Miriam
of Nazareth abides in the circle of disciples as our sister, a poor woman of
the people to whom God had done great things: a young Spirit-filled Jewish
woman finding her joy in God; a woman vulnerable to violence in a patriarchal
setting; a friend of God who made her own difficult choices with courage; a
prophet whose word announced the awesome changes God’s coming would bring about
in this world; a God-bearer who had divinity dancing under her heart in
developing human flesh; a married woman who with her husband toiled hard to
provide for their family; a woman with a questioning mind who pondered what God
was doing in the midst of her life; the mother of an itinerant preacher Jesus,
terribly worried about his ministry; a middle-aged woman whose agonized grief
over the public execution of her firstborn connects her with legions of
bereaved women; an elder in the budding community of the church. She kept
faith. We remember her. We connect her story with our own amid the searching
narrative of the human race in its history of suffering and hope.
Source:
Elizabeth A. Johnson, C.S.J., Truly Our Sister: A Theology of Mary in the
Communion of Saints, page 112.
What a poetic way to describe Mary - "a God-bearer who had divinity dancing under her heart in developing human flesh". I have never read Elizabeth Johnson's book but it is on my list of must reads. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteI confess that I have not read her book, but I will do that soon.
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