ears to hear?

Angela of Foligno, a thirteenth/fourteenth century Italian and Franciscan mystic, is known for her embodied theology. She is know for her visions and mystical experiences, theology of incarnation and acts of solidarity. For my History of Christianity class I wrote a paper on one of her pieces and found this gem in an introduction to her work. 

"The perspective of cultural studies has more recently argued that women's oppressed social situation made them more likely to be drawn to radical forms of religious experience such as mysticism. In particular, a bodily expression of spirituality was in a sense to be expected given women's different relation to and closer association with their body and to the very concept of embodiment-- including, then, not only the negative, evil flesh [[which is where my mind went]], but also the redemptive body of Christ. For in the doctrine of the Incarnation, Christ's physical humanity, his flesh, was gendered as female: by dying, Christ's flesh metaphorically gave birth to new life, it provided spiritual food in the form of the eucharist, and it was thought to come entirely from his mother-- the only human parent of Jesus... The Incarnation informed the spirituality of medieval holy women as well as our own notion of what constitutes mysticism. The body was for medieval holy women, in the eloquent words of Andre Vauchez, 'a privileged instrument of communication.' Through exceptional phenomena such as stigmata, levitation, ecstasy, and visions, the body, and particularly the female body, could spell out what was otherwise ineffable and could not be grasped by words." (Cristina Mazzoni, Angela of Foligno: Memorial, 7.)

Thoughts that come to mind:

First: Jesus as gendered as female... positively!! 

Second: The fact that women's bodies were seen as possible sources of power for ineffable experiences of the Incarnation.

Third: That out of their oppression came these powerful experiences that men listened to and recognize as valid. 

......Where'd that all go? 

......What does that mean for us (women) today? 

......How do we speak the Truths of our bodies so loudly that they are heard? 

......I think story-telling is the answer. (More about this to come.)

On that note, I'm currently writing a poem about story-telling based on the quote by Muriel Rukeyser: "What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The whole world would split open." Story telling is, more often than not, an act of privilege. Most women around the world are silenced by their misogynistic society/ies and are therefore oppressed in ways that we cannot even imagine. (We even see that in some denominations today, don't we?) There have been brave women that have taken a risk and told their story, either by writing a book or by speaking out. For those of us living in functional (and I used that term lightly) misogynistic societies where women *sometimes* have a voice, I think women tell the truths of their lives all the time.  Are you willing to be a truth-teller about your life? Are you willing to tell your story so that you and others may be liberated by it? 

Please note, however, that this is not me putting the onus on women. What we need now are ears to hear. Heterosexual, affluent, white, male-identifying men (and then some) to hear our stories. Who were the ears to hear Angela of Foligno's story and where are they today?


I believe in the power of a story to fiercely transform lives. Be a part of this transformation, will you?