August 13, 2020
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!
Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I A Woman?”
Dear Friends:
This week we mark the 100th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage in the United States. We celebrate the courage that challenged attitudes, structures and systems denying voice to half of humanity. We recognize the ongoing oppression that undervalues and denies the full flourishing of women. At the same time, we remember a darker story woven into the triumph of women’s right to vote...a blindness of heart that refused to recognize the dignity and humanity of African American brothers and sisters.
On August 15, we celebrate the Assumption of Mary. From the moment of her first “yes,” she lived a life in which God “brought down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.” (Lk 1: 52). Mary did what we all strive to do: live a life in which we cooperate with God’s plan to create a merciful and just world. Artists and poets around the world have captured our spiritual connection with Mary to give us hope and courage to carry out God’s plan.
In the weeks ahead, we invite you to join us for opportunities for rejuvenation of mind, spirit and heart. Explore the mystery of Mary’s beauty in the art and poetry of every culture and circumstance. Enjoy a day with St. Brigid, a woman revolutionary in her time. Be immersed in the sound of Tibetan bells and the sacred movement of a labyrinth walk.Experience the joy of cooking the garden’s gifts. Know that we hold you in prayer as these graced, challenging days in the season of the pandemic continue.
The Cranaleith Staff
We do not hear the soft voice, the gentle voice, the
merciful and feminine. We do not hear mercy, or yielding love, or non-resistance, or non-reprisal. In her there are no reasons and no answers. Yet she is the candor of God's light, the expression of God’s simplicity. -- Thomas Merton, Hagia Sophia
