Tucked in
the corner of the church, sometimes shabby, often bereft of ornament, frequently
a cosy little area where the clergy say their morning and evening prayers,
is the Lady Chapel. A place dedicated to a woman who was profoundly obedient,
profoundly revolutionary. Somewhere in my head I hear her relatives asking
"What made you think you were hearing God ?""What makes you think that
you know better than centuries of tradition?" "What makes you go against
the considered wisdom of the world wide tradition of our faith?"
Obedience. Obedience
to the still small voice of God within her. When people called her blessed
for having given him birth, her son said, "Blessed are those who hear the
word of God and do it" - that, to him was of more significance than anything
else. "Who is my mother? "Who hears the word of God and does it"."
She was his first tabernacle.
The living vessel of the Holy Spirit. To us she calls. Let us, like her,
make of ourselves a living vessel of the Holy Spirit. She was asked to
give Birth to the Son of God. We are asked to become his flesh and blood.
It is in being 'God
Bearers' that we become the leaven which transforms the world. It is being,
like her, obedient to the still small voice of God, through the Words of
the Bible, the Wisdom of the World Wide Church, the traditions of the faith
certainly. But still more, by making ourselves a vessel for those gifts,
by living them in our daily lives, and by the prayer
Behold, my
soul, the handmaiden of the Lord,
Be it done unto me,
according to thy
word.
