August 15th is the Feast of the Assumption. The Catholic Church teaches that at the end of Mary's life, she was assumed into heaven, body and soul. You might assume, if you knew I was an Associate Missionary of the Assumption, that I had something to say about today's feast. But here's the truth about how I started my AMA year in France. I came to Compiegne, jet-lagged and jumpy to start this post-graduate service stint, with just a wee bit of cradle Catholic baggage stuffed inside my giant backpack. Fresh from college graduation, ink barely dry on the diploma, I felt shaky-sure about faith but full of questions about church. What was the role of women? What was Catholicism's hang-up with sexuality? Where was my place in the whirling middle of it all? When I showed up in the pebbled courtyard of 3 Square Eglise Saint-Germain, I wasn't even sure what I was seeking. Clarity? Conviction? Christ-in-others? Maybe all of the above. But what I found the moment that big front door swung … [Read more...] about a different assumption for today
feast
a fluttering on the feast
Listen! Put it into your heart, that the thing that disturbs you, the thing that afflicts you, is really nothing. For weeks I’ve felt flutters. The butterfly kicks, the gentle brush of something turning. The quickening I’ve come to expect by this point in pregnancy. But tonight the movements suddenly felt so strong that I dared to try it. Laid my hand on the low curve of my rounding belly – and there it was. A kick I could feel from the outside. Should I have called him to tell him right away, that I could feel our baby now, that maybe he could soon, too? Should I have dug out the new baby book waiting on the top closet shelf, to record the date, to try and do better by marking milestones for #3? No. Instead I let tears spring small, then come quick. Because every turn this time around is tinged with sorrow as well as joy. Hope as well as fear. Please let this last. Please let this be. Do not let your heart be disturbed. Am I not here, I who am your Mother? I don’t want to … [Read more...] about a fluttering on the feast
