"Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness — without it no one will see the Lord." + Hebrews 12:14
Here are recent highlights:
When we handed these books out to our congregation, this is part of the note we included inside each one:
This might seem at first
to be a peculiar Advent devotional.
But saints often are peculiar people
who stand out in a particular time and place.
In fact, the times when saints shine
the most are times of darkness.
They give glimpses of Jesus’ Light,
which darkness cannot overcome.
Advent begins in the dark.
And we, as part of Jesus’ Church,
are called to live as Advent people
who anticipate Jesus’ coming
into our darkness today to overcome it.
Ultimately, our hope rests in the God of Advent
who drew near to us in Jesus’ first coming
and will come again
to take away the darkness forever
and be our eternal Light. That hope is what saints have embodied
as our sisters and brothers across time,
ethnicities, Christian traditions,
nationalities, and more.
As we step into this next year,
our prayer is that we will shine
all the more with the holy light
of Christ in us and through us.
And we pray that we
“being rooted and firmly established in love,
may be able to comprehend with all the saints
what is the length and width,
height and depth of God’s love.”
After all, “the Father has enabled us
to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.
He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and
transferred us into the Kingdom
of the Son He loves.”
This post features an excerpt from Our Church Speaks so that you might also walk some of this journey with us with reflection, prayer, and anticipation for how the Light of the world might shine in your life during this season.
Catherine of Sienna Reformer of the Church
In a world crumbling from disease, war, and societal upheaval, God empowered a young woman to become a powerful voice of reform, mercy, and love. Catherine of Siena was born into a world ravaged by the Black Death, the Hundred Years' Way, and deep-seated political corruption in the Church. From a young age, Catherine witnessed profound visions of Jesus. Despite her parents' wishes, she refused marriage and spent most of her time in prayer and contemplation.
Catherine emerged at age twenty-one,
having been commended by the Lord
to enter public life.
At first, this command meant re-engaging
with family members and
caring for the poor in her neighborhood.
Soon her ministry expanded, and
Catherine became a prophetic voice
on political, social, and global Church matters.
Through a rare combination of strong conviction and humility, she spoke out against clerical corruption, denounced insurrectionist political movements, and called for aid for Christians suffering in the Middle East.
"O alas, be silent no more!" Catherine wrote. "Shout with a hundred thousand tongues. I see that, through silence, the world is broken, the Bride of Christ has turned pale."
She wrote letter to kings, queens, and bishops, boldly calling them to reform. In the fourteenth century, popes of Rome resided in Avignon, France, where for seventy years they enjoyed political favors and protection. Catherine worked to end this long "Babylonian captivity" of the papacy. She journeyed to Avignon and petitioned Pope Gregory XI, calling on him to return to Rome. Catherine spoke before cardinals and bishops, urging them to preserve the Church's integrity and end the season of corruption and confusion. She died at age thirty-three, exhausted from her rigorous service for the Lord.
Catherine's life disproves the common assumption that only ordained clergy can speak boldly within the Kingdom of God.
Catherine is now considered a doctor of the Church, an exclusive title given to a small number of saints who made particularly significant contributions to theology and doctrine. Catherine was the first laywoman to receive this prestigious distinction.
Scripture
"And they remembered His words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them." + Luke 24:8-11
Meditation: Hearing the Voices of Women
The very first people to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus were women.
Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women found the empty tomb and had an encounter with the risen Christ. They returned to the disciples with the astonishing news, only to be dismissed as hysterical women. At that time in history, not only were women viewed as inherently inferior to men, but women were rarely permitted to testify in court, because (in the social imagination of the time) who would trust the word of a woman?
The consistent witness of history is that the Christian faith is good for women. Everywhere Jesus' Church has spread, women are more elevated, protected, and valued than they were before. History is complicated. Has the Church often suppressed the voices of women? Yes. Have the non-Christian cultures and societies of the world oppressed women to an even greater degree? Again, yes.
The solution to the oppression of women is not found outside of Jesus' Church, but rather in the fullness of what the Church was always meant to be. We see this in the way Jesus Himself dignified, elevated, and encouraged women, and we see it in the impact that women like Catherine of Siena had on the world in her time.
Thank goodness for those few who listened to Catherine! What if they had all dismissed her as a hysterical woman? The world would have missed benefiting from her wisdom.
When Jesus' Church practices the Way of her Lord, the voices of women are heard and believed on the merit of what they have to say, and this bears good fruit —
both for Jesus' Church and for the world.
With the patience, grace, and gentleness of Jesus, where might you create venues where women's voices are invited and dignified in new ways?
Prayer
O God, inspired by the witness of your servant Catherine of Siena, we pray: take our minds and think through them. Take our lips and speak through them. Take our hearts and set them on fire with love for You. What we know not, teach us. What we have not, give us. What we are not, make us. For Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.
pgs. 79-81
Additional Advent Resources:
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Many blessings of peace and presence,
Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan
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