Today was one of those crazy busy days in a crazy busy week. So, it took me a couple hours to flip open my phone and check the text message that had been delivered:
Obama administration announces it will stop defending DOMA in court! We did it!
This I read as I was sitting in the parish hall at St. John's. I did a fist pump, and then shared the message with the Anonymous Peggins who is visiting from New Hampshire. And then, I just looked up at the ceiling so as to not start crying. Not out of fear, but out of amazement and joy!
And it couldn't have come at a more providentially perfect time. We were at St. John's for a lecture on Julian of Norwich by Fr. William Meninger, a Trappist monk and a leader in centering prayer. This seemed like the perfect backdrop for news that the U.S. Justice Department has found parts of the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. Fr. Meninger painted a picture of the recluse Julian who had divine visions as she survived the Black Plague for a third time. He said she had a simple message that she lived and breathed as she had her being grounded in the Trinity.
"For Julian, love is the overwhelming and dominant thing in her life. And it's about time we Christians learn that. There is one foundation for the Church and that is Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is love. We are made to love, and that means the Church was made to make love possible."
So often, those who claim the mantle of Christ have been the very ones to push for laws that divide us, such as the Defense of Marriage Act. In fact, the reason I've heard so many argue for laws to "defend" marriage goes back to the fear that somehow same-sex couples getting married are a violation of "God's law". "God's law" usually means Adam and Eve, which is oft-cited as the first "married" couple (do I bother to mention that they weren't really married?). To have Fr. Meninger, a man in monastic garb, hint at the need to make real love the center of our being, especially the being of the Church, was refreshing and felt like the perfect complement to this amazing news.
"We were made to love, and everything else was made to make love possible!"
What good news to hear on a good news day! May this love continue to grow.
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