2/12/15

Last night was RCIA. The topic was Mary and the saints. Unfortunately, I had a migraine (I don't know why I've been getting so many lately), and it was a struggle for me to stay present. The lights. The heat. The noise. My head was a ball of pain, and all I wanted was to go home. Perhaps next time I should invoke the aid of St. William or St. Gemma.

It was kind of an interesting topic, though, and I wish I could have participated in the discussion more. For me, saints are primarily examples of people who have lived a holy life and have achieved some level of divine union or spiritual realization. They're icons of inspiration, offering encouragement that these things are attainable and helping show the way, much like stream-enterers and arahants in Buddhism (e.g., Kassapa).

I found Barbara's thoughts about this interesting, as well. She said that her personal belief is that all living beings return to God, so that the saints are still present with us since God isn't limited and they can manifest to us or in some way be present in our lives when called upon. The image I like to think of is the classic example used in Vedanta of waves cresting and returning to the sea—individual waves of consciousness are born, persist for a time, and then return to the sea from which they're born.

As for Mary, I appreciate her as a powerful, feminine figure in the Church, and conceive of her in much the same way as I once did the divine feminine of the Triple Goddess. She appears in the Gospels as the maiden, young and newly betrothed. She becomes the divine mother when she becomes pregnant through the holy spirit and gives birth to Jesus/God. And she takes on the role of the wise crone at the death of Jesus/God.

Mary is a powerful figure to me precisely because she helps to balance out the heavily male-dominated cast of characters in the New Testament, and in my opinion, gives Christian theology a much needed feminine/maternal force. Mary is probably the most popular saint. As one BBC article notes, "To many lay Catholics Mary is the female gateway through whom they experience the divine," a natural choice considering her role as mother of God.

Even though I felt terrible, I enjoyed the class. Romanos and Barbara seemed to be on the same page and got along despite my fears. I got a lot from their exchanges, although I wish I'd taken some notes as I've forgotten most of what they said.