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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Spirituality: Miriam of Nazareth

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.

2 comments:

  1. 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.

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    1. I confess that I have not read her book, but I will do that soon.

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