Fr Ben Garren

Dear Siblings in Christ,

In this week of preparation for Christmas I want us to turn to the night of the Easter Vigil, specifically April 4, 1523. The nuns of a Cistercian Convent have ordered some herring from a local merchant to stock their larders. As the fishmonger’s cart leaves the convent, however, it is not as light as it should be. Hidden under the canvas amidst the remaining barrels of herring are several nuns seeking a new life. 

They are highly educated women who have been taking into consideration the protestant theology that has arisen across Europe. They have conspired with Luther for safe passage and harbor from the cloister. Luther’s first hope is that the family of these women would accept them back, but all of them come from wealthy catholic aristocracy and are disowned by their families. Luther then begins to help them find spouses, a general desire of the women… but with the hurdle that all of them are older learned women with strong independent streaks. All of them are eventually settled happily except one. She is adamant that only a few men are up to her standards… and one of them is Luther himself.

This woman is Katherine von Bora and she would marry Martin Luther. Luther’s remarks upon consenting to the marriage were that “his marriage would please his father, rile the pope, cause the angels to laugh, and the devils to weep”. Katherine would become a foundation of the reformation movement and an essential part of the leadership of the reformed church, if often from behind the scenes. In the midst of our preparation for Christmas her story provides a pivotal parallel to the familiar one of Mary.

Katherine and Mary received calls from God that asked them to go against the expectations of their families and religious authority. Both chose to risk what comfort, social status, and safety they had to do something out of the ordinary. Both were women, placed by society in a secondary role, who took up calls that changed the world. We will hear all manner of statements about Mary being meek and mild this week. It is important to remember that her actions in being the Bearer of Jesus were neither meek nor mild. They were a call for women, for all of us, to risk all social standings and expectations to be part of the God’s Good News. They are, indeed, as scandalous as sneaking out of one’s convent in the back of a herring trader’s wagon to find a new life with the Reformation.

Pax,
—Ben