#56.13, Weds., May 29, 2024

Historical Setting, 629 C.E. Vosges Mts.

         Gaia and Brandell have been at Luxeuil for nearly a week now.  Apparently, Brandell wasn’t sent away for his heresies this time.  When they left here, he was promising Gaia she might find spiritual enrichment in a community of women of faith.  She reminded Brandell their whole long journey to come to Gaul put her into a community of women of faith. Then he reminded her she isn’t Jewish. Christian women have their enclaves as well.

         Now, they are returning – both of them. I greet them and their horses in the stable.

         But I did wonder if Brandell catches the difference in these groups of spiritual women — in Judaism women with families guide the children in recognizing God’s love — but in Christian, as we do Christian here, the women who guide the faith have vowed celibacy. I hope Brandell’s enticement for her to meet the nuns wasn’t a mistake for his own interests in marriage. 

         “How was your encounter with the nuns?” I ask Gaia.

         “It was a wonderful breath of fresh spirit. All those years at the icon booth I’d only heard women speaking of a visual God/Christ. My life with my own mater was so brief, so when we were traveling, and the women were talking openly about the traditions with the Holy, I felt Christianity was lacking something that Jewish women had. Mater Doe, who knows of lots of faiths, said the women’s convent at the monastery would be the best source for me to listen to Christian women of faith. So, Brandell took me to them.

         “Some were there just for the daily rigors of worship, the structure, and the righteousness, but mostly, the women who were there were committed to the holy life because they felt the invisible calling, or maybe a push from God. As I reach for the arm of a sighted person to guide me – they, themselves reach for the invisible guiding arm, and it is always some saint or even Jesus who takes them to God.”

         I ask her flat out on behalf of Brandell, “You weren’t tempted to stay?”

         “I did ask the nuns about giving up marriage for the celibate life and some wanted nothing of marriage at all. That was a reason they stayed, but there was also the idea of their marriage being to Christ, though I saw no one there was birthing those babies, at least in the physical sense.”

         I suggest, “Maybe that was metaphorical.”

         “Yes, but I heard no metaphors crying from cribs either.” 

(Continues tomorrow)