Meri's Play Place

Our Lady of Shape Shifting (MeriMagic on Polyvore) Oh mistress of shapeshifting, you come to us in many guises. . . as a lady in white floating above an oak tree in the fields of Portugal, with messages to shepherd children. as an image on a highway sign in Sunnyside in eastern Washington,  not once, but twice. as a statue weeping blood at a Vietnamese Catholic Church  in Sacramento, California. People see you in the browning of a grilled cheese sandwich, in the hues of a plate glass window. You told the young Bernadette to dig and when she had done so, you filled the void with healing waters.  Even now, over a century and a half later, pilgrims flock to Lourdes, seeking miracles of their own. I don't seek your appearance in an oil spot on a garage floor, though you may well choose to do that for the mechanic who needs a reminder of the ineffable nature of faith. . . Instead, I seek you...

Our Lady of the Linoleum Forest - created on Polyvore by MeriMagic One of the things that makes Our Lady so approachable is her humanity. She was a mother, laboring through natural childbirth,  raising children,  watching at least one of them  die before her. She followed the dictates of her husband, even if it meant riding a donkey to his village of origin to be enumerated in a census when she was near her date of confinement. Though she is exalted by those who wove her mythology  (scant as it is) into the texts that became scripture as an extraordinary woman, a woman above all others, what those who seek her blessings see is her humanity. She is, and was, one of us. While we know little of her life  beyond the bare facts recited, we are assured that --  in the 2000 plus years since her death-- she has worked countless miracles. How can that be, if she is one of us? Each of us is a spark...