I've had writer's block. I can write a sentence here and there, but I just haven't been able to get it together enough to write a whole paragraph and then link that paragraph to other ideas and then go with it.
Perhaps part of the reason for this block is because I have been wanting to write about the teen suicides that have been making the news. In the reporting on one of the young people who recently killed themselves there has been You Tube footage of him playing the violin in his church choir. If you follow the comments (and I know that Internet comments are not always the greatest source of accurate information) you will learn that his church was not accepting of gay people.
This disturbs me. It disturbs me because I think that the anti-gay rhetoric in some Christian circles has become increasingly loud and increasingly insensitive to the people who it is actually hurting. As Stephen Sondheim points out, "careful what you say, children will listen."
They are listening now. Children hear the debates in the news, the hear what people say around the dinner table and on the phone. They read the Internet and look at our newspapers.
What is the message we are sending young people?
So, since this is my spiritual journal I will touch on Churchy type stuff for a while. Believe it or not, but when I was coming to terms with my sexuality the Roman Catholic Church was a bit of a safe space. What I mean by this, is that many of the people I have met through my acquaintance with Roman Catholicism helped me to navigate the homophobia of society, the self hatred I felt and gave me a bit of a safe space.
Now, this was before the headlines were populated with stories about Catholic schools kicking out the children of lesbian parents, or firing out teachers. This was back in the days with the child abuse scandal was still a widely discussed secret. The Catholic Church really isn't exercising its authority the same way it did a few years ago. This isn't a question of orthodoxy, its a question of who is left.
Was it perfect? No. But, I never doubted for a minute that God loved me, that Jesus and Mary could be turned to in times of need. In short, the Church (through its members) communicated to me that I was redeemed and that I was invited to the table.
This story wasn't true for everyone in my generation. The only reason it was true for me was because there were people in the church who I came in contact with who were willing to embody Christian virtues.
One of the people I met was Mary.
Mary was a mother - I guess you could say that is her claim to fame. It seems like she was a really good mother, even when her son was kind of rude to her.
A lot of people think Catholics should imitate Mary. What does that mean?
I think that part of imitating Mary is to imitate her virtues and I think that her virtues are tied into her being a mother. In so far as it goes, all Christians are called to be mothers to one another and to the young people in our midst. I think one of the things that mother's do is give their children the messages about themselves that they carry into adulthood. What messages did Mary give Jesus? What messages did Joseph give Jesus? Are those the messages we are giving our young people? What can we do to be mothering? To be like Mary.
I think Mary was approachable. I think she also approached others. She visits Elizabeth, she travels to the wedding, she is present among the apostles. If we take apparitions like Lourdes seriously, she appears to outcasts and gives messages of hope when they are most needed.
She urges us to pray. We pray to change ourselves, but I think we also pray because it is in prayers that we are able to fully realize how closely God want to hold us. I think this might be why there are so many liturgy queens. At the height of the liturgy, or in the thrall of the mysteries, we are in the ultimate safe space.
Mary never offended the little ones. She stands among them and is one of them - just look at some of her friends. She isn't appearing to popes, she is appearing to peasants.
Mary shows up when folks are in troble. For most of the Gospels we don't hear about Mary, but there she is at the crucifixion. If we have fair weathered friends, it might be said she is a foul weathered friend. When things are bad, there she is.
Just saying.
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