Praying—with the Saints—to God Our Mother. Daniel F. Stramara

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      Finally, a word should be said about the psalms I have chosen. I have purposely utilized psalms that address God as “you,” or ones in which God speaks in the first person. Because I am pondering the feminine side of God, I felt it inappropriate to use psalms that constantly refer to God as “he.” I, personally, have nothing against referring to God as “he,” but thought that this would be distracting in this context. Nevertheless, some readers might be disconcerted that on occasion “he, him, and his” are found. I must be faithful to the original text. Furthermore, the ancient authors, whether biblical or Christian, felt quite at ease employing both analogies at the same time. I have respected their experiences and practices. Other normal rules of non-gender biased translation have been followed, such as avoiding unnecessary “he who has” and related phrases, replacing it with “anyone” or “whoever.” I refer the reader to such gender-inclusive translations of the Scriptures as the New Jerusalem Bible, the Revised New American Bible, and the New Revised Standard Version. Inevitably, I will not please everyone, but I have chosen to be grammatically accurate and faithful to the original wording and meaning of the texts, without being slavishly so. Any errors or oversights are my own.

      About the Doxology

In the early church there were a variety of doxologies; eventually “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit . . .” became standard. St. Basil the Great († 379), a very important Doctor of the Church, argued that there were various ancient doxologies and that these were legitimate.11 Because a doxology must be used in the Liturgy of the Hours, I needed to address the issue of coming up with an alternate to the canonical doxology that brings out the masculine side of the relationality within the Holy Trinity. Proposed doxologies such as “Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier” are unacceptable from a Catholic/Orthodox point of view because 1) they do not safeguard the relationship among the divine Persons within the Trinity, 2) each of the Persons is Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, and 3) such a doxology only emphasizes God’s relationship with us and not God’s eternal nature as the Divine Community of Love.

      However, it is important to note that Fathers and Doctors of the Church gave voice to their praise of God in terms beyond the traditional “Glory be.” St. Theophilus of Antioch was the first to use the term “Trinity” around AD 180. The text is Ad Autolycus 2.15, in which he has “God, His Word and His Wisdom.” The relationality is preserved but in English the possessive pronoun is masculine; see also Clementine Homilies 16.12 where Spirit is also feminine Wisdom. St. Gregory of Nazianzus

(† 389), a Doctor of the Church who was acclaimed as “the Theologian” by the Orthodox Church, praises God as “Mind and Word and Spirit, one in relationship and divinity.”12 Such a doxology is appealing to me because it is gender neutral. However, the metaphors are intellectual and abstract. Furthermore, for a book of prayer such as this, the feminine side of God should be celebrated in the doxology. In fact, St. Aphrahat († ca. 345), another Father of the Church, wrote: “Glory and honor to the Father and to his Son and to his Spirit, she who is living and holy; let the mouths of everyone render praise, above and below, for ever and ever, Amen.”13 Such a conception in the Syrian Church is refreshing. Nevertheless, as shall be seen, the Doctor of the Church St. Ephrem the Syrian († 379) depicted all three divine Persons as feminine. Moreover, according to the Ecumenical Councils, all three Persons are equal; whatever is ascribed to one is equally ascribed to the other, except for their terms expressing origin of relationship. If a doxology is to be truly theologically balanced, all three Persons must be equal, i.e., all three masculine, or all three feminine, or all three neuter.

      Thus after the section of the Psalms and Scriptures you will find a list of possible doxologies you can employ, many based off of early church writings and some created by myself. In no way is this list to infer that I consider the traditional doxology as incorrect or theologically problematic; the issue is, however, pastoral. It will be up to the reader or praying community to decide which form will be used. If Praying—with the Saints—to God Our Mother is used publicly, I suggest that the first line of the doxology be recited only by the one leading the prayer; the refrain “as it was in the beginning

       . . .” can be a communal response, thus avoiding confusion concerning which wording is being adopted. Of course, one is free to alternate the various doxologies between the morning and evening office or after each psalm.

      May this book of prayer and meditation deepen your relationship with the God of our ancestors, and may She abundantly bless you as you prayerfully ponder another rich and life-giving facet of the Holy Trinity.

      Stand firm, then, brothers and sisters,

      and maintain the traditions that we taught you,

      whether by word of mouth or by letter.

      —2 Thessalonians 2:15

      You must remain faithful to what you have learned and firmly believe;

      knowing full well who your teachers were,

      and how, ever since you were a child,

      you have known the Holy Scriptures—

      from these you can learn the wisdom

      that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

      All Scripture is inspired by God

      and useful for instruction and refuting error,

      for guiding people’s lives

      and teaching them to be upright.

      This is how someone who is dedicated to God

      becomes fully equipped and ready for every good work.

      —2 Timothy 3:14–17

1. For a good survey of the history of Christian prayer see Taft, Liturgy of the Hours as well as Uspensky, Evening Worship.

2. See Myers, I and II Esdras, 131–34.

3. See Stuhlmueller, “Apocrypha,” 1:552.

4. See Metzger, “Fourth Book of Ezra,” 1:523.

5. See Isaac, “I Enoch,” 1:8.

6. Vatican II, “Decree on Ecumenism,” §17, p. 466.

7. According to reports coming out of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI will declare Hildegard of Bingen a Doctor of the Church in October 2012. When this happens, she will be the fourth female Doctor of the Church.

8. See Albright, “Names Shaddai and Abram.”

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