This Sunday's Homily

5.4.25

 

 

May is normally the month devoted to honoring Mary, the mother of Jesus.  She is frequently held as Our Mother of Peace, the Untie-er of Knots, Our Mother of Sorrows, Our Mother of Tears, Our Lady of Perpetual Help…and many other titles including, as on this Sunday, “Mary, the mother of Jesus, Protectoress of the Oppressed”. Given all we are experiencing this year, the title, Our Mother as Protectoress, is especially poignant .

 

When I saw this icon, “Protectoress of the Oppressed”, I knew this was an important visual reminder of her Love for the oppressed and marginalized and her deep, abiding love for all of us. In the world we are facing today, this reminder seemed especially urgent and profound.

She will never leave us, no matter how dire things get. I think of the oppressed in other lands: Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East.  I think of the Ukraine. I think of Occupied Palestine.

Most Ukrainians are either Roman Catholic, Eastern Rite Catholic or Orthodox. They hold a deep devotion to Our Lady, even as their country continues to be attacked and shelled.

The Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and elsewhere in the Middle East also hold a deep love and reverence for Our Lady. Not just Christian Palestinians, but Muslim too. They know she holds their anguish, their tears….their unbearable grief.  Even as the world turns a deaf ear, she remains with them. She always has. She always will.

I think of the desperation of asylum seekers at the border.  Most hold a special reverence to Our Lady of Guadalupe. They know she carries their fears and hopes in tender love for she is one of their own. She holds them in their sorrow, pain and grief.

 

Our Lady -Mary, the mother of Jesus- is, in effect, a Myrrh-bearer for everyone’s pain, anguish and death. And on this Sunday, the first Sunday in May, when we honor Our Lady, and on this Sunday where the Eastern Church celebrates the Feast of the Myrrh-Bearers, and where we also are honoring Immigration Justice Sunday, …………………I found all this more than coincidence. 

I see all of this as powerful messages of hope, accompaniment, and courage for all of us.

 

Myrrh-Bearers are those women who come to wash, anoint and properly prepare the dead for burial.  They are, in the spiritual sense, seen as those who carry the grief of those who loved the deceased.  This tradition is mostly lost in contemporary, Western culture.  But it is not forgotten, especially in the East, and we can learn much from it.

The women at the foot of the cross, Mary the Magdalene, Mary the Mother of Jesus, and (in the Eastern tradition) Mary the wife of Clopas can be seen as Myrrh-Bearers. While the rest of the apostles ran and hid behind locked doors, these women accompanied Jesus in his last hours. They courageously remained at the foot of the cross, witnessing the horrific torture and death of an innocent loved one by the regime. 

Days later, Mary, the Magdalene and Mary, wife of Clopas along with other Myrrh-bearers journeyed in courage and duty to the tomb to properly wash, anoint and wrap the body of their beloved, Jesus.  They held the grief as they walked to the tomb and then found it empty, as we heard in the gospel readings.  And one of them, then is the first to proclaim the Resurrection!

 

This Sunday, we join with our Eastern Christians (the Eastern Rite Catholics and Orthodox-the other half of the Universal Church) to honor all the Myrrh-Bearers and specifically Mary the Magdalene and Mary, the wife of Clopas because they also remained at the foot of the cross with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary, the mother of Jesus is the supreme Myrrh-Bearer, for she, as stated, holds the grief and sorrows of all us,- her children. The Myrrh-Bearers are so honored, that the Eastern Churches devote this entire week to women, for in most non-Western societies, it has been traditional for the women to wash and anoint the bodies of the dead. 

**I can recall my years as a CNA, where was one of my duties-cleaning and washing the body of the deceased patient or resident in preparation for the departure to the funeral home .  At the long-term care facility I nursed at, it was considered an honor and one of the last kindnesses we could provide. Many facilities had ceased this practice, but our facility saw it as our way of tenderly saying “goodbye”. I always thought of it as a sacred time. 

During my afternoon retreat last Sunday and looking back at that memory, …it reminded me of the myrrh-bearers.

In fact, the entire retreat centered around the Myrrh-Bearers!  Our facilitator, Sister Stella, had no idea this coming week would be the start to entering into the week of honoring the myrrh-bearers. Coincidence? Or Holy Spirit?

We, in the West, tend to think of the women who followed Jesus as somehow remote.  The Western Church did an excellent job of erasing the women from the narrative.  However, the Eastern Church, (the other half of the Universal Church), lifts them up. Even when erased in scripture the East held on to sacred tradition with rich stories about the Myrrh-bearers. They take the time, an entire Sunday liturgy to honor them and name them: The Myrrh-bearers:

Mary the Magdalene

Mary, the wife of Clopas (Cleopas)

Mary, the mother of James and Jose (Joseph)

Mary of Bethany, sister of Lazarus

Joanna, the wife of Chuza, (the steward of Herod Antipas)

Salome, (Sa-lom-ee  Short “A” sound, long “O” sound, emphasis on second syllable) the mother of James and John, sons of Zebedee

Susanna

Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus are also honored because of their help in retrieving Jesus’ body and entombing him.

 

Last Sunday was named “Immigration Justice Sunday” by the Wisconsin Council of Churches and Voces de la Frontera.  Because of prior commitments and scheduling, we could not honor last Sunday as Immigration Justice Sunday, but we certainly can do so this Sunday, and hereafter…..and in the newsletter, we have listed many ways listed where we can honor and bring visibility to this cause of decency and justice for the oppressed…these are ways we can live out in action and prayer -the Gospel.

Finally, this Sunday as the first Sunday in May to honor Our Lady,

we honor her as:   Mary, Protectoress of the Oppressed. -Very fitting on this Immigration Justice Sunday.

In our own country, people are disappearing. Children are being snatched away. Families torn apart. There is no longer a safety net of legal residency or citizenship or due process now, in this country. The government is the oppressor and horrifically, polls indicate that nearly 40% of this country supports this “immigration reform”. And of this percentage, most identify as White Christians. This is what White Christian Nationalism looks like. It’s a lot like the KKK without the white sheets.  Instead, they come as ICE or even masked and dressed in unidentifiable clothing….No protocol…no rules. It makes no difference if it is an ID mistake, families are torn apart and people dragged away and most often to where, no one knows.

We are all witness to this horror. And we know…..this is just the beginning. 

**

I believe all of this: the Myrrh-Bearers, Immigration Justice Sunday and holding up Our Lady-Mary, Protectoress of the Oppressed are important opportunities to stop and reflect not just on the state of the world but on what we are called to do as 21^st century Myrrh-Bearers and Protectoresses of the Oppressed. 

This came to mind because at this because at the retreat I attended, we were invited to think of the 3 courageous “Mary’s at the foot of the cross, and who are the courageous “Mary’s” that have graced our lives?

Who are the Myrrh-Bearers have touched our lives? Who are they who move through their own grief, sorrow or fear to hold us in our fear, our sorrows, our tears and grief?

How did they hold us?

Today, who accompanies and carries our fear, our grief, our sorrows and our worries?

This is the week that they ALL can be remembered in either word, picture or prayer for the blessings they’ve given in our lives.

 

During the contemplation period at the retreat, we were encouraged to journal about the courageous “Mary’s” and Myrrh-bearers we’ve encountered in our lives.

I thought immediately of the many trainings, workshops, and years of programs and coursework where women made up 80-90% of the attendees.  The Women! They opened their hearts, allowed vulnerability and then made commitments to serve others.  Some of the sharing was deep, personal, spiritual stuff.  Courage was a word that came to my mind. I learned much from so many of them.  And now as I think of them, and the women at the cross and at the tomb and in today’s world…………………… The “Courageous Marys, and the Contemporary Myrrh-Bearers that come to mind:

I think of:

Bishop Budde, preaching the gospel, fearlessly at the National Cathedral.

I think of Judge Hannah arrested in the Courtroom while trying to protect a defendant’s right to due process.

I think of all the women in the peaceful protests.

I think of the women serving in the soup lines and shelters.

I think of the women volunteering in the mental health hospitals and in the outreach programs for asylum seekers, immigrants, and the undocumented.

I think of the Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of the Assumption and other religious sisters working at the border offering shelter, food and assistance to all they encounter. 

I think of one of those sisters, Sister Norma Pimental , who says, “We serve Our Lady without Borders”.

I think of Sister Genevieve….in that photo (carried world-wide) of the late Pope Francis, lying in state. Sister Genevieve stood alone, quietly honoring her best friend in grief, and holding all of us too….. in Divine Feminine Presence, as a myrrh-bearer.

 

Today….in we all have the opportunity live into the spiritual accompaniment of Mary and the Myrrh-bears.

When we live out this spirituality out in our lives, we are bringing the Realm of God into fruition. We are partnering with Our Lady, the Protectoress of the Oppressed, and the myrrh-bearerers who have, over thousands of years, accompanied, served, anointed and grieved with millions of hurting, shunned, frightened, dismissed, incarcerated, and the missing …all of whom are the children of God.  This is sacrament.

Let us lift our prayers in thanksgiving to Our Protectoress of the Oppressed and all who follow her and the Myrrh-Bearers of today. Let us ask for the softening of hearts and the strengthening of souls, beginning with our own.

In closing, let us pray:

From a prayer called “For Those Living at the Threshold” by Rev. Cameron:

Holy Presence,

When our trusted maps fail us,

When the ground shifts and cracks beneath our feet,

Teach us to trust in what we cannot yet see.

Root us in love that endures beyond endings.

Awaken us to the tender green shoots rising through the rubble

Shape us into people who will not flee the dark,

But who carry light, even now.

Amen

 

Icon :From KellyLatimoreIcons.com