Theme: Sentinel, what of the night?
· We have spoken about the night. In Italy, there is a saying: "the night brings counsel". On a personal level, I have found that certain insights came to me during the night. In broader terms, one might consider that the night - present in the world and even within the Church - can become a time for cultivating the wisdom of life. A significant portion of the Bible is dedicated to the development of wisdom literature; it serves as an invitation to discern the times we live in and to embody Christian hope through the wisdom of life.
· On this night of the Church, I give thanks for the small lights kept burning by women, who are the sentinels and guardians of what is most sacred in life.
· I give thanks to the women theologians, for they help us rediscover meanings in the Bible that we have lost after centuries of patriarchy and clericalism, and I give thanks to the lay women who tenaciously dream of and bear witness to the true Church, which is not about power and rules, but about care and love.
· And I thank the men who breathe with us women a different breath of the Church: inclusive, circular, open – the breath of Jesus and of his female and male disciples.
· The reading [“Take off your sandals… this is holy ground”] struck a chord. I have moved from a city apartment to a small house with a garden. I love to walk on the grass without shoes and reconnect and get back to nature!
· The sacred is what is left when we subtract all the logical and rational. What is left is most important. MAGA? Self optimisation? We call it “God”. Feel the grass under your feet.
· The reading from Maria Zambrano has 2 perspectives:
o Men: Blood is a wound or injury
o Women: Blood is the first promise of life
· A women theologian said that blood and water come together in birthing. Blood and water also came from the side of Christ. We have taken on many Judaic traditions that link Christ to Jesus in vicarious atonement. Yet we hear that being dismantled from the pulpit saying “The wrath of God was satisfied when Jesus was crucified”? Is it any wonder that most young people are turning away from religion. I can not sing the third verse “Christ was sent to die for us on the cross.” How many fathers would wish that for their son? The sacred lies within life. I believe that.
· The Julia Kristeva reading spoke to me. The sacred has become moved – especially by the patriarchy. Women are upholding patriarchy by going regularly to commercialised “products” in church. Life has become mute. Thanks to Elza and Roberto. Sense of life in our own life stories. Getting in touch with the sacred. I take care of my mother who is 93. It can be hard work. She can be stubborn. One day – at the invitation of the Ruah – I found mothering energies within me. The sacred calmed my own mind to deal with everyday issues.
· Maria Zambrano reading was very moving. Move away from negativity. Accent on sacrifice. Eucharistic sacrifice is a contradiction. Sensing the sacred in all life. Blood is life giving. I have seen it in my ministry of caring. It denotes energy and life. We are in sacred space. All of life is sacred. Sacredness calls on us to remove our sandals and experience life giving sacredness in all of life.
· Today is the 25th anniversary of 9/11. It feels quite near. So much sacred life in the midst of catastrophe. So much belonging, between surviving victims. The sacred will not disappear.
· I light my candle for my granddaughter who starts her PhD studies on Monday. Our redemption has been accomplished by Jesus. We are at one with Christ, who is incarnate in us and we in Christ.