I tried to meditate on the Annunciation this morning (Luke 1: 26-38) but I couldn’t get with it. Perhaps I put up barriers before I even went in. I find the way Mary has been portrayed really hard to take. She is held up as the “perfect woman” and since there is no way the rest of us are going to measure up, we are set to fail before we even start. I don’t even like her ( the her in the common images that is). She is so holy and untouchable, such a martyr, and seemingly so pliable that she doesn’t have a mind of her own. I find it difficult to respect even her passive obedience when she is being held up as an unrealistic example to follow, and the subsequent doormat is then there to be abused by men? (those with more power) and who would take it all and be holy and sanctimonious about it. Playing the martyr. We do not make ourselves martyrs. Martyrdom is the consequence of standing up, against the grain, for what you know to be right, even if you can’t explain it rationally. I don’t like the images of Mary because, from the story on Anger by Kate Saunders in “The Seven Deadly Sins”:
They all think they have a right to that.
I think she is a misogynist’s woman and to that end, I find her unreal and difficult to accept. I much prefer the woman in the picture I have in my bedroom at home.
JC and I talked a little about it though. He asked me what I would have said, apart from telling Gabriel to:
Shut up and get a life!
I’d probably say:
I’ll think about it.
Would He ask me again? Probably; nag me and shout at me like He usually does. I asked Him:
What if she had said no?
I would have asked someone else to do it. Jesus would have been born anyway.
But what about Mary?
She would have missed the opportunity to do something amazing. She might never have known this, or she may always have regretted it. But that’s the likely outcome of saying no – you miss the chance of doing something amazing.
That’s why being open to God is important. Even though I may be reluctant sometimes, there is the blank cheque I gave him a while ago. He’s still claiming on that.
I also said I might be more open to Gabriel if he was a woman, to which Jesus replied:
Who said Gabriel was a man anyway?
I think JC did last year when we were talking about football.
Sometimes I do act immediately, on the prodding of my subconscious.
Mystery is how I see it
Protestants honour Mary too little and if Mary is honoured too much the wonder of God and the love of God humbly shared with us could be deminished.
I personally would not be concerned whether Gabriel was male or female
Or the gender of the triune God ?
But concern with mystery and presence and attempt to be an allowable creature accepting a loving God . Into that centre of our being / heart
I particularly love Rublev’s icon of The Hospitality of Abraham, or The Holy Trinity. All three have the same face, and the gender could be either male or female…thus making God all encompassing, and gender unimportant. Also, Paul says in Romans: “woman or man…no more”. For me, identify is who we are in God, and that is a lifetime’s relationship to understand. That I relate to God as male is to do with who I am in relationship with God and I know those who relate to God as female. I’m also cool with that… there are feminine images for God in scripture.
But I am very much influenced by the evangelical movements. Having grown up in Africa where the original group of people were fleeing the influence of the Pope
Such was their need
My need is to embrace the church history , the bible and sound reason
I think a Catholic approach
Then pray for wisdom and understanding
But try not to be other than what I am , a simple human creature
With this mysterious urge for communion with my creator
Ja