Mater is a wonderful and luminous presence in our lives.She is comfortable with us.I can hear her say, “Come and sit near me; be still.”She is very present, but somehow private.The verses from The Song of Songs suggest something of her private life, her inner life.So for a few moments this morning, I would like to focus on this inner life, this INTIMACY.
To honor Mater is to celebrate intimacy,to celebrate her inward listening, the listening of the heart.Her eyes are lowered, but she is alert.She listens, she ponders.Ask her what she hears and she may answer:
“My lover speaks;He says to me, ‘Arise, my beloved,My beautiful one, and come.’He keeps calling, ‘Let me see you,Let me hear your voice,For your voice is sweetAnd your face is beautiful.’”
She draws us into this communion.She holds us in the visible presence.She shares with us the invisible life.She helps us yield to the invisible action.She is the mother of the love we crave.She invites us, too, to hear what she hears.
He calls each one of us in the same way:
“Arise my beloved, my beautiful one, and come. Let me see you, let me hear your voice,For your voice is sweetAnd your face is beautiful.”
Daily he calls.His Spirit comes upon us.From our faithful listening, from this communion,The work of his love is born.
Mother most admirable, pray for us,That we may be made worthyTo do this work of love.
~ Anne Sturges, RSCJ, 2005
