Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: Marian devotion as the redemption of the divine feminine

Friday, October 5, 2018

Marian devotion as the redemption of the divine feminine

In many other religions there is a mother goddess or divine feminine. Has anyone else reflected that in Catholicism Our Lady functions as a way to replace the human need for the divine feminine whilst purifying the pagan aspects of it.

St Maximilian Kolbe refers to Our Lady as the created Immaculate Conception and Orthodox theologian Sergius Bulgakov refers to Our Lady as the manifesto in of the Sophia or Wisdom of God. Pope Benedict also mentions how Our Lady of Guadalupe evangelised Mexico by showing the maternal love of God.

I feel that this is often a very over looked and misunderstood aspect of Mariology. After Vatican 2 there has been an emphasis on Marian "minimalism" which emphasises Our Lady as being within the Church, as a sister among fellow believers based on her faith - as opposed to Marian "maximalism" which has sought to say that in the Immaculate Conception the God planned Mary from the beginning of creation.

We have to be very careful not to scandalise others who may think that we treat Our Lady as a goddess. However I believe that she is a forgotten part of the new evangelisation to purify the need for people to have a feminine aspect to their spirituality whilst not compromising the Gospel.

This is why the Church focuses so much on the Hail Mary - according to St Thomas Aquinas when we pray this, we are announcing the salvation of the world and indeed our own, for this was the turning point in history when Our Lady's fiat made it possible for the Word to become flesh.

Ave Maria!! 🙏🏻

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.