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| Image by Sergei Gussev |
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The Celtic Mary
A GREETING
My heart and my flesh sing for joy to you, the living God.
(Psalm 84:2b)
A READING
Suddenly a messenger of the Lord appeared to her and said: "Anna, Anna, the Lord God has heard your prayer. You will conceive and give birth, and your child will be talked about all over the world." And Anna said, "as the Lord God lives, whether I give birth to a boy or a girl, I'll offer it as a gift to the Lord my God, and it will serve him its whole life."..
And so her pregnancy came to term, and in the ninth month Anna gave birth. And she said to the midwife, "Is it a boy or a girl?" And her midwife said, "a girl." And Anna said, "I have been greatly honoured this day." Then the midwife put the child to bed. When, however, the prescribed days were completed, Anna cleansed herself of the flow of blood. And she offered her breast to the infant and gave her the name Mary.
(from the Infancy Gospel of James 4:1-2; 5:5-9)
- found in The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholar Version,
ed. by Robert J. Miller
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden from of old—
the things we have heard and known,
things our ancestors have told us.
(Psalm 78:2-3)
A POEM
(Part 3)
She had been a child who played, ate, slept
like any other child–but unlike others,
wept only for pity, laughed
in joy not triumph.
Compassion and intelligence
fused in her, indivisible.
- from "Annunciation," by Denise Levertov
found in "A Door in the Hive"
IRISH PRAYER FOR PROTECTION
Mary, thou mother of saints,
Bless our flocks and bearing kine [cows];
Hate nor scathe [heat nor harm] let not come near us,
Drive from us the ways of the wicked.
Keep thine eye every Monday and Tuesday
On the bearing kine and the pairing queys [calves];
Accompany us from hill to sea,
Gather thyself the sheep and their progeny.
Every Wednesday and Thursday be with them,
Be thy gracious hand always about them;
Tend the cows down to their stalls,
Tend the sheep down to their folds!
Every Friday be thou, O Saint, at their head,
Lead the sheep from the face of the bens [mountains].
With their innocent little lambs following them,
Encompass them with God’s encompassing.
from Charms of the Gaels: Hymns and Incantations,
collected and edited by Alexander Carmichael
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| "The Birth of the Virgin," by Giotto (1304-1306) |
In today's section of her poem, Denise Levertov imagines Mary as an infant, an average child but perhaps one with more virtues than most. She is described as having compassion and intelligence in equal amounts, "indivisible."
Imagining the childhood of the saints was also popular in early Christianity. Writing 'infancy gospels' was a practice in the ancient world similar to what we might call today 'fan fiction'. The second and third century followers of Jesus who were being oppressed by the Romans, searched for ways to continue knowing and learning about who Jesus was. They began to imagine their way into a 'behind the scenes' kind of storytelling. The stories were then attributed to known disciples or previous early Christian leaders, despite that they all were long gone.
One of these pseudo-gospels is the Infancy Gospel of James, which imagines the circumstances of Mary's birth and her childhood and coming-of-age. The opening chapters focus on Mary's parents, Anna and Joachim, who are childless when angels suddenly bring them good news. Anna and Joachim then dedicate Mary to a life of service in the temple when she is still a child, calling to mind the story of Samuel. It didn't matter that Mary could not likely have achieved that life, coming from an agricultural labouring family, and especially one in the Galilee. But the stories were a way of keeping her close and identifying with her.
The Infancy Gospel of James became very popular over the centuries and was translated into many languages, including Irish and Gaelic. In the early days of Celtic Christianity, at the time of the well-known saints Patrick, Bridget and Columba, this gospel was being read widely. The Celtic desire to venerate Mary and to invoke her protection and guidance led to the creation of poems and hymns that infused her with Celtic virtues linked to natural elements such as the earth and the stars, while lending her the power of a divine mediator.
In the nineteenth century, Alexander Carmichael, a Scottish civil servant living in the Hebrides, gathered many of these prayers and chants into a published volume called Carmina Gadelica [Charms of the Gaels]: Prayers and Incantations. These hymns and chants reveal how much Marian devotion had become a deep and abiding part of daily life in Scotland a thousand years later. Mary was called on to protect flocks of sheep and journeys on sea and much else.
How much do you think of Mary as a living presence in your life?
What prayer might you bring to her for accompaniment in the day ahead?
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| Image by Sergei Gussev |
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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.
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LC† Vigil in Hope is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!
