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This evening I am preparing a prayer service for the women’s pod at the Marin County Jail. I will be joined by another one of our sisters there, Sister Billie. I have included the readings for Sunday in the prayer; tomorrow we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus. We will share our reflections with one another. We don’t have answers, but we listen. I think you could call listening preaching at times like this.
Baptism signifies a new beginning. Whenever we think of January and a New Year, we think of new beginnings. My experience of listening to the stories of the women in jail is that on the inside they are not so different from me. But for some different circumstances or different choices that were made by my parents or by me, they are there, and I am not. And that, like me, they long for new beginnings.
My hope is that our hour with them will give them some hope that there is the possibility of new beginnings. We will bring these women back with us in our hearts, and our sisters at home will pray for them too.
As long as I have been in St. Dominic’s parish in San Francisco, about 13 years now, we have received Epiphany packets so that we can bless and chalk our doors. We write the letters C, M, B, suggesting the names of Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar – the names of the Magi, as well as the first letters of the words “Cristus Mansionem Bendicat” – “May Christ bless this dwelling.” I like to think that it is not only a blessing of our homes, but also a blessing upon our comings and our goings, since that is what a doorway symbolizes. It also is a symbol of hospitality, as it is the place at which we welcome our guests. And as we stand in the doorway of 2009, it is where we welcome this new year.
I am reminded of the Jewish practice of attaching a mezuzah to the doorpost. In doing this, the Jews remember God’s protection of their ancestors at the time of the great Exodus from the land of Egypt, as well as God’s protection and faithfulness on their long and difficult journey. Doorways hold much meaning.
Now our Epiphany blessing is a short liturgy in which we mark these doorways, as we ask God’s blessing upon those who live in the home within or visit throughout the coming year. So of course we would do this as we begin each New Year. I think it is especially fitting that we bless our homes in this way on the Feast of the Epiphany, or for that matter, anytime in January. For, do you know where we get the name, January? Well, we get it from the name of a Roman god, Janus.
Now Janus was the god of beginnings and endings – the god of gates, doors and doorways. Fitting, don’t you think? Who could have planned this little bit of serendipity? There is a bust of him in the Vatican Museum, and he has two faces, one is looking forward, and the other is looking backwards. So while he is gazing into the new – the future, at the same time he is looking back into the past.
And isn’t that exactly what we do at the beginning of a New Year? We look forward and backward . . . . with a mixture of emotions. We can look at the year behind us and remember the things that brought us joy as well as sadness. And we look forward into the unknown . . . with guesses and projections . . . . with hopes as well as fears. For we do not know what lies ahead.
I walk through this doorway into the New Year with the hope that my sisters and I will remain true to our vocation as Dominicans who preach through their lives as well as their words – and that our lives reflect the words we speak. Moreover, I hope to be faithful to this blog this year! May we have a peace-filled 2009.
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