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| Image by Tony Armstrong-Sly |
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The Celtic Mary
A GREETING
You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
(Psalm 51:6)
A READING
The priest welcomed her, kissed her, and blessed her: "The Lord God has exalted your name along all generations. In you the Lord will disclose his redemption to the people of Israel during the last days." And he sat her down on the third step of the altar, and the Lord showered favor on her. (from the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of James 7:7-8:2)
- found in The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholar Version,
ed. by Robert J. Miller
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Let what we have said serve as a reminder;
we must go on briefly with the story.
(2 Maccabees 6:17)
A POEM
Called to a destiny more momentous
than any in all of Time,
she did not quail,
only asked
a simple, ‘How can this be?’
and gravely, courteously,
took to heart the angel’s reply,
the astounding ministry she was offered:
to bear in her womb
Infinite weight and lightness; to carry
in hidden, finite inwardness,
nine months of Eternity; to contain
in slender vase of being,
the sum of power–
in narrow flesh,
the sum of light.
Then bring to birth,
push out into air, a Man-child
needing, like any other,
milk and love–
but who was God.
- from "Annunciation," by Denise Levertov
found in "A Door in the Hive"
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Let me in thankfulness
be Your mirror, God--
Then Your own rays
might be returned to You,
in grace-words, in equal light.
from "On the Sweet Comfort Brought By Grace", by Catherina Regina von Greiffenberg,
found in The Flowering of the Soul: A Book of Prayers by Women, edited by Lucinda Vardey
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| "The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple" by Giotto (c.1305, left) and "No. 11 Scenes from the Life of Mary: Marriage of the Virgin" by Giotto (1305, right). Joseph's staff bears the dove which sprouted from it. Mary's hand rests on her pregnant belly. |
Today’s story about Mary continues from the Infancy Gospel of James. In the imagined accounts of Mary's life, she is brought to the temple as a child and lives there with other girls until she reaches adolescence. The high priests conduct a lottery to find someone who might take her into their home and protect her. A group of men are chosen to bring a staff to the temple to see if it might display a miracle. Only Joseph’s staff transforms, when a dove flies out of its tip.
Joseph takes Mary into his home, but then goes away to work for months. He returns after the Annunciation to find Mary pregnant. There is an investigation by temple authorities and Mary’s story of her pregnancy is finally believed. These fables were included in a medieval bestseller called The Golden Legend, a collection of stories of saints. Painters and poets began to capture them. The artist Giotto created a series reflecting these stories of Mary in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, alongside his more famous scenes of the nativity of Christ. The human imagination fills in the spaces of Scripture. The Jewish tradition of midrash has done the same, producing a rich body of literature. The biblical story is always a human story.
In today's section of Denise Levertov's poem, the poet brings the external and the internal together to make Mary and Jesus one with 'infinite weight and lightness.' Mary has "hidden, infinite, inwardness" and carries "nine months of Eternity." Time is specific and unmeasurable, revealing how essentially Jesus and Mary are bound together at the moment of conception. The echo here is the Celtic image of Mary as the 'greenest branch,' as described by Hildegard of Bingen, the twelfth century mystic who wrote music about Mary's 'infiniteness.'
Today's music, however, is played by an entire family of sisters. It combines the folk melodies of both Ireland and Ukraine into one. The sisters fled Crimea for Odessa in 2014 and then fled again in 2022 to Ireland. In this track they celebrate the love they have for the music of both their homeland and their adopted country.
What we love deeply becomes an inseparable part of us. What or who do you feel 'infinitely' bound to, out of deepest love (more than obligation)? How can you express that love today?
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| Image by Tony Armstrong-Sly |
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Scripture passages are taken from the New Revised Standard Version.
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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!
