. I would like to approach Mary simply as a mother, the much needed, comforting and accepting Mother, or feminine parent, that is needed in this very disturbing time in which we are living.
The absence of women, which contributes to the lack of feminine perspective within the hierarchy and magisterium of the church, has been addressed many times. It is an absence that has contributed to a church that is out of balance, and often out of touch with the larger body of believers. One feminine element that has been sorely lacking during our long encounter with the pandemic is comfort. I have expressed several times how disconcerting for me as a seventy something retired person is the lack of outreach from the parish that I worked hard to belong to after retiring. I don’t actually care about that anymore as I have moved on, but I expect that others are still feeling a sense of abandonment. Why was the only contact to ask about giving money? Why were there no pastoral calls to ask about our health or to express concern when contributions dropped? Many people had greatly reduced incomes as their households navigated unemployment or tried to help out family members who lost their jobs. And it is no secret that many families have been struggling with mental health and addiction issues, especially among their young adults. Nationwide deaths by suicide and overdose have soared. Where is the comfort? The outreach and concern?
Then there is the issue of racial justice and violence. The statistics regarding gun violence and the rapid return of mass shootings as society began to ‘re-open’ is staggering. Where are the arms of comfort, the ears to hear our pain, and the soft soothing sounds that let us know that while there is not much that can really lift our pain, at least we are being heard? And what about the children? We are as a society preparing to fully open our schools even as the youngest among us cannot be vaccinated and are becoming more susceptible to the newest variants of the virus. In the face of this reality there are groups of parents protesting mandates that children should wear masks. There is even a Catholic School, in Lansing, Michigan that sued the State because of a mask mandate saying; “Catholic doctrine holds that every person is made in God’s image.” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/07/21/catholic-school-masks-image-god/) In their thinking using a mask covers up the image of God as if the face, and not the whole body or the essence of being human etc. is what marks the Imago Dei (image of God.) I just can’t get over the lack of concern for the health of the children, but then, I am a mother, a grandmother, a woman.
The full reopening of our churches along with the lifting of dispensations for those who do not attend mass in this time of pandemic fits into a more masculine pattern of rule enforcement and rigidity as opposed to a feminine pattern of indulgence and leniency. Mind you, I believe that we need both the masculine and feminine, but we need them differently and at different moments in our lives. In this vein, I found it very interesting and affirming to read about the background to the promulgation of the Feast of the Assumption by Pope Pius XII.
The world was still coming out of one of the most violent and evil times of modern history; World War II, the decimation of the European Jews in the Holocaust, the dropping of the atomic bombs and resulting horrors upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the text of the document from Pius XII are these words: “And so we may hope that those who meditate upon the glorious example Mary offers us may be more and more convinced of the value of a human life entirely devoted to carrying out the heavenly Father's will and to bringing good to others.” (1) In a 2011 article that asks why Pius XII proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption, Dr. Kenneth Howell writes that: “Pius XII clearly expresses his hope that meditation on Mary’s assumption will lead the faithful to a greater awareness of our common dignity as the human family.” (2)
I realize that these are just a few words taken from much longer documents that also include statements and assumptions (😊) that are problematic for me, but I will justify looking seriously at these small fragments because the works themselves are written by men coming from a place of power and authority. The fact that Mary is lifted up both figuratively and liturgically and at the same time connected to the suffering and need for comfort within humanity as a whole, is I believe, the more important point to contemplate.
By taking the Maternal, the female and feminine out of the Divine as the Christian Church has so carefully done, a great void was created that human beings, created in the image of God, had to fill. Mary was the mother we needed. The Church proclaims Mary our Mother even while continuing to keep the feminine at bay. But the people, the Body of Christ, have it seems, always been aware of the absence and worked to bring her back. We need the comfort, the non-judgmental and unconditional love, that wise and holy ‘mothering’ provides.
Please love your families, friends, and fellow humans with all your heart. Show that love by getting vaccinated, by reaching out while taking care to be safe, and by helping those who are suffering in every way that you can.
1) Munificentissimus Deus.) https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-xii_apc_19501101_munificentissimus-deus.html #42
2) Kenneth Howell. Why Did Pius XII Proclaim the Dogma of Mary’s Assumption? https://chnetwork.org/2011/09/01/why-did-pius-xii-proclaim-the-dogma-of-marys-assumption/