Word in the Hand

Feast Day 24th May  Hail Mary, full of grace The Lord is with thee Blessed art thou amongst women And blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary, Mother of God Pray for us sinners now And at the hour of our death Amen  I know the image you have of me; young and beautiful, the contentment of motherhood showing on my face. My arms held wide in the openhearted gesture of a mother to all those who have been given to me. In the beginning, only he was given to me; he was the ‘Yes’ of my life, my heart and my soul. The ethereal otherness of him was wrapped in prophecy, his baby eyes were wide with the guileless love that my gaze returned. Our future lives were given into God’s care, to His Will. At the Temple I wore the simple veil of a proud, young mother, knowing that, despite the gossips, my child had every right to this moment, this presentation into his Father’s hands; confident that he would receive His blessing as I had been blessed. That Love was ours...

O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver,  the Expected of the nations and their 
 Saviour.   Come and save us, O Lord our God. If I hear ‘How long have you got?’ one more time – someone may get hurt. Less than a week, actually…which has been the longest week of my life. Never mind the nine months that went before; the 'Yes'; the waiting and wondering; the protection  of Joseph; the comfort of Elizabeth; the knowing that there is no going back. Never mind the ever-spreading ‘everything’, insomnia and nesting urges; listening to the older womens horror stories (why do they do that?); making space; finding room; fearing that you you will be born in the dust at the side of the road. O, yes, the realisation that  soon, you will be born. Because, really, I’d be quite happy for you to stay right where you are: to carry on being ‘the Bump’. I’ve got used to being this shape; living in a pregnancy time zone; cradling your weight in my arms; resting my hands on your...

Psalm 131 Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, Like a weaned child with his mother; Like a weaned child is my soul within me.               Amongst others, St Monica is the patron saint of abuse victims; difficult marriages; disappointing children; mothers; victims of unfaithfulness; victims of verbal abuse and widows. I n other words, I suppose, the patron saint of those who refuse to give up even when love is not lovely; who know how suffering and love can exist in the same breath and who actually do believe that love will conquer all. And the fact that it took Monica so many years of prayer and tears gives comfort to those whose love is driven by perseverance and hope.   The readings for today are all about this maternal and wifely devotion; some of the images having me feeling distinctly way down the 'good wife and mother' scale. But I am not just a wife and mother; I am also a grandmother and this...

It’s Mother’s Day today in America and through some of my friends, I received Happy Mothers Day wishes - which I have gratefully accepted, two Mother’s Days a year seems like a very good idea to me. One of the good wishes was a prayer of blessing –from the Queen of the Holy Ordinary – Mary herself. A title that delighted me; because it reminds me of why Mary is so important to me. There is very little about Mary in the Gospels; how much do we need to know about the girl that became the Mother of God? There are some who believe that her only duty was to be the human ‘incubator’ and there is nothing else to thank her for. If this is the case, Jesus may as well have sprung fully formed, like Venus, from the sea. There is a lot more to motherhood than incubation! We have come to understand about the courage that Mary needed to say that first ‘yes’. How the culture and tradition of the time could have meant her death, or at least exile, there and then. This was not going to be a fairytale o...

Reflection It’s funny how some things that the Lord tells us seems to mean more to him than others. Surely, more important to where the Gospel writers are coming from; everything the Lord says must be important you would think? Yet even Jesus seems to have his favourite subjects. Jesus is watching a woman in the Temple; one of the little ones; the poor ones; the ‘don’t really matter’ ones and perhaps, as he is watching her, he is reminded of his own mother. Perhaps he is reminded of the scrimping and saving that she had to do before and after Joseph’s death. After all; there was no likelihood that they were a well-off family. Joseph was no more than an odd-job man and their place in the community is suggested by the comments of those who hear Jesus preach – ‘this is only the carpenter’s son’, ‘only Mary’s son’ – with the veiled addition of ‘who does he think he is?’ Yet it seems that Jesus is certainly brought up to be a good Jew; to know about the traditions of his faith; to know them...

Opening Prayer Here I am Lord, Listening Speak to me within my heart and soul. I am listening. Luke 1:45 Blessed woman, who believed what God said, believed every word would come true! Reflection ‘Who do you trust?’ You would imagine that for God to decide to come to us as a human being, He must have had something in mind; must have had a Grand Plan. Yet, when you consider the circumstances of Jesus’ arrival; surely, even now, we must wonder why God decided to do it this way. Why such a people? How long had Israel belonged to God yet look how low they had come – had He not been paying attention? Why such a place? The Galilee was a place you ‘overlooked’ if you had any sense. Perhaps He hadn’t been paying attention. Why such a person? To have had less rank in the community would have been difficult, although Mary managed that by her ‘questionable’ condition. You’d imagine He didn’t want the attention. Even though the writings are there, the archaeologists; the cultural histor...

Ephesians 2:4-10 God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ – it is through grace that you have been saved – and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus. This was to show for all ages to come, through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus, how infinitely rich he is in grace. Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit. We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it. Today is Mothering Sunday - the time when Christians are meant to take the opportunity to thank the Church for caring for us and for everyone to thank their own mothers for doing the same. And I know that we now are wise enough to include nans, aunties, carers, teachers and ev...

Opening Prayer Here I am Lord, Listening Speak to me within my heart and soul. I am listening. Luke 2:34 ‘The pain of a sword-thrust through you.’ Reflection I know the image you have of me; young and beautiful, the contentment of motherhood showing on my face. My arms held wide in the openhearted gesture of a mother to all those who have been given to me. In the beginning, only he was given to me; he was the ‘Yes’ of my life, my heart and my soul. The ethereal otherness of him was wrapped in prophecy, his baby eyes were wide with the guileless love that my gaze returned. Our future lives were given into God’s care, to His Will. At the Temple I wore the simple veil of a proud, young mother, knowing that, despite the gossips, my child had every right to this moment, this presentation into his Father’s hands; confident that he would receive His blessing as I had been blessed. That Love was ours. Then Simeon’s words; the veil lifted to reveal an unwelcome truth – A reminder that love i...