Living Stones: A Reflection on Our Priesthood by A Roman Catholic Woman Priest
“Lord Jesus
Eternal Priest
You have called me to your Priesthood
to carry on the work which You began
Fit me/I pray You/for this
task with such faith that through my
voice even the disbelieving may listen to your word
With such hope that through my hands even the despairing may be held fast to your grip
And with such charity that
through my heart even the despised
may know that You never cease to love them. Join me so deeply to
Yourself that no one I meet shall lie beyond Your saving reach.
Amen”.
This is a beautiful prayer/poem about the priesthood anonymously written on a wooden plaque and given to me and Pastor Judy Beaumont by our then bishop Bridget Mary Meehan shortly after my ordination as a Roman Catholic Priest through Roman Catholic Women Priests in 2008. It was given to Bridget Mary when she was ordained a priest in 2006. It is on the wall in the room Rev. Judy Beaumont,RCWP used as an office. She truly lived it and read it daily and every time I pass it I stop and pray it again. But it is not only a prayer for ordained priests and for ordinations, it is a prayer for all of us who, as Peter says, come to Christ, the living stone, (I Peter 2: 5 and 9-“you are a royal priesthood, a chosen people, a people belonging to God”.
As women priests we cherish our awesome charge and try to live up to it, however hard it may be. (The ordination within RCWP is valid as it is ultimately through a line of bishops in good communion with the church but illicit as the Roman Church has not yet caught up with Jesus in his inclusion of women and all people as disciples and apostles). [See for example Women Find A Way: the Movement and Stories of Roman Catholic WomenPriests, edited by McGrath, Meehan and Raming, Virtualbookworm.com Publishing Inc. (2008)]. But we also believe strongly in the priesthood of all believers and share the job description written so beautifully above with each one. (Below is Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan with Pastor Judy Lee and Natasha Terrell and Brenda Cummings, two members of Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community in Fort Myers, Florida).
These are unsettling times. The other day, tired of staying home and worried about health and human injustice all around especially toward black people and toward the LGBTQ community and other things, I heard myself humming an old hymn: “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand…” I felt safe and secure on my Rock surrounded by many others called “church” , but also recognized that the winds of adversity and trouble may and often do still blow strong no matter where we stand. And in the strong wind( I remember the sound of Hurricane Irma passing by over my home a few years back- like a deafening roaring of a huge train passing over) we may become focussed on personal survival rather than on reaching out to one another with the message of God’s inclusive love-for everyone. The challenge to who we are as followers of Christ is to keep on building the kin-dom of God , and not to become just self and survival oriented.
The Apostle Peter in his Epistle (I Peter 2: 4-10) tells us that as we find our shelter in Christ, the living stone/structure rejected by mortals but approved by God we become the stones of the spiritual edifice of which Christ is the cornerstone. We, (not a building made of stone,glass and steel) become the place where God can dwell and where others can find the love and comfort of God. Peter quotes the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 28:16-17a) ” I am laying a stone in Zion a block of granite, a precious cornerstone , a solid foundation.Those who put their trust in it will never be disappointed. I will make justice the measuring line,and integrity the plumb line…” But the quote in I Peter 2:9 falls short of including the mandate of justice as our work. Peter says ” But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood,a consecrated nation, a people set apart, belonging to God, that you may sing the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into the wonderful divine light…” And, if we go back into the section of Isaiah that Peter is quoting, that clearly means to hold up the light and the measure of justice and integrity as it applies to all people . Yes, Black Lives Matter. Yes your life matters with this loving God. Yes, no matter who you are by virtue of birth, race, gender, sexual orientation, culture or class- justice must reign for all and you matter- to our Loving God and to all who stand upon the rock. Reach out your hand and pull someone up onto the solid rock as they feel they may be slipping away due to injustice and hatred. We are given the essential job of priests, we are ALL challenged to live our lives as living sacrifices for Love and justice. Let us live our lives to bring the kin-dom of God on this troubled planet. Amen.
Some of the members of Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community with Pastor Marina Teresa(Gold top) and Pastor Judy Lee.
Blessings and Love,
Pastor Judy Lee
Rev. Dr. Judith Lee, RCWP
Good shepherd Ministries of Southwest Florida
Spirit of the Living God, Fall Fresh on Us
Today is Pentecost in the church, the day we celebrate God’s Spirit falling on ALL of the disciples including women and families that gathered in the Upper Room. As Rev. Roberta Meehan, RCWP points out it is the Church’s red letter day- and the church’s birthday-OUR Birthday. It is also the purifying-as by wind and fire- gift of God to empower us to live out the mission Jesus sent us on of preaching the gospel-living the gospel of love-to all people.
Today we need Pentecost more than ever.
Here we remember and keep in our hearts and prayers these three African-Americans who are recent representatives of far too many killed by police brutality and hatred, and their families: George Floyd, Ahmad Arbery and Breonna Taylor-and all who have suffered their tragic fate. We also pray for all who are entrusted to be our police officers who risk life and limb every day and who act justly toward all people. And we pray for those who do not act justly and who do not know deep within that we are all children of our loving God and it is a brother or sister that they are meeting in the line of duty.
Breathe on us Breath of God, until all can breathe!!! Until all can breathe without the fear of a knee on the neck, or foot in the back, or a door slammed shut, or rejection and second class citizenship due to color, gender, sexual orientation,class, culture or language or any other difference form the “dominant group”-until all that dominates is the fresh breeze of love and caring for one another. Breathe on us Breathe of God until hate is burned away and only love still stands. Until hatred is no longer spread like wildfire in the name of legal authority or by disregard or ignorance. All kill. The liturgical color today is red. Red seems a happy color and it is happy on Pentecost. But, red in church language is usually the blood of Christ. Red also is the blood of all the holy innocents who died or failed to live in the air of superiority spread by any group, including so called Christians in our history.
I refer you to one of the readings for Pentecost Sunday, I Corinthians 12:3-7,12-14. The essence of this reading is that by One Spirit strong>ALL of us partake of God’s love and are baptized into ONE Body. Yet how easily it seems that parts of the one body are even literally lopped off until it is disabled. The Church as it is now is a disabled church. It is not fully filled with the Spirit of our living and loving God. Hence we need the RENEWAL of God’s Spirit so we may become the ONE Body God intends us to be. The first verses here say “It is for this reason that I want you to understand that no one can be speaking under the influence of the Holy Spirit and say,”Curse Jesus”; by the same token, no one can say, “Jesus Christ reigns supreme,” unless under the influence of the Holy Spirit. ” (TIB) Indeed, no one can say or enact “Curse someone else” , kill or damage another and claim to be filled with God’s Holy Spirit; and no one can live a life of Love without God’s Spirit. If we show love and inclusion it is due to God’s spirit within us, and if we spread evil and discontent or disregard of others who are different the Spirit of God is not yet filling us-rather the spirit of this world , of the almighty importance of Self, and preference for only those who are like us, and even hate of those who are perceived by us to be not like us. If we go back to Genesis, to the Garden, the first narrative is to have domination over all of creation, but the second is to care for all of creation, to live in relationship with all living things. There is a distinct choice there- let us ask God to fill us with the spirit of caring and love for ALL creation – not domination and subjugation of any creature, human, animal, or environmental. Let this red day become a truly green day- with deep respect of ALL Life which comes from the infusion of God’s Holy Spirit, and let us recognize and affirm God’s spirit in life everywhere.
And so on this day, we pray for God’s Spirit to renew and refresh us to revive us again. To teach us to love not only in word but in deed. To recognize abuse of power whether it be legal power, secular power or church power, and to speak truth to power- to all power, especially that which stifles breath and life within each and every of God’s children and of all of God’s creation.
Spirit of the Living God, Fall fresh on us!
One can put in the words “Spread Like Wildfire-Pentecost” or just Pentecost into the search box of this blog and see other interesting and challenging reflections on Pentecost. One can also check out another reflection by RC Women Priests and the Upper room Community of Rev. Mary Teresa Streck in Albany, New York in:
https://upperroomliturgiesrituals.blogspot.com/2020/05/pentecost-2020-presiders-kathleen-ryan.html
Be blessed this Pentecost-be filled with the Spirit of the Living and Loving God,and,in truth, love one another.
Amen! Rev. Dr. Judy Lee, RCWP
Pastor Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community in Fort Myers, Florida
Don’t Lose Them-Ministry During Covid-19: A Roman Catholic Woman Priest Reflects
It is very hard for this Pastor not to be able to gather the flock, and to have limited contact with those who need her. We have found creative ways to be in contact and that is the good news I can share here.
Good Shepherd Ministries and Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community in Fort Myers,Florida have been in existence from 2007 and 2008 respectively while the combined ministry I shared with Pastor Judy Beaumont as Good Shepherd Ministries in Fort Myers, actually began in 2003 when we housed a homeless family and then a woman with mental illness in a house we bought for the purpose as we served many of the poorest in East Fort Myers. We have had Church in the Park from 2007-2009; Church in the house we bought to use as a Church from 2008-2017, (we also used the Church House as a temporary residence for 55 people leaving homelessness, and those facing hard times from 2008-2016) And since Pastor Judy Beaumont’s return home to our loving God in January of 2018 we have had church about every 2 months in the condo of our Associate Pastor Marina Teresa in Central Fort Myers.(Below)
It is amazing to us that from 30 to 40 people of a wonderful diverse group of God’s people gather each time we gathered since February 2018 and no one who attended regularly has been lost since 2007 although over 20 of our formerly homeless people went home to God in the last several years. We often joined Jesus in praying “And this is the will of Abba God who sent me,that I shall lose none of all that has been given me,but raise them up on the last day” (John 6:39) We pray not to lose those whom God has given us in loving ministry. We were blessed to walk some of the 20 or so who died home to God, and to minister to their grieving families as they were available. And the others still come and sometimes bring friends,and so we continue. A church of the poor and of the more well to do (economically), an inclusive church of all classes, races, statuses, cultures and sexual orientations, many formerly homeless and some sporadically homeless, continue on together even during this COVID-19 interlude of sickness and distance. We are amazingly blessed.
First,we keep contact in the old-fashioned way by phone calls and mailings. Few days pass that I don’t speak with one of our members. They call me to check on me as much as I call to check on them- and we have good talks and we pray together. We celebrated Easter and Mother’s Day with cards and gifts for many to help them through the hard times. Now that the Stimulus payments have reached most of them we call and write not to share need, but to share love. Love is truly what we share in any event. It is particularly sad to us that those who have nothing at all have no way to get stimulus payments. They do have Food Stamps, most of them, but nothing else except,for some, the subsidized housing we helped them get before all lists closed in Fort Myers, One man in particular, Joe, is quite ill, but was denied SSI before his current neurological illness although he could not work. He lost heart and did not follow up with a lawyer which he still needs to do. We have been paying by the visit for his Medical care and one of our other members,Roger, who lives in his complex takes him to the Doctor faithfully, but he cannot be seen until Covid-19 wanes and the Doctors who take poor folks can see him again. He has Food Stamps and is housed but he has nothing else so we are trying to subsidize him now. He and I talk on the phone and write and he responds to encouragement to follow up on medical help. Roger also takes Mary, also a cancer survivor, and other of our members to their necessary appointments. In the photo below taken after the funeral celebration of one of our members, Nate Chester, Roger is the man in black leaning on the cane. Joe and the Cudjoes and Brenda and Judy Alves are also in this picture.
Other members come to see me and we visit 6 feet apart and outside wearing masks. One dear woman, Grandma Jolinda who is struggling with advanced cancer has been removed from her cancer treatments during this Covid-scare. She has asked me to speak with her Doctor and explain it all to her. The Doctor and I have developed a good relationship and I explain all of the Doctor’s reasoning to our dear member, who takes heart and is less frightened in understanding. She and I talk often and are very happy for our 6 feet apart visits. The family members she lives with bring her and we visit too. On Mother’s Day they came by with her and, thinking I was not home, left beautiful flowers for me on my front porch. I was so moved by this. Then we had an in person 6 foot visit this week so I could give her some gifts we had for her Mother’s Day. We long to hug, but are satisfied with being in the same out-door space.
With another member,Gaspare, I went to see the newborn baby girl,Kimora, of our young couple, Maya and Lamar Cummings and we had 6 ft apart blessings outside their home. What a joyous visit that was. And they will be bringing her by in similar manner in the future.
Gaspare and his mother Lili help me weekly and biweekly wearing masks and gloves in my care of my rescue Kitties and birds. I am so thankful to them and to my neighbor and sister in Christ, Rena Kopp, who assists me with a paralyzed kitty named Brooklyn. Like several others, I also walked Lili through how to get her benefits during her time of unemployment due to COVID. Here the Unemployment website did not work at all for weeks and people needed to make paper applications still not attended to by the State.
With other members we video-chat as well as message and talk on the phone. Brenda, who is living in a tiny studio apartment with her four pets and ,temporarily, another friend really felt “locked-in”. For her, video chats were a great joy. I also enjoy video-chats with Cyrillia Rismay-all the way to St. Lucia. Other members, like Judy Alves who calls our 90 year old Elder, Ann Palmer, and visits newly 18,Jakeriya and her baby Jamir, and twin brother Jakein, and Debbie Carey and her daughter Joelle and grand child Courtney,reach out to one another with calls and 6 feet visits and the love continues on.
Our “snowbird” members from Minnesota, Kathy O and Kathy L have visited me at home with our 6 foot visits and drive-through meals from McDonalds. They will be here again next week before they return home to Minnesota. It is a joy to have them with us.
We do not use zoom meetings as most of our members do not have or use the technology. But many of our sister churches use this with great success.
This Saturday, May 16th we will celebrate the virtual Graduation of Dr. Efe Cudjoe from FSU Medical School. Efe Cudjoe and her family have been with us from the very beginning, before 2003 when Pastor Judy Beaumont and I worked with St. Peter Claver Community. Efe has been our youth leader all during her High School Years and is loved by all of our members for her thoughtful caring of others as well as her brilliance. She still makes home visits for me when she is home, and with her faithful parents, Dr. Joseph and Pearl Cudjoe! Her older sister, Nana Cudjoe has also become a Medical Doctor and has begun a Practice of Psychiatry. Efe will be in OB-GYN in a well earned and coveted University of Pittsburgh Residence and we are so happy to celebrate the outstanding achievements of both-even virtually and by phone. (Below Efe, on right is with Pastor Judy Beaumont and Keeondra Terrell on a Youth Outing).
And so our Good Shepherd Community continues on during the pandemic. None have been ill with the virus though some, like our Associate Pastor Marina Teresa, and Debbie Carey work in health care at various levels. We call, we message, we visit 6 feet apart and we continue the love. We pray for and with one another and for all those we love, including our former Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan of Sarasota and Mary Mother of Jesus Community there who has just undergone serious surgery for cancer. We join in prayer for her recovery. We are so blessed to have one another in prayer and love.
To all who are homebound by Covid-19 we pray that you too will find ways to stay connected to your faith and love communities. We can not do this alone, we need one another as never before.
Be blessed,
Pastor Judy Lee
Rev. Dr. Judith Lee, RCWP,Dmin,DSW,MSW
Alleluia He Lives! And She Lives! And We Live-Easter Sunday, A RC Woman Priest Shares Resurrection- 4/12/2020
I am so thankful this year,especially as we experience COVID-19, the global Novel Coronavirus Pandemic, to welcome Easter-the day of Christ’s Resurrection from the dead! Alleluia! Easter is finally here-death came but it could not hold him-and He is risen from the grave. He has broken the bonds of death and brings with him our new life. We too can cast off the bonds that keep us less than fully alive in our everyday lives. We each have different bonds that can hold us back from the fullness of the life that Easter promises. In my life sadness and loneliness can do this, anger can do this, the exhaustion of the everyday chores of a serving life can do this,being up to my ears in the complex sometimes tragic lives of others can do this, and sometimes I even let some folks who are negative “get my goat” and bury their negativity under my skin. Yet, because of Easter, I pray and ask God to take the deadness out of me-to let me live the fullness of life and joy I know as a follower of Jesus and minister of the Gospel. To let me feel and live the Good News so I can touch other lives with the hem of his garment that I have a good hold on. And so it happens that I laugh and smile and sing and go out and serve again. I can be fully alive and for me that is a big WOW! A big EASTER WOW! And even more than that I am older now, and have known the loss of most I hold dear, and I look forward to the life beyond the grave with the Risen Christ of Easter, with our loving God, and with them. I deeply know that we can live now and forever- past the grave. And that is worth an AMEN and a Hallelujah!
I have gone through so many emotions this Holy Week and I have recorded them, sometimes hidden in my reflections in my blogs for Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. (Reading them is a good prelude to this. You just click on any of my blogs and go to the archives on the right and there they are.)Easter is the very best and happiest day of the year and you may enjoy my Reflections from two Easters past:
https://www.judyabl.blog/2017/04/16/jesus-is-risen-he-is-risen-indeed/
https://www.judyabl.blog/2018/04/01/he-lives-we-live-alleluia/
But here, for this blessed Easter, I want to share something very special with you. It is the last (18th)Chapter of my book about my beloved partner in life and ministry Rev. Judy Beaumont who is with us in a very real way this Easter.
The Courage To Love And Serve: The Life Story of Rev. Judith Ann Beaumont-A Roman Catholic Woman Priest and A Saint For our Times
(https://www.amazon.com/author/judyleejudithablee)
Perhaps it will inspire you to read the book about her amazing and unique life. But its message of life is way beyond what can be captured in a book as it affirms the reality of resurrection here and now.
Here is Chapter 18-The Long Way Home-click on the words Chapter 18 below.
HE LIVES-SHE LIVES-WE LIVE!
A blessed Happy Easter to all,
Love and prayers,
Pastor Judy Lee, RCWP
Holy, Holy Saturday A RC Woman Priest Reflects- April 11,2020
On this Holy Saturday we go with the women to the grave. We pray. We mourn. We do not yet experience hope or understand anything about resurrection. We are in darkness before the light dawns. For many fearing and experiencing the swift sword of the COVID-19 virus and the unexpected loss of our dearest ones it is Holy Saturday. World-wide in this pandemic, not just in our own spheres, it is Holy Saturday. We pray for them today, and all who serve them with love and care. For the many losing loved ones to the ravages of war and hunger and thirst throughout the world, we pray. For the many who lose loved ones to a realm of natural illnesses not yet vanquished by knowledge of prevention and cure, we pray. For all with cancer,Alzheimers’ disease,and other life altering and life threatening illnesses, we pray. For all who don’t know You and the Light and Healing You bring, we pray. For all who know no Easter, no rising from the dead, we pray.
In Pope Francis’ Holy Saturday Homily today he said that when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb at dawn (Matthew 28:1-10) and the huge stone in front of the grave was so dramatically rolled back they were given a message of the greatest HOPE. First, they were told not to be afraid. That is a clear message for us today, here and now too-Do not be afraid. Then they were told that the crucified Jesus they were seeking was not there-“He has been raised just as he said”. By now they must have been in total shock and awe, but they were invited to “Come and see the place where He lay”. They were then told to hurry and go and tell the other disciples that he has been raised from the dead and goes before them to Galilee where they will see Him. And you know the women did RUN and they did become the first apostles telling the Good News that Jesus was raised from the dead! He also said that the fact that Jesus went to Galilee was so important. Galilee was not the heart of Jerusalem it was often called Galilee of the Gentiles. Jesus was leading them to go tell EVERYONE, that Jesus rose and because He rose from the dead they too, no matter who they are, can live-now and forever! The message of the empty grave, of the cross and resurrection is a message of HOPE-death does NOT have the last word-Amen!
For those for whom the cross, and its meaning as the gateway to life, remains covered we pray.
With all who keep vigil today waiting for Easter, we pray.
For all who have gone to their Easter and live in Your Light and love forever, we pray. And we ask them now to pray for us.
For our own Easter, our own rising from the bonds of death, now and forever, we pray.
Here is a link to my earlier blog that tells about the beautiful Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Service and pictorially illustrates its sequences and meanings:
https://www.judyabl.blog/2018/03/31/holy-silent-saturday-until-fire-and-light-pierces-the-darkness/
May the light and love of Easter break through for you this night.
Love and blessings,
Pastor Judy Lee, RCWP
Were You There? Good Friday 4/10/2020
“Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, oh!……………….
Sometimes it causes me to tremble,tremble, tremble,
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”
I can still feel the strong baritone voice of Mr. Leopold Dyce, a Jamaican-American leader in our diverse Brooklyn,New York community and the Choir singing this African-American Spiritual in the church of my childhood and youth as we followed Jesus to the cross and heard the seven words from the cross. Mr. Dyce’s trained voice could literally tremble and cause us to tremble. As I sing it with my church members now, the quality of the voices may lack but the empathy and identification with the suffering of Christ is as strong as ever it was among those who know suffering. All who have suffered in any manner WERE there. Moreover, the good news is that the One who suffered on that day IS here with us now as we suffer. One Priest said Good Friday is the feast day of those who suffer-the humiliated,throughout the world. Another reminded us of the loneliness of Jesus on that day, and the loneliness of those who loved him when they thought he was lost to them, dead forever. The aloneness of that day is striking and perhaps some of us experience a small part of such loneliness now when we can not come together in person in our communities for worship, adoration and comfort on Good Friday despite virtual and social media ways of sharing.
In the midst of this coronavirus-COVID-19 pandemic so many are now suffering with the actual illness, others suffer as they lose loved ones, and watch them suffer from afar,others suffer as they selflessly serve and care for those with the illness-and many live in paralyzing anxiety about the illness. Our prayers today are for all those who experience this tragic illness and those who care for them medically or serve them in meeting basic needs. For the transit workers in New York City and elsewhere who keep the city rolling while they catch the virus, for all grocery store personnel and all essential workers and first responders who respond to us during this epidemic. For all who put self aside and reach out to others during this pandemic,may they feel the presence of God with them in healing and peace.
We could not do it this year in the presence of the epidemic but our Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community followers sang this deeply moving African-American Spiritual yearly as we walked through the streets of Fort Myers following the Way of The Cross and praying at places of misery in our neighborhood. And we again sang this plaintive hymn during the Good Friday Service. These were the strong and moving voices of those who knew the pain of racism, social class/poverty, being LGBTQ,being different/other/on the margins in this country. Some also knew the crosses of homelessness,illness without medical coverage, and hunger. They knew suffering yet most of all they knew that Jesus was right there with them in their suffiering. You might listen to “Were You There?” on youtube during your Good Friday meditations.
But the words of another old hymn lift me up today…(From the 3rd verse of “What A Friend We Have in Jesus”
“Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior still our refuge;
Take it to the Lord in Prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you?
Take it to the Lord in Prayer;
In His arms he’ll take and shield you;
You will find a solace there…
What a friend we have in Jesus….”
The theologian Bernard Cooke argues that friendship is the paradigm of our relationship with God. We have a Divine Friend who knows our pain and all of our humanity because he experienced it. God’s abiding friendship is exemplified in Jesus on Good Friday as he lays down his life to destroy death so that we may live forever- beyond our physical deaths. But we must wait for Easter to come. He died the torturous death of a revolutionary who offended all of the powers that be of his times with the simple truth of God-love. We too shall die, though perhaps more peacefully. Our beloved Friend has died in the greatest injustice of all times. And so dying he breaks the bonds of death for us.
“Yes, God so loved the world as to give the Only Begotten One,that whoever believes may not die,but have eternal life” (John 3:16-TIB).
“GREATER LOVE HAS NO ONE THAN THIS-
TO LAY DOWN ONE’S LIFE FOR ONE’S FRIENDS.
AND YOU ARE MY FRIENDS…
LOVE ONE ANOTHER….” John 15:13-17
Today we lose our best Friend and we deeply mourn- though Easter will come.
We will all have our Calvary-yet we are not nor will we be alone. Our Friend is right there beside us. Amen.
Here is a link to “being there” with the Good Shepherd Community in past years:
https://www.judyabl.blog/2018/03/30/at-the-foot-of-the-cross-good-friday/
Below is one of our early Good Shepherd members, Michael Murray who was Jesus for us as we walked the Way of The Cross in Lion’s Park in Fort Myers with members of our Good Shepherd Community. He was a homeless Veteran when we met him but was so thankful to be housed that he wanted to carry the cross for us for two years. He died with COPD after 9 years of living in his home and caring for his kitties in 2018. We were so thankful for his life and his friendship with Jesus and with us. As he carries the cross with members’ prayers nailed to it, our Deacon Hank Tessandori and Elder Harry Gary look on.
A Blessed Good Friday,
Pastor Judy Lee, RCWP
On Holy Thursday 2020-A Roman Catholic Woman Priest Reflects
It is hard to be alone as we walk through this Holy Week with Jesus. A most moving part of celebrating Holy Week is the communal celebrations of Holy Thursday and Good Friday and reaching the pinnacle and joy of Easter together after sharing the pain and Jesus’ teachings on the days before as Jesus makes his ways to the cross. This year because of the coronavirus-COVID-19 we can only do this together virtually and solely in our own devotions and meditations. So many of us sit alone with Jesus on these days determined not to “fall asleep” as Jesus prays. Many are attending church by zoom and other social media. Many churches and radio and TV stations such as EWTN enable us to participate when we can not be physically with our own worship communities. And we can continue to share our Reflections of the day in our blogs and other communications. So here I will share some of our Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community’s activities in earlier Holy Thursday and Holy Week Celebrations and my reflections and that of other Roman Catholic women priests. As you sit at prayer and with your Bibles and devotional readings it may help to include some of these reflections.
Today we have reached the first of the three days of the “Holy Triduum”- the three days leading up to his death,entombment,and resurrection. It is
Holy Thursday-where we accompany Jesus through his “last supper”-having Passover with the disciples, including his washing of the disciples feet,(and thanks to a friend’s phone call- I make clear that I believe it likely that all of the disciples were there including the women who loved and followed Jesus and his mother Mary, Peter’s wife and the other wives and children); his sharing of the bread and wine at the Passover supper-to become his body and blood of the new covenant;and later his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane as his disciples slept and the betrayer and soldiers came. (John Chapter 13 and Matthew 26:36-56.)
In the Holy Week 2020 Living With Christ Joe Gunn writes about following Jesus’ example (p.88). “In a gesture pregnant with meaning just before the highly significant Passover meal, Jesus totally disrupted the traditional expectations of his time and culture. He stunned his disciples by insisting on serving them in the most deferential of ways: washing their feet. This deepest measure of service for others is how we must also prepare ourselves for the Easter Triduum. Pope Francis has understood Jesus message. The Supreme Pontiff shocked the world by visiting a Roman jail on this high feast day. He then kissed the feet of young prisoners. He bent the liturgical arc of this teaching moment precisely by washing the feet of those who were never previously included in such ceremonies: two women and several Muslims…Whom should we kneel before and try to heal on this Holy Thursday?” If we can not do it in person perhaps we can make a call or reach out in some fashion and symbolically wash feet until an in person opportunity is present.
Here are two links to my earlier reflections on Holy Thursday:
https://www.judyabl.blog/2018/03/29/holy-holy-thursday/
https://www.judyabl.blog/2017/04/13/i-have-given-you-a-model-to-follow-holy-thursday/
A blessed Holy Thursday to all,
Love and prayers,
Pastor Judy Lee, RCWP
Rev. Dr. Judith Lee Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community Fort Myers, Florida
Dear Pope Francis-Please Read This
Dear Pope Francis,
Women Priests are already here, and speaking for myself, we love and respect you (for so many reasons including those noted below*). You are courageous and leading our church back to where it began with Jesus and to the simplicity of where it ought to be,standing with the least among us as Jesus did and challenging the religious who have ossified in their beliefs. But we must ask you to consider again your position on women. The Gospel for Sunday, the 4th Sunday in Lent is about Jesus healing the man born blind John 9:1-41). As we accept that we are all sometimes like the religious leaders of the time it is also about our blindness, our blind-spots. Humbly I suggest that as well as you see,and seeing, shed light on us, your blind-spot on women is showing particularly in your recent response to the Amazonian Synod. Below I share a letter from our Roman Catholic Women Priest Bishops world-wide. Please consider it strongly and with your heart.
With Gratitude,
Rev. Dr. Judith Lee, RCWP, Fort Myers, Florida
(The RCWP Bishops Letter follows some of the reasons we hold you in such high esteem. I could not just cut and paste but a link is provided).
*There are so many reasons to love Pope Francis and his teachings. His emphasis on Bishops and Priests and Pastors having the “smell of the sheep” on them, in other words remaining close to their flocks, knowing them, loving them, hearing them, serving WITH them, is a light in darkness for us. Similarly his emphasis on the wealth of the church being its people and serving its people, especially those without means and those on the margins, and not amassing silver and gold shines the light on some of the core values of the church hijacked in ostentatious materialism. His revulsion of the history of sexual abuse and recent “solutions” to this are also so important to the survival of the church. And his recent response to the Amazonian synod is likewise noteworthy, except for his traditional response to women where he keeps us separate in service which is, as we have well learned, never just or equal.)
The following statement by the Roman Catholic Women Priest Bishops serves to challenge Pope Francis to risk more displeasure of some in the Vatican, in the church, of Opus Dei and ultra conservative critics and come aboard with his sister priests who are already serving alongside him and their brother priests.
When you click on this link (line below) a download will appear on your screen, bottom left. You can then open it and read the strong letter from the RCWP Bishops.
RCWP Bishops respond to Quierda Amazonia-r1
Nations Are Judged By Treatment Of the Most Vulnerable: A Lenten Meditation by a Roman Catholic Woman Priest
Readers of all faiths and no particular faith are invited to take a deep breath, exhale slowly and focus on our world and our country at this point in time. Focus on what is right and beautiful and focus on what is ugly and unjust, on the “haves and have-nots” and on those trying hard to have, to share, and to build a just Nation. You may be surprised when I say that the coinciding of Lent in the Christian tradition and the U.S. Presidential Primaries and debates DO have something in common. I will try to draw some of those commonalities here. This is at risk of alienating those who are sick of politics and promises loosely made and rarely kept. But it is also necessary and hopeful in encouraging the connections between what we value and believe in the Scriptures and applying it not only individually but as a National entity.
My ears and my whole being perked up in the recent Democratic TV debate when two of the candidates, not totally in sync with one another, quoted similar scriptures when asked their favorite quotes: Elizabeth Warren quoted Matthew 25: 40 in the King James version ” Inasmuch as ye did it to the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me”. (Or in The Priests for Equality Inclusive Bible (TIB): “…the truth is , every time you did this for the least of my sisters or brothers, you did it for me”. And the corollary is Matthew 25:45 ” “The truth is, as often as you neglected to do this to the least of these,you neglected to do it to me…. only the just will go off to eternal life.”) And Pete Buttigeig quoted the Golden rule. “You should love your neighbor as yourself”. And each of the other candidates without quoting scripture made points about how they would make policy and or program provision for the “least of these”, including the homeless, the sick, particularly those without money, and children and youth seeking education as well as daily breakfast and immigrants and migrants. These aspirations for the Nation were very much in line with the Golden rule and Matthew 25, with or without saying so. All were hopeful for a new day for the underserved and those for whom racism, classism and gender inequality have taken its toll. Sure, the “devil is in the details” and the details of all plans and hopes need work, but at least the start of such altruistic aspirations and plans were good to hear.
As it is now, under the current Administration, where would the USA stand in the Matthew 25 “judgement of the sheep and the goats?” To provide context-this is where Jesus frames the scene as a judgement of nations, of countries while we often apply it only to our individual lives, thereby getting only a part of the point being made. Not only do we singly have to measure up to the “rule of love,” but our country, our nation needs to do so as a Nation, as well. Matthew 25:32 states: “All the nations will be brought before him, and as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,so will he do with them, placing the sheep on his right and the goats on his left”- and those who do not feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome strangers into their homes/nations-house the stranger and the homeless- and clothe the naked and visit/take care of the sick and imprisoned will be considered the “just” and will be gathered in with the good sheep. Moreover in doing so the nation and individual that does these kind and merciful things is actually doing those acts of kindness as if God stood there before them as a hungry, thirsty, outsider/stranger in need of a home, a doctor, and a welcome. So, how does the USA as a Nation do with the application of the “Golden Rule” that Jesus emphasizes (Matthew 25:31-46)? This “Rule” actually originates in the Hebrew Tradition in Leviticus 191-2,11-18 ending with “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”.
These scriptural passages were in yesterdays, March 2nd 2020 Lenten meditations. And in today’s Lenten meditation Jesus teaches us to pray for God’s will to be done on earth. (In context this is God’s will for justice, especially for the poor and most vulnerable). While today’s Psalm 34 reminds us that ” When the poor one cried out, the Lord heard…The Lord has eyes for the just, and ears for their cry…and is close to the broken-hearted and those who are crushed in spirit.” Too often we make this about our individual emotional or spiritual states but I close my eyes and see parents and children being separated, torn apart, at the US-Mexico border and people dying on the arduous journey to the closed door they thought represented freedom and safety. And, in keeping with our Good Shepherd’s Ministry to the homeless and poorest among us, I shrink at the numbers of people of all ages still living in the streets in the USA.
How does the USA enact and operationalize this precious Golden rule? How do we as a Nation include the interests of the most vulnerable in our policies and programs? How do the Presidential candidates enliven and enact this rule in their own lives as well as in their proposed or actual programs, policies and actions? While we are sick of political disappointments and may want to pull back-this is the time to energize to do the opposite. To find the best of the very human candidates to vote for- and to do it, and help others to get out and vote as well. Not to say,”I’m not voting-there is no one I like”. That simply leaves the decision to someone else who may not want to live the Golden rule in this time of great greed and lack of global and environmental awareness. It means assigning the environment and all of its creatures to the needs of the greedy to get more. We need instead to look forward to Spring in this winter of discontent. To embrace the new growth that can surely happen.
To quote Sr. Chris Koellhoffer,IHM in http://www.livingwithchrist.us the word “Lent” derives from a word meaning Springtime. It evokes the feeling of seeing the new purpleblue crocus poking its head through the ice and snow as winter recedes, or the sheer beauty of a Spring day. While in many climates winter seems cold , iced over,barren and permanent, it is not. The cycle or spiral of life is still underneath and moves forward and makes itself known, sometimes when we need it most. Sr. Chris asks that we enter into this liturgical Springtime with deep listening to the word of God in the Scriptures and with “deep faith in God’s creative power to bring forth life in every heart,in every corner of our world”. Lent is traditionally a time of thoughtful and deep meditation with prayer, fasting and almsgiving. That is ,we take stock of ourselves and our shortcomings, and this can include of our Country and its shortcomings held up to the light of the Scriptures, and we fast from anything that would be unhealthy for us spiritually , as well as physically, and with a smile on our faces not a “woe is me” for trying to change something difficult with our “fasts” and prayers, we then ACT in compassion for justice and peace. And we do this in a million small ways right where we are. And those ways now need to include making wise political decisions and holding those decisions up to the light of the scriptures, and to the light of day.
The Network federation of Sisters religious (famous for the nuns on the bus and their lifegiving, including, political activities) have a website that can inspire and guide us in this direction. Here is a link to their Network Advocates and an article about Spirit-Filled Voting that is challenging and clear. https://www.networkadvocates.org/spiritfilledvoters/listening/ Also http://www.votecommongood.com Sister Emily TeKloste of the Network Lobby for Catholic Soical Justice teaches us to Listen First, then Act. What good advice! And there are so many coalitions of interfaith religious, and of secular groups to save the environment or assist migrants and refugees, and coalitions of people who work for getting out the vote, there is a place for every one of us to get involved in making something new happen.
So for Lent, this year do something, anything, and DO the most you can do to enact justice and make sure our Nation does the same!
Blessings and love as Lent continues on to the Cross and YES, to the Rising up from the dead!
For the “least of these”,
Pastor Judy Lee,
Good Shepherd Ministries of SW Florida
Rev. Dr. Judith Lee, RCWP, DMin, DSW, MS
judyablfollowingSheWhoIs 
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