Meri's Play Place

"Our Lady of Indigenous Peoples" created by MeriMagic on Polyvore When I think of Our Lady, I think of hope. Of compassion. Of miracles manifesting in unlikely places. Her image appears in many guises: on a grilled cheese sandwich, in colors of a plate glass window, Any place that people are moved  to look with their hearts. When I think of Mary, I think of all the indigenous peoples, converted to Catholicism by missionaries (and not always willingly), who found in the Divine Mother a source of comfort, a connection to the fertile earth, to birth and death, to the connective force that women represent. When I contemplate this image of Our Lady, I imagine her meditating. . . gathering strength to support all those who lean on her because she seems more approachable than God. I suspect that she is creating a blueprint in her mind of a world at peace, where there is enough for all, where Earth is cherished an...

"Our Lady of Fortune's Arrows"  So often,it seems like we're targets for fortune's arrows. Things happen that are outside our control, no matter how much we try to keep our lives  measured and fully predictable. Hurricanes roar ashore and wash away homes and all the ephemera  that makes up the collage of our lives. Lovers betray us and make us wonder how much of our relationship was mere fiction. Miscarriages, stillbirths, debilitating or even fatal illness, job losses or financial reversals, deaths of people we love. . .  we are not in control of  everything We can only choose  how we react to it. Will we, like the Holy Mother, look "what is" in the face and find the strength to move forward, perhaps with a heavy heart but full of resolve? Will we face down tyranny, abuse,  and ignorance with a heart of love  and the conviction that if not us, then who? Will we mov...