when we talk about Mary

JMJ
AMDG

There's a lot of talk bouncing around the world and in particular, the Internet, about how "Catholics hate women!" to which Catholics fling back "no we don't! look at these fifty million paintings of Mary in which she acts like an impossible woman who never broke a fingernail, much less a sweat!"

I'm paraphrasing, of course, but can we stop that?

Blessed Chiara Luce Badano

Instead, when we talk about Catholic women, can we talk about Chiara Luce Badano? who was born in 1971 and who liked dancing and swimming and pop music but who lived completely for Jesus and who died of osteoporosis at nineteen, after refusing morphine because she wanted to be lucid and offer her suffering to God?

Can we talk about Pulcheria, who was an empress? And scholar? Who was so brilliant that the church fathers asked her advice in fighting against the Nestorian heresy?

Can we talk about Mary Magdalene, who is my homegirl cause she was rather a trainwreck of a saint, and it's right in the Gospels that she was crying too much to notice Jesus and tbh that's me and I need women who were messy and real but still holy; still beloved.

Can we talk about Catherine(of Siena) who told the pope to go back and live in Rome and lead the church? who did this in a time when women weren't supposed to have opinions?

Can we talk about Catherine(of Alexandria) who not only was put on trial for her faith, but she converted all the philosophers/judges who were supposed to be convicting her? Who died because she loved Jesus? Oh, and she was eighteen when all this went down.

When we talk about Catholic women, can we stop pinning Therese(of Lisieux) into a nice, neat little box of being a sweetheart and remember that she's a doctor of the Church? That despite being told to be quiet she up and talked to Pope Leo XIII during an audience and asked if she could enter Carmel?

Can we talk about Joan (of Arc) who led an army? Who refused to be afraid because she knew God was with her? Who called her soldiers out on using foul language and humor and missing Mass?

Can we talk about Hildegard(of Bingen) who was an abbess, theologian, musician, visionary, artist? Who stood for truth in a time of great heresy? Who is a doctor of the Church?

Saint Edith Stein/Teresa Benedicta

Can we talk about Helen(a), who raised Constantine? Who was largely responsible for the acceptance of Christianity? Who decided in her eighties to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to find the true Cross?

When we talk about Catholic women, can we talk about Edith Stein(aka Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) who was raised in a Jewish family, became atheist as a teenager, and eventually converted to Catholicism after a long, drawn out conversion and lots of study? Whose writings on women are cuttingly relevant today, decades later? Who had lots of sharp edges that were only tamed by the love of God?


Can we talk about all the women saints who weren't supposed to have opinions and weren't supposed to speak up and who weren't supposed to be good at things and be noticed and who weren't supposed to do that, whatever that was? gosh, can't you just get married and follow expectations? can't you do things according to cultural and familial traditions and forget this "universal call to holiness?"

Can we talk about these women who lived the Gospel, in whatever life they lived?

Can we talk about the sheer badassery of women and of saints? (pardon my French)

And then can we stop pretending that Mary was any different? Can we realize that she was the example for all these women?

this is the sort of thing i don't like.

We have this tendency to assume that Mary was this quiet, peaceful girl who never did anything wrong and always was clean and never got acne or even a suntan, despite the fact that she lived in Palestine.

And while she was without sin, that doesn't mean that she never overcooked dinner or dropped things that weren't meant to be dropped or was Milk-White Princess Mary™.

Personally, I hate the Good Catholic version of Mary, doormat Mary; Pinterest Mary, mostly because she's made up.

After all, all these women of God, these brave, daring, amazing women had Mary as their example, and they were human. For goodness' sake, Therese was afraid of spiders.

So being like Mary doesn't--can't--mean being a pushover. It doesn't mean smiling sweetly in a sort of daydreamy haze all the time. It does however, mean being tough as nails, because when we talk about Mary, let's remember that she was still an unmarried teen mother who took a road trip on the back of a donkey while nine months pregnant. She wasn't exactly everyone in Nazareth's idea of a perfect woman.

Really, being like Mary means following God's will. It means running headfirst into whatever He calls you to, whether you understand or not. It means giving everything to Jesus--every minute of every day.

And that is absolutely worth emulating.

God bless.

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NEWS
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saint mary magdalene

JMJ
AMDG

Mary Magdalene is the woman whom Jesus set free from seven demons who became a disciple and followed him to the cross and was there at the tomb early on Sunday morning while it was still dark. She was sent to tell the apostles that He had risen, and so because she's the first official missionary, she holds a special place in my heart. Some people, myself included, go with the theory that Mary Magdalene is the reformed prostitute who anointed Jesus' feet and washed them with her tears and dried them with her hair. Some people say no, that was a different woman. it's also clear as to whether or not Mary Magdalene is the Mary who was the sister of Lazarus and Martha.

Whoever she is, Mary Magdalene was a mess before Jesus delivered her. She was broken and lost and then He picked her up out of the dust of her sins and her mess and she became a perfect, god-fearing saint of a woman.

Except she didn't.

oh, and check this out. i'd never heard it before
and it's super cool. 

She didn't trust that He would rise again, because on Sunday morning, she was going to anoint His body.

She was so distraught she didn't recognize Him, thinking He was the gardener.

And when He called her name---Mary

--she knew He was calling her, and she ran to Him.

Still, not in quite the right way at first. He told her to stop clinging to Him{stop touching Him} He was asking her to love Him as her Savior, and not just as her teacher. He was asking her to proclaim Him risen; He was asking her to live for Him every day for as long as she lived because He loves her and He didn't want to spend eternity without her.

And she did; she loved him with everything she was, but because she was human she was a sinner and according to tradition, she spent years living alone in the desert praying and fasting.

Mary Magdalene gives me a lot of hope, because I'm a mess.

It's easy to think, after a conversion or a retreat or a really good homily or Confession or any deep, profound spiritual experience, that you Have Got It All Under Control. It's easy to think that your life will now change and you'll just sail along with life and waltz straight into heaven.

Be still a moment. Can you hear the angels laughing?

You don't have it under control. A day or a week or a month or a year or five years later I guarantee you will be losing your mind over nothing and you will be cranky and far from God and be the antithesis of Under Control.

Sure, you can change your life, or rather, let God change it for you. But you're still human, and like Mary Magdalene, even after He's delivered you, you can still doubt. You probably will doubt. You'll probably have days of crying over nothing and days where you go to confession for that stupid thing that you just can't seem to get over.

And that's okay. Sure, strive for holiness. Strive to be perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect.

But remember, when you fall, He will always pick you back up again, no matter how many times you've fallen before or what you've done in the past.

Mary Magdalene is a great reminder of this, and as I stumble along the road to Heaven, tripping over my own feet, I ask her to pray for me, and I ask Jesus for the mercy He showed her.

St. Mary Magdalene, pray for us!

blessed frederic ozanam

JMJ
AMDG

1813-1853
Once upon a time, Frederic Ozanam was a normal guy. He was a college student. A Catholic college student. Although he'd struggled with his faith as a teenager, he'd come to accept it and believe in it, but still, it took him by surprise one day when at a debate club, a club member said, "Let us be frank, Mr. Ozanam; let us also be very particular. What do you do besides talk to prove the faith you claim is in you?"

And that hit home for twenty year old Frederic. He and some friends started visiting the Paris slums, and eventually he was a founder of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. 

Frederic Ozanam, in case you hadn't
figured that out.

He was an everyman-sort-of-saint--there are no great miracles attributed to Frederic in his lifetime, no years spent living alone in the desert wilds, no stigmata, no levitation or speaking in tongues. 

But the thing is, he knew how to love.

He loved the poor; he loved the disadvantaged. He loved the people of Paris--he talked the bishop into bringing in a priest skilled in preaching to lead a Lenten mission at Notre Dame; he was a literature professor, and he loved his students.

He loved his wife---Frederic Ozanam married Amelie Soulacroix on June 23, 1841, and from then on, on the twenty third of every month, he gave Amelie a bouquet of flowers. After two miscarriages, they were blessed with a daughter, Marie, and so Frederic loved her with everything he had, the way he loved everyone God gave him.

Frederic Ozanam died of tuberculosis when he was forty years old, but he gave that time to God and the people around him came to know God and His mercy through Frederic. God called Frederic to be a missionary of mercy.

He's calling you to do the same.

Blessed Frederic Ozanam, pray for us!

**note-- i'm really bad at being merciful, so to whomever's reading this: pray for me?