My friends, our Christian lives, attempting to walk in our brother, Jesus’ footsteps, is all about walking in love.  In order to do that, we must start with our “hearts,” not our “heads.”  Each of us, for the most part, was born into, baptized, and raised within the Catholic church.  Along with that came a set of rules and regulations that we were expected to follow as a way to show that we were being “good” Catholics. 

   Now, most of us, through our growing years, were content to follow the rules, along with the help of parents—taking us to Sunday Mass, receiving the sacraments, (6 for girls, 7 for boys) and through teachers, and other significant people serving as role models for “good” behavior.  Much of this was about what we might call, “black and white” living—do this, don’t do that, and then we were assured of God’s pleasure with us, and a place at God’s side one day. 

   Then, along came the Second Vatican Council—probably the most significant, religious, and Christian happening in any of our Catholic lives, whether we knew it or not!  Why do I say this?  Well, for the first time in nearly the entirety of Christianity , we were being asked, once again, to truly live out what, in fact, we said we believed! 

   It was no longer enough to simply follow the rules of the Catholic church, to be a good Christian.  Following John XXIII’s lead, we were encouraged, “to open some windows, and let in some fresh air.”  We quickly began to see that, “this opening” –breathing fresh air, would no longer allow us as Catholics, to set ourselves on top of the religious pile, so to speak, deny other faith traditions access, because they weren’t like us, nor refuse to talk with, or listen to others that we thought might contaminate us. 

   John the XXIII always encouraged talking, and listening to others who thought differently, to find God’s Spirit within the words.  And we know there was significant push-back to these revolutionary ideas, as the 28-year pontificate of John Paul II was all about, “closing down the windows,” stifling the “fresh air.”

   Ever since Vatican II, there has been the push and pull between Catholics wanting us to be more inclusive, as Jesus taught, and mostly, hierarchical folks, “leading” –pulling us backward.  The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) is doing, or trying to do, this at present, with our own bishop, Robert Barron, one of its main leaders. At the same time, our pope, Francis is attempting to lead our Church to more inclusivity through a Synod on Synodality coming up in 2024.

   When our church, All Are One, formed 15 years ago, we advertised our Spirit-led desire to be a Vatican II parish where everyone would be welcome at our table of celebration.  Earlier I spoke of the “push and pull” within our Church over time, to be a nice, neat, religious entity, through established rules and regulations that make parishes easier to control, and an entity that is ever-changing, as needed, through a Spirit that is “continually renewing the face of the earth.”  Scripture says this, by the way! -Psalm 104

   Such an entity will, and must, be open to all who are called, women and men, to serve as priestly leaders, must be open to all the beautiful ways that God created humankind, and in as many as 7 distinct genders and maybe more, and all the ways each is called to love in our world. 

   Let’s look to our Scriptures for today to see if we can come to a clearer focus on all of this. The Old Testament reading from 1^st Kings shows us a good and just man, Solomon, who is concerned about ruling a people well, “that he can’t even count.”  Now, from his position of power, he might, in prayer, ask God for just about anything, for himself, for his betterment, but we see, instead, that he asks God “for an understanding heart to judge [God’s] people and discern between right and wrong.” 

   We should notice that Solomon doesn’t claim “the people” to be “his own,” but God’s.  I believe we could say, in this light, that Solomon sees himself as God’s “servant.”  Scripture tells us that, “God was pleased with Solomon’s request,” because it was other-centered. 

   This bit of Scripture reminds me of our sister, Mary Paszkiewicz and who she has been through the years, but especially now, as she was being asked to make a move—from her hometown here in Winona to Madison, WI where family will be closer to give her more regular care.  Mary’s response has always been, “to see whatever happens as what God is asking of her now.” Being able to see things in this light has truly made Mary the happy and delightful person that so many know and love. 

   Paul, in his letter to the Romans says, “We know that God makes all things work together for those who love God…”  In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus talks about the “kin-dom of heaven,” and what that might be like, “a pearl of great price, a treasure in a field, a dragnet thrown into the sea.”  We are asked to consider what are “the pearls, and the treasures” we seek after in life—how much are we willing to give to have these treasures? Are our “pearls” about family, material goods, power, prestige, or something else?  Maybe we are at a point in our life that we can let go of “some” of what we have been clinging to. 

   We saw that Solomon was at a point in life where he could do this, in a position of power, with the welfare of a whole people, able to ask that he could have the strength and wisdom “to lead them well, and this was who he then became. 

   I think of so many in our Congress and our United States vying for power and control at present, and it seems that they, and all of us would be better off if their prayers too, were about serving our country well.  Also, I think about so many in our Congress today who claim to be Christian, yet seldom seem to show it through their actions.  The simple, yet seemingly hard action for many, of, working across the aisle, so that while not getting everything you want, you and they might all get something. 

   This kind of living and working in our diverse world truly calls for the hard work of listening to one another—attempting to love in others what our God finds lovable in them, even if at present, we can’t see it—praying Solomon’s prayer to be a strong, discerning, and wise person.  This kind of living, and hopefully, loving, at some point, calls us to start from our hearts, not our heads. Our heads alone, tend to lead us to black and white answers, whereas our hearts allow us to “open up” a bit, to new ideas, perhaps not before considered.

   Starting with our hearts allows us to recognize that our God sees each of us as a “great pearl,” capable of so much good in our world.  When we can see through our hearts, we can recognize that the Incarnation of God in Jesus was not, not, about rescuing us, but about giving us the model and the strength to become all that each of us is meant to be. 

Amen?  Amen!

  

Below find the homily shared today at our Mary Magdala celebration at the Redig Farm–23 of us joined today for this annual get-together–Mother Nature treated us to a lovely day! We also all enjoyed a great selection of food! Thank you to all who made this possible by your attendance and preparation beforehand. With gratitude–Pastor Kathy

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My friends, this is our 12^th celebration here on the farm uplifting Mary Magdala along with all women—Mary, Jesus’ mother for which the opening hymn, The Canticle of the Turning (a modern-day Magnificat) is primarily dedicated—but to all women as well, to encourage us to strive to answer our baptismal and God-given calls, even when we may have to go against the powers-that-exist to do so. As I said in my opening remarks, The Canticle is a marching song, a song of strength that really shows Jesus’ mother to be a woman of strength, not one to be placed on a pedestal, and ignored.  She was and is a witness to God calling women to say our “yeses” to all that God asks of us!

   And to my brothers here today, this resurrection of Mary Magdala is a day for you as well—it is a day for you to celebrate the women in your lives, to uplift them, and to encourage them to be all that they are called to be, because in all reality, when you do that, you uplift yourselves too, becoming all that you are meant to be. 

   So, back then to Mary Magdala, who women theologians, primarily, and some male historians and authors, have uncovered the truth about over the many years since the Second Vatican Council.  In previous years here, we have established that she was not a prostitute that Jesus saved, but in actuality, a prophet and a priest, in the sense that any man was prophet and priest at the time she lived! But probably the most enduring character trait of this “Mary” was that she was a most loyal friend and follower of Jesus of Nazareth. 

  Also, over the years, I have shared some of our sorry Church history that let us know that a certain pope, Gregory, in the 6^th century, took it upon himself to, “throw,” for lack of a better word, all the “Marys” mentioned in Scripture, except for Jesus’ mother into a composite that reflected one character trait, and one alone, that of “a sinful woman,” –a prostitute. This naming of all the “Marys” incorrectly is a great sin within our Church as it took from them their integrity, their honor, and any reason to take them, or any woman, seriously.  And for us in present times, this is most important in making the case for women being ordained in our Church. And sadly, this type of thinking spills over into the society in general where women have to prove that they are even worthy before ever being considered for jobs, positions, etc.

   For those of you with us last year, you will recall that I shared some new and very exciting news about “our” Mary, that I will repeat today, because unfortunately, it will probably never be heard in the hierarchical church from any of the men. Credit for this news must go to Christian author, Diane Butler Bass and Elizabeth Schroeder, who as a New Testament master’s student in 2017, discovered it.

   The Church has always named “our” Mary as being from “Magdala,” but it seems that in early maps in the time of Jesus, a town or city of “Magdala” cannot be located—the place that our “Mary” is said to be from.  New study done in the last several years by Elizabeth Schrader, studying the Greek, Aramaic, and Coptic languages, made a most interesting discovery!

   In her study, she received access to the earliest texts available and in one such text, Papyrus 66, from approximately 200 A.D., she discovered evidence that in the gospel of John, chapter 11, in the story of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, that “Martha” may have been an addition to the story.  The gospel of Luke, chapter 10: 38-42 has a similar story.  Now, we have always assumed that the two stories are the same and about Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.  Evidence now shows that this is not the case. 

   The first line from the Luke selection says it all: “Jesus entered a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him to her home.”  Now, what should have jumped out for all of us was the fact that Martha would not have had a home as women did not own property if they had a father, brother, or husband.  The reading goes on— “she had a sister named Mary.”  No mention is made of a brother Lazarus in this selection. 

   Let’s go back to Chapter 11 of the gospel of John. What Elizabeth Schrader discovered in the earliest text of John, Papyrus 66, is that it had been changed by someone in the 4^th Century.  “Mary” in the Greek appears like “Maria” in English.  The “i” in Maria is the Greek letter, “iota.”  Upon close inspection, Elizabeth discovered that the “i” was changed to “th” or “theda” in the Greek, giving us “Martha” instead of “Mary.”  Thus, this text was changed from Lazarus having one sister, “Mary,” to two sisters, Mary, and Martha.  Why was this done?

     Elizabeth Schrader makes the case that this was a way to solve an early Church “problem” of leadership—was it Peter or Mary, or perhaps both, who were called by Jesus to lead?  Think what this would mean if the men involved had recognized,  as did Jesus, Mary’s ability to lead! Just as Pope Gregory had found it advantageous to “throw” all the Marys into a composite that was “unflattering,” basically, silencing them, and their valuable work in the Church, someone in the 4^th Century tried to do the same. 

   Further study by Elizabeth Schrader demonstrated clearly that the John text, in its earliest form had Lazarus having one sister, Mary and that she, and not Martha was the one who proclaimed that, “Jesus was the Christ, come into the world” –a text similar to the account in the gospel of Matthew where Peter proclaims the same belief.  You will recall that Jesus then called Peter, “the Rock.” 

   Even Tertullian, Church father from the 2^nd century, labeled by Diane Butler Bass as one of the most misogynist of his time, stated that Lazarus had one sister and that was, Mary.  So what are we to make of this? 

   We get some help if we go back to our key figure, “Mary of Magdala.” Earlier I stated that in Jesus’ time, there was no town or city of “Magdala.”  So why do we assume that the two words written together mean that “Magdala” was where our Mary was from? 

   The women wanting to understand this have dug deeper and found that, “magdala” in the Greek, rather than a “place” was in fact, “a title.”  In the Greek, “magdala” means, “tower,” thus, Mary the Tower, and she was most likely given this title, it is thought, because of her faith— “her tower of faith.”  That is why we now say Mary Magdala, instead of Mary of Magdala.

    It is thought now by many trying to unearth the truth, a few things:  1) The Luke story and the John story are about two different groups of people—John’s story is about Lazarus and his sister Mary who proclaims just like Peter in the gospel of Matthew that, “Jesus is the Christ.”  2) It is thought that this “Mary” is the Mary we celebrate today—not Mary from Magdala, but Mary, the Tower (of faith) by which we can all stand!  3) It is this same Mary, formerly “Mary of Magdala,” now reclaimed as “Mary the Tower of Faith,” who was faithful to the end, at the cross, and who was the first to witness the Resurrection, and proclaim it to the men, which we read in the gospel today.

   Now, I think you can see that if Mary was lifted up as a “Tower of Faith” –given this title because of her actions following Jesus, this will be a problem for the men in the years after Jesus lived who wanted to control the narrative and uplift Peter’s confession over Mary’s –which again, we must remember, was the same! 

   And uplifting Peter and downplaying Mary was accomplished by blending the John and Luke texts to be a nice story about one family, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus and can more easily recede into history.  If “Martha” confesses that Jesus is the Christ and Mary is seen as an impressionable, starry-eyed, young woman who merely sits at Jesus’ feet, we cannot easily “connect the dots” to see Mary instead as a strong, prophetic, and courageous woman who assisted Jesus throughout his ministry, followed him to the cross and witnessed the Resurrection. Nor can we clearly see Mary, or any woman called by our brother, Jesus, the Christ, as natural-born leaders, called to serve at our altars, because they too image God every bit as clearly as any man does!

  Thinking about the changing of Scripture to accommodate men makes me believe even more firmly in Scripture scholar, Sandra Schneider’s statement that, “Scripture was written by men, about men and for men!”

   Now if you are still skeptical about this news, I would want you to know that Elizabeth Schrader wrote her master’s dissertation on her research of the true Mary, and it was picked up by Harvard Divinity School and a professional article followed.  Additionally, Nestle Aland Theology Group in Germany, known for being very “stuffy” read Schrader’s work and simply said, “We might need to change something here.”

   And friends, I too believe this new exegesis to be so, whether the Scripture texts are ever changed or not, as it has been my experience and that of many other women called to ordination within our Church that our God, shown so beautifully to the world in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, one who was constantly turning things on their heads, had no problem seeing women as the image of the divine, nor should we!

   Finally, think what our Church could be if, rather than, “built on Peter the Rock,” which seems to be more about him and others following him, doing their bidding, it was built upon Mary, the Tower of Faith and all, each of us standing with her.  Amen? Amen!

My friends, I would like to share two stories today as we begin, to set a focus for the readings and message from the Scriptures for this weekend. 

   The first story came to me from Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) as I was driving to Lacrosse this past week.  MPR’s morning show was looking at how animals, cats, and dogs, specifically, effect and affect the lives of humans. 

   This 1^st story is about a cat named Jasmine and her human friend; I will call Julie.  It seems that Julie was in a bad “human” relationship wherein her life was often being threatened. As is usually the case in such situations, Julie routinely did nothing to protect herself, until one day, her attacker threatened the life of Jasmine.  This last threat caused her to act—she got a restraining order, and as she said, “That was the end of that.” 

   Later, she got into a good relationship and was planning her wedding.  One week before the big event, Jasmine died.  Julie said, “It felt like Jasmine knew that now I was in good hands and that she could go.”

   The second “story” isn’t really a story per se, but more of an explanation for a strongly held belief.  Bishop Robert Barron, of the Winona/Rochester, Minnesota Catholic diocese, wrote with a great deal of emotion in the most recent issue of The Courier, the  diocesan paper, his feelings about the June 15, 2023, Eucharistic Congress held in Mankato. 

   In common parlance, we could say, “He was over-the-moon” with how the event played out—stating, [It was] “one of the greatest days of my priesthood.” His joy was truly about the great number of people who attended and of their reverence for the “real presence,” body and blood of Jesus on the altar.  

   Within his comments for The Courier, the Bishop shared some of his message to the people who attended the Eucharistic Congress.  I was taken aback by the following quote from him:

          “I do believe that in the years following the Second Vatican Council, we tended to de-emphasize doctrine and hyper-emphasize social justice.  One bitter fruit of this is that many of our young people cannot articulate why it makes sense to believe in God; another is that 70% of Catholics don’t believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.  As Jesus himself demonstrates clearly, the first great expression of compassion is teaching. So it remains true today.”

   My friends, I placed the 1^st story of a loving cat and her human friend alongside an episcopal explanation of doctrine, in the words of each “story-teller,” as examples, of “real presence.”  I will let that sit for the time being as we look at the Scripture message and challenge for today. 

   In the 1^st reading from the prophet, Isaiah, we hear: “My word will go forth from my mouth and will not return to me empty, but will carry out my will…”

   Bishop Barron seems to be caught up in the fact that 70% of Catholics don’t believe in the “real presence” on the altar—in his mind, that the elements of bread and wine are actual human flesh and human blood. 

   I don’t recall our brother Jesus ever saying that this is what he wanted from us.  Furthermore, with all due respect, I believe the Bishop’s comments about the focus of Vatican II and the movement away from doctrine to social justice is indeed what Jesus always asked of us—not that we get caught up in doctrine, for doctrine’s sake. 

   Again, with all due respect, does it really matter if 70% of Catholics don’t believe in transubstantiation, but do instead believe in the real presence of Jesus within us and each and every person we meet?  It should be remembered that Jesus in his earthly life railed against the apparent need of his fellow Jews in fastidiously keeping over 600 rules and regulations for daily living, yet not showing compassion for the poor and suffering on the fringes of their society. 

   I believe the Bishop has it all turned around.  He is also lamenting that young people can’t articulate, “why it makes sense to have God in their lives.”  I would want to know what his definition of God is in order to fully comment. I personally know many young and younger people, including my own two adult children and their spouses who are not in agreement with what they hear this bishop proclaiming about “real presence,” yet I believe they hold their own definitions of God, that in many ways guide their lives. 

   Let’s return for a moment to my 1^st story about Julie and her cat, Jasmine.  I suggested that this is one of “real presence.”  My definition of God as depicted by our brother Jesus, who said, “If you have seen me, you have seen Abba God,” is one who loves us in an over-the-top way as shown in the parables of the Prodigal and that of the Good Shepherd, to name just two.  In other words, our God wants good for us in this life, not bad, and through the faithful love of Jasmine, Jesus’ (God’s) real presence was there for Julie. 

   None of us gets to see God in this life, but we do get to see each other, our pets, and the beauty of and strength in nature—what wonderful opportunities for our God to be present to us! Let’s not make it so hard to see our God who is continually present to us in all of the above ways!  And of course, this can only happen if we, as Matthew says in the gospel today, have “eyes that truly see, ears that truly hear, and hearts that can truly love.”

   My friends, our faith calls us to go so much deeper than belief in physical elements—we must find Jesus’ real presence in each other, in those who are abused, even, if possible, in the abuser; and in those who suffer injustice in so many ways because of how and where they happened to have been born…

   Paul, in his letter to the Romans today, prays the prayer, I believe, of our brother Jesus who wept over Jerusalem shortly before he died, because even his closest followers just didn’t get it.  Paul says, “the entire creation has been groaning in one great act of giving birth…”

   Paul continues in his encouragement, that we be “a revelation to the world.”  If we check the definition of the word, “revelation,” we find that it means, “a surprising and previously unknown fact.”  

   In the words that I quoted from Bishop Barron above, he stated that, “the first great expression of compassion is teaching.”  If this Bishop is intent in keeping us “stuck” in “doctrine” rather than “social justice,” as proclaimed by Vatican II, then his attempts to bring more young and older people into the Church will be akin to,

 “the seed that fell on rocky ground where it had little soil and because it had no depth, when the sun rose…it withered away.”  Amen? Amen!