The other day the New York Times ran a story about visions of the Virgin Mary. Pope Francis made a comment about the ongoing reports of Marian visions in Medjugorje. The Pope stated that the visions were consistent with Catholic teachings, but held back from full acceptance of them as miraculous.
It is a fact worthy of note that since medieval times and increasingly up until the present, visions of Mary have been reported from all parts of the world. Most of the time it is children who claim to be witnesses of the Marian apparitions, as, for example, in two of the most famous cases: one young girl, Bernadette Soubirous in France, mid-nineteenth century and three children in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. The latter two have become popular centers of pilgrimage, mainly because of reports of extraordinary healings, spiritual and physical. The details of the latter I reserve for future comment.
The question I want to pose here is simple: Why Mary? Well, she’s the mother of God, a crucial component of the divine creator scenario. More to my point, why should the feminine figure of Mary be the most popular recurrent public manifestation, instead of Jesus, Saint Paul, or other authoritative male figures?
Several possible reasons occur to me. It is worth noting that the three Abrahamic religions share three significant traits. First, they worship one God who is a male, conceived as the divine father. Second, the male deity serves as an excuse to dominate other men and all women, often ruthlessly and fanatically. Third, these are religions that have historical and current records of incentivizing and justifying wars of murderous brutality. I will not discuss the details of this here.
The point here is to suggest an answer to my question. Why Mary? Whether some great benign spirit or the wisdom of the collective unconscious, it ought not to surprise us that a figure of the feminine divine should be manifesting in countries around the world. Perhaps we have been witnessing a symbolic revolt against the reign of male-driven religiosity. Surely, women as mothers have an intimate sense of the creation of new life, in contrast to the man-based specialty of destroying life, whether hunting for food, or sport, or slaughtering perceived enemies in wars or land thefts.
Marian visions, in my view, are signs of the return of the Goddess. A more feminine divinity and overall cultural orientation promises to be a more humane spiritualizing force. Zionists would cease exterminating Palestinian women, children, and civilians; women and girls in Afghanistan would be treated as human beings and released from slavery; and the Catholic Church would grant women the same rights as men in the church organization. These would be first steps in the right direction.
(In my book, Smile of the Universe: Miracles in an Age of Disbelief, the topic of Marian visions is explored, with an emphasis on the amazing events at Fatima in 1917.)
4 comments:
Well said. Mary at the Eternal Feminine, who should have been the third person of the Trinity rather than the "Holy Spirit."
I agree with you, Michael. The notion of a male dominated concept of divinity speaks to a onesidedness we can do without in our human gropings toward the transcendent. On the other hand, the notion of the "Holy Ghost or Spirit" is quite openly suggestive of different angles and perspectives on what is possible. But still, an explicit opening to the divine feminine is needed to counteract some of the hideous barbarism against women we see today, especially in Afghanistan and of course at the bottom of human depravity in the murderous occupied state of 'Israel.'
Explain this: "hideous barbarism against women...at the bottom of human depravity in the murderous occupied state of 'Israel.'"
Explain? It''s been in the news everyday for the last year--and before that for decades. And not just women but children and civilians.
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