Always leaning toward liberal thought myself, over 30 years ago I looked beyond the Church and it's patriarchal attitudes in search of more balanced Spirituality. That was long before I was wise enough to understand that change of any kind is always encouraged from the inside, out.
In keeping with our intention to honour the views of ALL Ages, Cultures, Creeds and Genders, we're delighted to share the text of a speech Sister Marie gave the day her new book MARY AND THE MATERNAL FACE OF GOD
was launched, which brought her audience to their feet in a standing ovation.
Thank you Aunt MARIE AZZARELLO
for embracing the change so many wish to see.
Good Afternoon.
Two weeks ago, a friend said: I know the publication of your first book brought you joy and satisfaction. I also remember the many hurdles you jumped over in the process. Why did you do it again?
I must admit that in moments when the well ran dry, or I felt that I was turning in circles, part of me said forget it, why bother, get on with life. As I look back now, I continue to be surprised at how often someone; something rekindled my passion - an unexpected conversation, an article read, a good nights sleep, gazing at stars on a clear night, the moon when visible. So here we are.
Today, I am happy to present to you MARY AND THE MATERNAL FACE OF GOD
that invites us to re-imagine Church for the twenty-first century. Its seeds lie in the closing pages of my book Mary The First Disciple
published in fall 2004. Needless to say, they have taken some years to germinate.
MARY AND THE MATERNAL FACE OF GOD
is an invitation to embark with me on a journey. It is about relationship, about imagination. It is a journey that explores the deep riches of our Christian Mystical and Marian Traditions and ways they can restore balance to our fractured church and world.
It is about relationship. Karl Rahner, that eminent Jesuit theologian, shortly before his death in the 1980s, wrote "Christians of the future will be mystics or not exist at all." So our journey offers us time to unpack his words for our lives today; how each of us is called to live in communion with God and to be attentive to that mystery within the laughter and happiness, the ups and downs, stresses and hassles of our busy lives. In so doing, ponder the interconnectedness of Mary's 'Yes' to God at the Annunciation and our 'Yes' to God day-by-day.
"Mary is the first explicit believer in Jesus," The Archbishop of Canterbury wrote, "from her womb flows the river of life. And when we echo her 'Yes', the freshness of God in Jesus flows from the centre of our being too." Like Mary, mother and first disciple of Jesus, then each of us is called to birth Jesus, to witness and manifest the loving, compassionate, nurturing presence of God in our complex world - be midwives of reconciliation, midwives of hope, midwives who keep the story of Jesus and his mission alive. In Pope Benedict XVIs words as Christian men and women live our vocation to be Mother Church. "For the Church," he says, "must be born in the heart of every man and woman. Mary shows the way."
These reflections challenge us to draw on feminine consciousness to bring balance to a fractured patriarchal Church and world. Feminine in this context does not mean gender. It is the capacity deep within every woman and man that connects us to the whole web of life, the capacity that allows us to call forth life in others.
Reflection on our vocation to be Mother Church and the awakening of feminine consciousness connects us to scripture that reveals the beautiful imagery of a Maternal, divine Feminine face of God. In concluding this reflection, we discover that God is the source of all that is masculine and
feminine. So also, motherhood belongs to God's very nature. While God remains above gender, we may also discover as Church that we can use both masculine and feminine images of God in prayer and worship, while holding sacred the revelation of God, as Father, Son and Spirit. In so doing, honour equally men and women created in the image and likeness of God and help to restore balance, harmony and respect for the dignity and rights of all creation.
On a pilgrimage to visit shrines and cathedrals in Central France, I encountered some of the remarkable images of the Black Madonna and her Son that have dominated shrines, crypts and altars of cathedrals across Europe for centuries. (There are photos in my book.) As our journey draws to an end, I explain how intimately and profoundly these tender and beguiling works of art connect us to the Incarnation of Jesus. These timeless images from the past also portray a level of compassion that can reconnect us to the earth, to the value of darkness, and to the archetype of the Divine Feminine-the Motherhood of God. These images also invite us to become nothing less than Mother Church today. A process of becoming that begins with a simple act of reimagining.
One author notes that "Imagining Mary in words and pictures has always been one of the most powerful ways of imagining the church, and so imagining ourselves freshly."
"Imagination", others say, is "the faculty of the future, the anchor of hope. With God, as Jesus says, all things are possible, because God is a dreamer. And by being created according to Gods image, we, like every generation, are called to share actively in the divine dream."
MARY AND THE MATERNAL FACE OF GOD, Reimagining Ourselves as Church
invites us, with all people of good will, to "to see with sacred eyes," not only the world as the first sacrament, but also the presence of God in every person, every creature, every plant, shrub and tree, the entire universe. Daunting as that may be, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, a Jungian analyst and author reminds us, "We were born for these times."
About Marie Azzarello
Marie Azzarello M. Ed., M.A. is a member of the Congregation of Notre Dame, with 40-years experience as an educator in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. She was chaplain at the Newman Center, McGill University (1998 - 2002).
An avid reader of theology and human development, Marie's work collaborating with Associates and Sisters of her Congregation from 8 countries on 4 continents has allowed for numerous enlightening encounters with people from a variety cultures.
Her concentrated study of Biblical and Marian theology has lead Marie to author two books: Mary The First Disciple
and her most recently published title Mary the Maternal Face of God,
available at Chapters/Indigo or email Baico Publishing
for bulk discounts.
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