This week, we give thanks and honor the leadership that women religious have always played in our movement. This month we recognize that women's history is OUR history. Let this be part of our commitment in our prayer, study and action this Lent.

Spirit of renewal, God of many names, and one transforming and abundant love, we turn this month, in our nation's life, to reflect on the stories, the heritage and the struggles of the women throughout the ages. We seek to learn from all those voices that have been left unheard. May we pause before the silences of the ages, find who has been left out, and craft new ways of inclusion for every week, and every month. May this spiritual practice, bring out the voices of all those struggling, all those left apart. May we let go of our assumptions and cold comforts, of what is the normal to live by, unless it be a standard that is rooted in compassion, in inclusivity, in diversity. May this month of reflection teach us to search for those stories that are different from our own. Mother of possibility, in the finding, may we come to know ourselves changed. Renewed where we are dry, hopeful where we are lost, and open where we are shut. Amen.

Today’s reading from Ephesians focuses on the infinite mercy, compassion and forgiveness of God as revealed through Jesus, in contrast to the first reading from Chronicles which images a God bent on vengeful punishment of a sinful, unfaithful people. But even in that reading, the underlying intent is to express God’s deep anguish over being rejected and abandoned by those whom God had chosen, cared for and nurtured. Would a woman have imaged God’s response to rejection in this way–sending an army to destroy the unfaithful Beloved? Turning to violence is, for most women, the very last resort, and for many, not an option or consideration at all. How might God, as woman, have responded to the infidelity of the Jewish people?

Paul, in Ephesians, reminds us that we are indeed precious to God, not because of anything we have done, but simply because of God’s love for us which is both the source of and the reason for our very existence. We are, each of us, God’s handiwork–a beautiful work of art. God loves us and delights in us. Because it is the very nature of love to be mutual and reciprocal, God desires from us a response to this love. But because of our sinfulness, we have often withheld, refused to respond to God’s love. Yet Jesus tells us that God does not condemn or seek to destroy us because of our sinfulness, our failure in love. Rather God continues to reach out to us, sending Jesus–not to punish or condemn us, but to save us, to restore our covenant relationship with God. The tragedy is that we have the terrible power to refuse even God’s love enfleshed in Jesus. Jesus continues to be enfleshed among us in our sisters and brothers–in the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, the victims of violence, abuse and injustice. How do we respond to Jesus as we meet him daily in our sisters and brothers, especially in the “least of God’s people”?

How does our church respond to Jesus enfleshed in women?...

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> For another take on this Sunday's readings, read this reflection from former Pax Christi USA National Council Chair Mary Carter Waren. Mary writes, "One of the most difficult parts of the deep grief after a traumatic loss is how long the nights seem when sleep will not come. ... Morning light breaking through seems a relief, somehow making it easier to breathe, easier to cope. Nothing is actually different; the loss is still real and final, but the light lifts the loneliness of the night."