…and the women sing!

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

1 Samuel 1:24-28

Luke 1:46-56

Hannah and Mary are filled with Joy and Thanksgiving!

Hannah inspires awe in me as she takes Samuel to the Temple to fulfill her promise.  She approaches the priest and reminds him of their meeting three years prior.  What she doesn't do is draw attention to his former obtuseness…how he mistook her genuine and passionate prayer for drunkenness.  He certainly should have been able to tell the difference.  But she doesn't go there.  Her joy and thanksgiving occupy her heart completely.

And Mary too; awe-worthy for sure.  When I read this passage out loud and while walking around I can sense just how honestly Mary erupts.  She is so a part of the Biblical story…she actually lives in the drama itself…her speech draws on the echoes of the Biblical women of old.  

I think today of all the religious women who have and continue to claim the church as their home.  I am thankful for their tenacity and steadfast faith.  I pray to be inspired by the gift of their lives of service on the front lines caring for the world's poor and poor in spirit.  Perhaps I might erupt with joy and thanksgiving a bit more often and a bit more honestly…joining that long caravan of women in service to the People of God.

In thanksgiving for the Marymount Sisters who watched over my early education…
…and to the Ursuline Sisters who took it from there…
…and to the Benedictine and Dominican women who continue to play such an important role in my ongoing Theological and Pastoral formation

Hannah and Mary
Pray for us all!