"Missing Sacred Tenderness and Missing Women's Voices"

Ps. 116:5, NIRV

     Previously we noted how easily expressions of God’s sacred 

tenderness can be lost.  We saw how God’s gifts of such tenderness 

can even be lost in scripture--lost in translation (see our preceding 

post: “Sacred Tenderness--Lost in Translation?”; 2/26/15).

     Today we will speak of another loss of expressions of such 

sacred tenderness--loss or neglect of those voices that may have 

a special gift for expressing this delicate side of God’s love and 

care. 

     We speak of centuries of loss of women’s voices and the way in 

which we are still running to catch-up today—to recover those 

neglected voices.  We begin with an example.  After being 

neglected for centuries, Julian of Norwich’s voice was recovered 

in the early twentieth century.^[1]  Each year new people discover 

her voice and note what an amazing artist she can be as she 

expresses God’s sacred tenderness for us.  For example (offering 

her words as a Meditation) Julian writes ^[2]:

     We see that Julian is saying we can—indeed should—“stand and gaze” at this great "tender love."  We can do so with divine help; we can learn more about how tenderly God extends “surpassing . . . incalculable love” to us.  (Note: Julian was the first woman to write a classic in the English language.  Today Julian’s voice has not only been recovered, but she is also specially honored in several branches of Christianity.  There is a feast day to remember her in Episcopalian, Catholic, and some Lutheran churches.  This is a sign of the ever increasing discovery and love of her voice.)

     Not long before the recovery of Julian’s neglected voice, another woman’s voice was being heard.  Catherine Booth (co-founder of The Salvation Army) began to preach in Victorian England in spite of the fact that women in that role were almost unheard of at the time.  Ultimately, Catherine was to become one of the most respected and famous preachers of her day.  As co-founder of The Salvation Army with her husband William, Catherine also introduced another new role for women.  She was adamant that women would play a completely equal role in the leadership of the fledgling Salvation Army.  In both of these matters Catherine was easily a century ahead of her time. [3]  Respectable women were only to be heard in the home in Victorian England.  Catherine’s son-in-law said of her preaching (and character): “There was robustness and vigour without angularity, firm conviction without dogmatism, intellectual power combined with feminine grace and tenderness.” [4]  And, indeed, if one reads some of Catherine’s sermons one finds both tenderness and intellectual power. [5]  (And of special note is Catherine’s tenderness in extending God’s love to the downtrodden.)

     Women often seem to have a special gift for including the “tender” in their explanations of God’s revelation to us (as the reader will see in the quotations that make up a “tapestry” below.)  Or, to put it another way, although sacred tenderness has sometimes been neglected in Christian tradition, it has less often been neglected in women’s voices—voices that we are still in the process of recovering.

     General Eva Burrows gives us a hint as to why this might be so.  She was chosen world leader of The Salvation Army in 1986.  She had this to say of Catherine Booth (and women’s spiritual voices and leadership in general): 

“Mrs. Catherine Booth . . . said that women are not in competition 

with men, they complement men.  I agree with . . . Jungian psychology 

that man and woman are of two different psyches, and each has its 

own gifts to bring.  I see a difference in the style of leadership.  Men 

are more ambitious and plan ahead.  Women are more involved and 

concerned with people.  It isn’t just culture-conditioning, it is their 

nature.  I wouldn’t think of myself as leading in a masculine way, 

which is . . . [sometimes] aggressive and competitive.  Women have 

more sensitivity to people and a greater tolerance. . . .  We have 

a responsibility to use our feminine gifts. . . .”[6]

 

     Similarly, Jungian analyst Bani Shorter believes feminine focus is generally upon (or perhaps first upon) “process”: upon “being” and “enabling” (helping others in “process”).  Meanwhile, Shorter sees that masculine focus is often first upon “goal”: upon “doing” and “achieving.” [7] 

     We will see in the “tapestry” below that women’s spiritual voices often focus especially upon “enabling” and relationship—including relationship with God and, thus, the sacred tenderness that is by nature a part of that deepening relationship. 

    We look further at the recovery of women’s voices.  In 1969 there

were no women Doctors of the Church in Catholic tradition: Doctors

are those whose teaching is especially highly regarded. Today there

are four women who have been given this title.  In 1970 both

St. Catherine of Siena and St. Teresa of Avila were declared Doctors

of the Church.  In 1997 St. Thérèse of Lisieux was added, and in

2012 came the addition of Hildegard of Bingen. [8]   

     These declarations are something of a paradigm for what has 

been happening throughout Christian tradition: the gradual 

recovery of women’s voices.  Pope Francis spoke recently of our 

need to incorporate “feminine genius” in the church’s message 

today: “genius” that may detect unique or neglected aspects of 

the “unfathomable mystery” of God’s revelation to us—bringing 

those aspects to greater life so that we might see.[9]  We feel this 

is especially true of our need to recover neglected 

understandings of God’s surprising tenderness (as will be 

seen in the “tapestry” below).

     We indeed need to incorporate tender, sensitive, relationship-oriented, feminine-nature friendly understandings of God’s work and revelation among us.   When there is a lack of such understandings surely we have left out an important part of the whole.  (We recall the Apostle Paul’s body of Christ metaphor; 1 Cor. 12: all parts are essential to the whole.)

     So today we will concentrate on some thoughts that flesh out a picture of God’s love and sacred tenderness as it emerges in women’s too-long neglected voices.  We share a “tapestry” of women’s voices in this regard. 

     First, we include the great American abolitionist and women's rights 

activist Sojourner Truth in this “tapestry”—in her case it is not so much 

in her words as in her sharing of a pivotal experience in her life.  

Sojourner had a profound experience of God--including a startling 

vision--at a decisive moment in her life.  She had to make a crucial 

decision between slavery for one more year (in the state of New York 

in 1826) or living as a runaway slave for one year (after which state 

law would set her free). 

     Sojourner’s master had willfully broken a promise and pledge to her that if she worked extra diligently he would grant her freedom one year early.  Sojourner did not believe in broken promises; she had worked most diligently.  Not taking the betrayal lightly, she claimed her freedom and ran away to friendly neighbors.

     But now her master had come for her.  Sojourner was puzzling over what to do when there was a divine intervention.  Sojourner was stopped in her tracks by a strange vision.  In the vision she sensed the presence of God and responded with trembling and fear (see similar responses in Isa. 6:5-7; Acts 9).  But then a friendly presence moved into place, something like an umbrella that shades one from the sun.  This friendly presence separated Sojourner from the brilliant vision that was too great for her.  This presence also radiated a sense of love, friendship, and comfort in the place of Sojourner's original sense of fear and trembling.  Who was this friendly presence who changed everything? Sojourner wondered.  From deep in her soul Sojourner prayed that the identity of the person would be revealed to her.  Finally an answer came: "It is Jesus."  "Yes," Sojourner responded, "it is Jesus." [10]

      In this experience, which became crucial in Sojourner’s life, fear was transformed into friendship, tenderness, and love—all gifts that came in as Jesus entered the picture.  The same pattern of friendship, tenderness, and love is seen in the Gospel stories (see discussion of Jesus’ compassion in our previous post, “Sacred Tenderness—Lost in Translation?”; 2/26/15).  We will see similar themes in the “tapestry” of women’s voices below.

     (Note that following her remarkable vision Sojourner refused to return with her master; she did not believe in broken pledges!   Later Sojourner’s spiritual experience led her to become an itinerant preacher—well before Catherine Booth—and ultimately a famous voice in both the abolition of slavery and women’s rights movements.  Because of her heroic efforts Sojourner is also the first African-American woman to be represented in sculpture in the U.S. Capital.[11])

     We turn now to our “tapestry” of those women’s voices that have 

been most carefully preserved for us--especially in various spiritual 

classics [12] (and here we would once again draw attention to the fact 

that sadly so many women's voices have been lost).  

     We will see that several themes or patterns develop as this “tapestry” takes form.  As we quote various women we will not necessarily stop to 

explain who each woman is.  If she has not already been mentioned 

above, we include a brief “bio” specially marked in our “Notes.”  

(Spiritual classics quoted are also cited there.)

THE FIRST THEME WE SEE IN THIS "TAPESTRY" IS THAT GOD'S LOVE CAN BE VERY SURPRISING.  (It certainly surprised and at first bewildered Sojourner Truth.)

     St. Teresa of Avila writes: ‘[T]he love that He [God] had and has for us

surprises and bewilders. . . . ” [13] It surprises because it may be sensed

as something “unbeknownst” to us (again, as in Sojourner’s experience). 

     St. Catherine of Genoa, similarly, speaks of this “unbeknownst”: “In this world, the rays of God’s love, unbeknownst to man [woman] encircle man [woman] all about, hungrily seeking to penetrate him [her].”[14] 

     And St. Catherine of Siena, also speaking of the intensity of God’s love, prays: “O mad lover!  . . . Why then are you so mad?  Because you have fallen in love with what you [Lord] have made!” [15]  And this means us!

     The intensity of God’s loving pursuit may indeed surprise at first: much as in Frances Thompson’s exquisite poem “The Hound of Heaven.”  The recipient of such love might first wish to flee (“I fled Him, down the nights and down the days . . .”).  And it does seem that if we truly wish to flee—or simply keep God’s love at arms length—we may be able to do just that!  “God is always courteous and does not invade the privacy of the human soul,” we learn, in words attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. 

     Similarly, Julian of Norwich never tires of telling us how courteous God is to the soul.  She says: “For our courteous Lord willeth that we should be as homely [comfortable] with Him as heart may think or soul may desire.”    Or, in great simplicity she states that God “beholdeth us so tenderly. . . .” [16]  

     We are not speaking of a God who is going to invade uninvited.  However, as long as we are keeping God at arm’s length, we may not realize that such courtesy and tenderness (the kind Julian of Norwich speaks of) are possible.  (Note that we are speaking of both intensity and courtesy/tenderness here.  In human logic these may seem like opposites.  But in Isaiah we read: “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD.  ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’”; 55: 8-9, NIV.  These opposites are apparently easily balanced in God’s loving logic.)

     We may also be surprised by the reason for God’s love: Mechthild of Magdeburg (the saintly poet sometimes known as one of the “forerunners of the Reformation” [17]) addresses the question: “Why did God create the soul?’  Her answer: “From the necessity of love”[18]--that is, love is God's necessity.  So we are called to believe that God needs us—God longs for our loving response because God has this “necessity of love.”

     Mechthild also writes, “God has enough of all good things, save of [loving] union with the soul.”[19]  This loving union, then, is the one thing God longs for in Mechthild’s understanding.  Similarly, Julian of Norwich speaks of God’s “love-longing” for us. [20]

     Because God’s love surprises us, because we are not always ready to receive it, Julian says God’s love is (courteously) “measured to us as our simpleness may bear it.” [21]  God cannot give us all of it at once.  And just because this is true, we always need to learn/know more about God’s love for us—day by day.  We will always have something of a deficit to make up—as long as we are still on this side of the veil.

     Going back once again to the intensity of God’s love for us 

St. Catherine of Siena prays: “[Y]ou [O God] are nothing but a 

fire of love.”” [22]  But St. Catherine also understands the gentle 

side of God and prays: “O boundless, gentlest charity!”[23]  

Charity and gentleness counterbalance surprise and bewilderment. 

THE NEXT THEMES OR PATTERNS THAT WE CONSIDER IN OUR "TAPESTRY" OF WOMEN'S VOICES WILL BE THOSE JUST INTRODUCED: GOD'S CHARITY (Love) AND GENTLENESS.

     St. Teresa of Avila addresses us very simply in this regard: "O soul, beloved of God!" [24]

     St. Jane de Chantal suggests: “Look upon Providence as a child does its mother who loves him [her] tenderly.  You can be sure that God loves you incomparably more.” [25]  (Note Isa. 49:15-16 and Ps. 131.)

     And when St. Gertrude of Helfta speaks of divine “love,” she uses the word “pietas, love of the tenderest and most self-giving kind.” [26]

     In regard to gentleness, Hildegard of Bingen (also known as one of the “forerunners of the Reformation” [27]) writes: “[T]hrough the fountain-fullness of the Word” (Christ) came an “embrace”—this “nourished us into life” through a “most profound and gentle love.” [28]

     Similarly, St. Catherine of Siena prays: “You clothed yourself in our humanity, and nearer than that you could not have come.” [29]  Here we see tenderness in terms of nearness.  Might one of the many reasons why Jesus came clothed in our humanity be to bring the "near" and the intimate, tender charity of God close to us?  And this was never meant to be a once-upon-a-time happening; for he also promises never to leave us: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Mt. 28:20, NIV).  We remember here also that Jesus compared himself to a shepherd—an immensely caring, tender image (Jn. 10:11; Lk. 15:3-7).

     Catherine Booth was also concerned that we know God's nearness.  

It was said of her that her goal in all her work was to bring people 

"nearer the heart of God." [30]

     Speaking in terms similar to those of nearness, Julian of Norwich 

says: “For our Lord himself is supreme familiarity, and he is as 

courteous as he is familiar [i.e., intimate with us], for he is true 

courtesy.”  And then speaking even further of such surprising 

intimacy Julian is certain that if there had been only one of us on 

earth in need, Jesus would still have done all that he has done--

all simply for this one! [31]  (For further thought about all 

Jesus has done, see our Lenten post later this month--3/27/15.)

     Meanwhile, speaking of tenderness in another way, St. Teresa 

of Avila says: “He joins Himself to it [‘our soul’] in this inseparable 

way . . .”: the way of “friendship” and of the “Bridegroom” coming 

to be with his beloved “bride,” the soul.[32] 

     In similar language, St. Catherine of Siena prays: “[Y]ou [Jesus] espouse our souls to you.” [33]  And Mechthild of Magdeburg says that prayer “brings together the two lovers, God and the soul.” [34]

     We see that St. Teresa, St. Catherine, and the saintly poet Mechtilde 

of Magdeburg use imagery that has some similarity to that of romantic 

love.  Scripture also uses such imagery: "I [the Lord] will betroth you 

to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love 

and compassion"; Hos. 2:19, NIV.  Or, as this same verse concludes in 

the NIRV translation: "I will do to her [God's people] what is right 

and fair.  I will love her tenderly."  Also see scriptural imagery of a 

husband reclaiming his lost wife in Isaiah 54: “For your Maker is 

your husband . . .” (v. 5, NIV; or see Jer. 31:32.)

     Whatever imagery one uses, the idea of a divine embrace (as 

pictured beautifully in Lk. 15:20) may well come to mind.  

St. Gertrude of Helfta prays: “May I breathe my last breath 

in the protection of your close embrace. . . .” [35]

     Speaking beautifully of the divine embrace, Julian of Norwich says: “[F]or he is that love which wraps and enfolds us, embraces us and guides us, surrounds us for his love, which is so tender that he may never desert us.”^[36]   Or, again, she says: “And when we fall, quickly he raises us up with his loving embrace and his gracious touch.”^[37]

     Similarly,  St. Thérèse of Lisieux prays: “It is your arms, Jesus, that 

are the lift [elevator] to carry me to heaven.” ^[38]

     Whether we use the imagery of a Bridegroom, father, mother, 

shepherd, husband, friend, “brother,” or even “nurse” (the latter two 

are designations that Julian includes^[39]), in spiritual classics and in 

scripture the imagery of the embrace is most apt:  “[U]nderneath are 

the everlasting arms” (Deut. 33:27, NIV).  Or, “He [the Lord] will feed 

his flock [us!] like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, 

and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep”;  

Isa. 40: 11, NRSV.  (Also see Lk. 15:20.)

THE NEXT THEME OR PATTERN THAT WE NOTE IN OUR "TAPESTRY" OF WOMEN'S VOICES IS THAT GOD'S LOVE IS ABIDING, FAITHFUL, STEADFAST.

     Julian of Norwich says: “[I]n falling and in rising we are ever preciously kept in one Love.”^[40]  And St. Catherine of Siena declares: “[N]ails would not have held the God-man [Jesus] fast had not love held him there.”^[41] 

     Julian also says: “He is here alone with us all: that is to say, only 

for us He is here” (speaking of Jesus). [42]  We recall again Jesus’ 

words: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”   

Julian also assures us: “He keepeth [upholds] us mightily and 

mercifully. . . .” [43]

  

     Catherine Booth also understood being upheld by God.  Speaking of 

her early call to preach, she said: "I stood—God only knows how—and 

if any mortal ever did hang onto the arm of Omnipotence, I did. . . . " [44]

     Scripture also is full of assurances of this kind.  We offer a few examples:

“Thy steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, thy faithfulness to the clouds” (Ps. 36:5, RSV).

                                             

 “[F]or the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Josh. 1:9, NIV).

                                                               

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (Jer. 31:3, NRSVCE).

                                       

 “How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!  People take refuge in the shadow of your wings” (Ps. 36:7, NIV).

WE LOOK AT ONE FINAL PATTERN OR THEME IN OUR "TAPESTRY": LOVE BY ITS VERY NATURE INVITES RESPONSE.

     St. Catherine of Siena writes: “[T]he human heart is always 

drawn by love.”  Or, again, she says: “Then the soul, seeing how 

tremendously she is loved, is herself filled to overflowing with 

love.”[45]  So, too, in 1 John we read: “We love because God 

first loved us” (4:19, CEB).

     One response to such love is prayer (being with God)—prayer which can be very, very simple.  St. Teresa of Avila says we are invited “to be alone with Him who we know loves us.”[46]  St. Teresa also says that in prayer “the important thing is not to think much but to love much; and so do [in prayer] that which best stirs you to love.”[47]  Or, again, St. Teresa says: “The life of prayer is just a love of God and a liking to be with him.”  Prayer is “an intimate sharing between friends.” [48]

     Julian of Norwich says our part is to respond to God by cleaving to this One who loves us: “[T]ruly our [divine] Lover desireth that our soul cleave to Him [in love] with all its might. . . .  For of all things that heart may think, this pleaseth most God, and soonest speedeth [advances the soul].” [49]  Simply being with the One Who Loves Us—cleaving (clinging) to this One is a most important aspect of prayer.

     But Julian is also quite aware that we are often blocked from knowing God’s love and goodness: the world gets in the way, and we ourselves get in the way: “[T]he use of our reason is now [on this side of 'the veil'] so blind, so low, and so simple, that we cannot know that high marvellous Wisdom, the Might and the Goodness [of our God]. . . .” [50]  Julian’s remedy is that we pray/ask to know more.  God can overcome our earthbound “reason”—“simple” as it is, if that is our genuine desire. 

     In the Book of James we read: "Come near to God, and God will 

come near to you" (4:8, ICB).  And why might James suggest that we 

act--come near--first?  Perhaps it is because of God's courtesy, as 

Julian of Norwich so often reminds us.

      We return once again to Julian, who says: “In this willeth our Lord 

that we be occupied, joying in Him; for He enjoyeth in us.” [51]  Julian is 

telling us that prayer should be a quiet time of love and joy.  It is 

humans who make it difficult.  God never meant that it should be!

     St. Jane de Chantal says we should pray throughout the day with 

“a few words spoken quietly and cast into His heart.” [52]  Genuine 

prayer is always heart to Heart—any child can do it.

     Finally, we cannot omit another response to a growing understanding of the great tenderness of God’s love for us: we learn to love our fellows more.  As Julian of Norwich says, gradually we learn to “love [other] souls endlessly as God loves them” and also there is a deepening realization that “we are all one in love.”[53]  Or, as St. Catherine of Siena says: a person “seeing how tremendously she [he] is loved, is herself [himself] filled to overflowing with love.” [54]   

     And Catherine Booth--speaking with great clarity about passing 

God's love on and the indifference she often saw to those in need--

rightly asserts that “peace, purity, good-will, beneficence, truth, and

justice . . . always follow in the wake of true Christianity. . . .  And I

say if these results do not follow it is a bastard Christianity; its

fruits prove it to be so.” [55]    

     We sum up one of the most important themes that runs through 

this "tapestry" by quoting from the Book of Proverbs: "What a

person desires is unfailing love . . ." (19:22, NIV).  This is the kind of 

love that secretly each soul longs to know--perhaps deeper than any 

conscious awareness, for we were created for just such love.  And 

we will find such unfailing love perfectly . . . only in our waiting God. 

     We conclude by saying that there are, of course, classical male writers who speak eloquently of God’s tenderness: examples are St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. John of the Cross, and Richard Rolle. [56]  And, as we will soon see, Martin Luther, too, has eloquent passages is this regard.” [57]  We are simply saying here that without the inclusion of women’s voices there is great loss of expression of God’s sacred tenderness.  

     (We add a special note here: We admit that in spite of 

trying to overcome this, we have included more women of Catholic 

tradition than Protestant in this post.  This is because Catholic 

tradition has saints and thus has better preserved women's voices.  

A notable exception is The Salvation Army's work to beautifully 

preserve co-founder Catherine Booth's wisdom.  Perhaps in the future 

we will have time to further address the loss of Protestant women's 

voices.  One place to begin will be with Amy Oden's book In Her 

Words; see Notes 12, 25 below.)

* * *

We close with thoughts for meditation, prayer/poetry/proverbs:

Here we would add another great woman's voice: Harriet Tubman's.

She was utterly daring when rescuing others (e.g., on the famed USA

Underground Railroad) because she knew she had a "Rich Father,"

who could provide. Harriet's words are mixed with St. Paul's thought in this meditation:

     (See Eph. 3:16-19--with the words of the Apostle Paul fleshed

out here by John Ruysbroek^[58] --words that also correlate in a lovely

way with Harriet Tubman’s understanding of our “Rich Father,”

who cares about us.^[59])

* * *

                             

“Meditating upon the One who is For-ever-with-us” ^[60]

                                 

(With reflection upon Jesus' words to another woman of faith: Martha

in Lk. 10:42, ASV; also see Ps. 23; 1 Kings 19:12; Mt. 28:20.)

* * *

                                                                                      

Another little vignette (or meditation) written by Julian of Norwich 

herself (shape added)” [61]:

  

   * * *

A Julian of Norwich proverb [62]:

     (Note that Julian often compares God's love to a mother's love, a

precedent found in scripture as well.  See Ps. 131; Isa. 49:15-16,

46:3, 42:14, 16, 66:13; Deut. 32:11-12; Mt. 23: 37-39, all especially

in KJV.  Also see Duet. 33:12, ERV. [63])

* * *

Meditation with Julian, Mechtilde, and Catherine, as they

grasp for words to tell . . . :

     Quoting Julian of Norwich, Mechtilde of Magdeburg, St. Catherine of Siena,

and Julian once again. [64] 

     (Also with inspiration from Bernini's magnificent sculpture "The

Ecstasy of St. Teresa" as she has an astonishing experience of God's

LOVE: see our "Notes" to view it! [65]  And for a father [Father]

who might be portrayed as "lovesick" [Mechtilde's word] see

Lk. 15:11-24.)

" '[M]y heart longs for them.  I love them

with a tender love,' announces

the Lord"; Jer. 31:20, NIRV.

* * *

In closing we introduce another great woman’s voice.  Note the

quotation following the title.

“The Final Match (a Prayer)”

“[One discovers] a presence more personal, more certain, and  

more real than that of a human being … [resembling] the love  

that irradiates the tenderest smile of somebody one loves.”

– Simone Weil ” [66] 

My very breath seems evidence of You.

My pulse throbs with a spirit not my own.

The warmth within my body is somehow more than mine,

And life itself seems to be but on loan.

And strangely You seem more real than all

The things around that I can see or feel.

The hand that holds the pencil seems sometimes but a dream,

But You, Whom I can’t touch, completely real.                

How strange it is to know You—know You well—

To know You better than the concrete world,

To know You not in logic . . . but as an answer given,

As if a map had slowly been uncurled.

It is a vision of the heart—no eyes

Can see the Phantom Bearer of the map.

But the heart falls down before its unexpected Guest

And knows that it has met its Final Match.

     (See further consideration of Simone Weil, an extraordinarily gifted 

woman, in a coming post. [67])

* * * 

See additional blog posts after the "Notes"--Newer/Older Posts.)

…………………………

Notes (also see brief "bios" following names in blue below):

1. We owe a great debt to Grace Warrack for her role in helping to recover and

edit Julian's work; see Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love,

ed. Grace Warrack (London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1901, 1949). (All Julian

quotes throughout from Long Text unless otherwise designated.)

2. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, ed. Clifton Wolters (Middlesex,
England: Penguin Books, 1973), pp. 70-71 (Chap. 6).  Also with
thanks to Wolters for his translation of Julian’s Middle English (taking minor poetic license on our part in punctuation/capitalization, etc.).

(Note further that when using shapes--such as this heart shape--we often

borrow an idea from shape poetry, while still intending the offering to be

thought of as a meditation or prayer. Heart shapes are representative of

"The Great 'Divine Romance of Heaven' For Us ..."--soon to be introduced;

https://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-great-sacred-romance-and-its.html.)

3. Mrs. Commissioner Bramwell Tripp, “Foreword,” Catherine Booth, Female
Ministry (New York: The Salvation Army, 1859, 1975), p. 3.  (This was 100
years before women’s ordination in the Church of England, etc.: Roger J. Green,
Catherine Booth: A Biography of the Cofounder of The Salvation Army [Grand
Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996], p. 235.)

4. F. De L. [Frederick De Latour] Booth-Tucker, The Life of Catherine Booth  
(New York: Revell, 1892), Vol. 1, pp. 130-1, 591.

5. See an Index of Catherine Booth's sermons: https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=category&cid=133

6. Henry Gariepy, General of God’s Army: The Authorized Biography of General Eva

Burrows (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1993), p. 205.

7. Quoted in Stephen Segaller and Merrill Berger, The Wisdom of the Dream:

The World of C. G. Jung (Boston: Shambhala, 1989), pp. 19-25.

8. St. Catherine of Siena (born 1347 in Italy) wrote a classic (see Note 15

below) and called for church reform.  St. Teresa of Avila (born 1515 in

Spain) wrote classics (see Note 13) and called for reform through the reform

of her order, becoming co-founder of the Discalced Carmelites.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux (born 1873 in France): a Discalced Carmelite nun

whose autobiography became a classic: Story of a Soul.  St. Hildegard of

Bingen (born in 1098 near Alzey, Germany): not officially

canonized a saint but often referred to as one--a Benedictine abbess who

called for church reform, was known as a prophetess in her time, and wrote

a number of classics, including Scivias (“Know the Ways of the Lord”).

9. Joshua J. McElwee, “Pope tells Vatican theological commission to respect
diverse views,” 12/5/14;
www.ncronline.org/new/theology/pope-tells-vatican-theological-commions-respect-diverse-views.

10. [Olive Gilbert and Frances W. Titus], Narrative of Sojourner Truth; A
Bondswoman of Olden Time, With a History of Her Labors and Correspondence
Drawn from Her “Book of Life,” ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1991), pp. 65-67, 158-159. (Sojourner Truth, born c. 1797

as a slave in New York state, was a noted speaker and preacher, an Abolitionist,

and a crusader for women's rights and suffrage.)

11. 2009 bronze bust by the artist Artis Lane.

12. Note that many women in our “tapestry” are of Catholic tradition.  Why? Catholic tradition

has saints and thus has done a better job of preserving women’s voices/classics.  One can only
mourn the loss of countless Protestant women’s voices: for recovery of some of these voices

see Amy Oden’s work (Note 25 below).  Also note that in their own way many women quoted

here were true reformers (see Note 8, 17).

13. The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D.
and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D. (Washington, DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies,
1976, 1980), Vol. 2, p.  219.

14. Quoted in James Harpur, Love Burning in the Soul (Boston: New

Seeds, 2005), p. 139.  (St. Catherine was born in Genoa, Italy in 1447.  

She is known for both her good works--i.e., nursing the sick during

the plague--and her profound spirituality.)

15. Catherine of Siena: The Dialogue, trans. Suzanne Noffke, O.P. (New York:
Paulist Press, 1980), p. 325 (Dialogue 153).

16. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, ed. Warrack, p. 189 (Chap. 77).

(Julian of Norwich, born c. 1342 in England, is noted for having survived

what today might be called a new-death experience and the wonderful

spiritual classic that followed this experience, cited here.)

17. Sheldon Cheney, Men Who have Walked with God (New York:

Alfred A. Knopf, 1966), p. 18 (regarding Mechthild as a forerunner

of the Reformation). Also see Bengt Hoffman, “Introduction,” The

Theologia Germanica of Martin Luther (New York: Paulist Press, 1980),

p. 20 (also pp. 170, 172). (Mechthild of Magdeburg was a saintly 13th c. Saxon Beguine poet who wrote the spiritual classic The Flowing Light of the

Godhead; it contains exquisite poetry about God’s love.  She also called

for church reform. In both respects she was an important influence

upon the German Friends of God, who were, in turn, a significant

influence upon Martin Luther.)

18. Quoted in Elizabeth Alvilda Petroff, Medieval Women’s Visionary Literature
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), p. 221 (Note 5).

19. Quoted in Alice Kemp-Welch, Of Six Mediæval Women (Williamstown,

MA: Corner House Pub., 1972), p. 77.

20. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, ed. Warrack, p. 63 (Chap. 31).

21. Ibid., p. 91 (Chap. 43).

22. Don Brophy, Catherine of Siena: A Passionate Life (New York:

BlueBridge, 2010), p. 206 (Catherine’s prayer, Feb., 1379).

23. Ibid., p. 211.

24. The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Vol. 2, p. 254 (emphasis added).

25. Quoted in Amy Oden, ed., In Her Words (Nashville: Abingdon, 1994), p. 232
(from a letter, 5/8/1625).  (St. Jane de Chantal, a French widow and mother of

four adult children, co-founded the Order of Visitation with St. Francis de Sales.

She wrote beautifully about prayer. [Born in 1572.])

26. Sister Maximilian Marnau, “Introduction” to Gertrude of Helfta: The Herald
of Divine Love, ed. and trans. Margaret Winkworth (New York: Paulist Press,
1993), p. 30.  (St. Gertrude, a German Benedictine nun, was born in 1256.  
She wrote the spiritual classic cited here.)

27. Cheney, Men Who have Walked with God, p. 184.

28. Renate Craine, Hildegard: Prophet of the Cosmic Christ (New York:
Crossroad, 1997), p. 18 (from Scivias II, 2, 4).

29. Catherine of Siena: The Dialogue, p. 325  (Dialogue 153).

30. “Sayings of Catherine Booth,” Christian History - William &

Catherine Booth: Salvation Army Founders, Issue 26, 1990, p. 9;

taken from Captain Allan Satterlee, Notable Quotables: A

Compendium of Gems from Salvation Army Literature (Atlanta,

The Salvation Army, 1985).  (Also see Note 55.)

31. Julian of Norwich: Showings, trans. Edmund Colledge, O.S.A. and

James Walsh, S.J. (New York: Paulist Press, 1978), p. 331 (Chap. 77);

p. 336 (Chap. 80).

32. The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Vol. 2, pp. 240, 237.

33. Brophy, Catherine of Siena: A Passionate Life, p. 222 (Catherine’s prayer,
Jan. 1, 1380).

34. Quoted in Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism (New York: MeridianBooks, 1955), p. 344 (from The Flowing Light of the Godhead,

part 5, cap. 13).

35. Gertrude of Helfta: The Herald of Divine Love, p. 99.

36. Julian of Norwich: Showings, p. 130 (Chap. 4, Short Text), italics added.

37. Ibid., p. 300, italics added.

38. Quoted in Haley Stewart, “‘The Story of a Soul’: The Little Way to Be Filled

with Grace (St. Thérèse of Lisieux),” 9/30/22; https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/fellows/story-of-a-soul-the-little-way-to-fill-with-grace/

39. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, ed. Warrack, pp. 145, 155
(Chap. 58, 61).

40. Ibid., p. 198 (Chap. 82).

41. Quoted in Harpur, Love Burning in the Soul, p. 134.

42. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, ed. Warrack, p. 195

(Chap. 80).

43. Ibid., p. 190 (Chap. 78).

44. Major Colleen Huke, “My best men are women” (a title quoting

William Booth, Catherine Booth's husband), The War Cry, August

2022, p. 10.

45. Catherine of Siena: The Dialogue, pp. 65, 64 (Dialogue 26).

46. The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Vol. 1, p. 67.

47. Ibid., Vol. 2, p. 319.

48. Ibid., Vol. 1, p. 67.

49. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, ed. Warrack,

p. 14 (Chap. 6) italics added.

50. Ibid., p. 65 (Chap. 32).  

51. Ibid., p. 61 (Chap. 30).

52. Oden, In Her Words, p. 233 (St. Jane de Chantal letter, May 8,

1625).

53. Julian of Norwich: Showings, pp. 156, 191 (Chap. 18, Short Text;

Chap. 9, Long Text).

54. Catherine of Siena: The Dialogue, p. 64 (Dialogue 26).

55. Roger J. Green, Catherine Booth: A Biography of the Cofounder

of The Salvation Army (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996), p. 19.  

(Catherine Booth was born in England in 1829.  Green's title gives us 

a beginning understanding of why Catherine is of notable interest.  

Also see Note 3.)

56. See some of their thoughts in future posts or quoted in Underhill's

Mysticism, which quotes a multitude of old saints and their classics.

57. See “Martin Luther’s Neglected Tenderness”;    http://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2015/03/martin-luthers-neglected-tenderness.html.

58. See Eph. 3:16-19, ASV. Also see Ray C. Petry, Late Medieval Mysticism

(Philadelphia: Westminster, 1957), p. 294 (from Jan Van [John] Ruysbroek,

The Sparkling Stone, trans. C. A. Wynschenk Dom), capital letters added. 

59. Kate Clifford Larson, Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman,

Portrait of an American Hero (New York: Ballantine Books, 2004), p. 234. 

(Harriet Tubman, born 1822 in slavery in Maryland, escaped

slavery and is most famous for leading slaves north on the

Underground Railroad before the American Civil War.  

She also served as a very successful spy for the North 

during the Civil War and carried out countless charitable acts 

after.)

60. Meditations, prayer/poetry/proverbs by Lorraine B. Eshleman

(exceptions here quote Julian of Norwich's words and are so

designated). Also see comment in purple in Note 2.

61. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, ed. Warrack,

p. 189 (Chap. 77), "and" changed to "&." Thanks to Grace

Warrack for her wonderful poetic prose translation. (Also

see the comment in purple in Note 2 above.)

62. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, ed. Warrack,

pp. 181-182 (Chap. 74).  “His” changed to “God” as is

common in modern usage. “Mothers Arm [Mothers Arme]”

comes from Note 1 on p. 181, which refers to the translation

by Dom Serenus Cressy, O.S.B., Revelations of Divine Love –

Shewed to Mother Juliana of Norwich 1373 (1902).  (Above

I've blended the two translations.)

63. See further comment on mother imagery in scripture in

our previous post: "Sacred Tenderness--Lost in Translation?";

https://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2015/02/

64. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, ed.

Warrack, pp. 63, 69 (Chap. 31, 34). For St. Catherine

see Note 15.  See Mechtilde of Magdeburg, The Flowing Light

of the Godhead, Bk. 3.   (Capitals added throughout.)

65. Click on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecstasy_of_Saint_Teresa#/media/File:Ecstasy_of_St._Teresa_HDR.jpg

("The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa" by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, at

the Cornaro Chapel in Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome,

1645-1652). Also see St. Teresa's description of this astonishing

arrow of divine love: The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila,

Vol. 1, pp. 193-194.

66. Simone Weil, The Simone Weil Reader, ed. George A. Panichas

(New York: David McKay Co., 1977), p. 91 (Letter to Joë Bousquet).

(See Note 67.)

67. For a brief "bio" of Simone Weil see "Sacred Tenderness

and Changed Lives";

https://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2016/02/sacred-tenderness-and-changed-lives.html