Faith and persecution in medieval women mystics

¶ … personal recitation of faith and the struggles that come with it. The latter of those two starts on page nine of the book. One thing that jumps out is when the narrator presents to her father that she is a Christian. His reaction is so visceral and borderline violent so as to be appalling. He simply tries to scare his daughter but his reaction is jarring nonetheless. Her feelings about the matter are quite notable as well given that she conflates both his influence on her as it pertains to counteracting the Christian faith and that of Satan doing the same. There is then a shift back to the historical support or persecution (usually the latter) of Christians. Indeed, Christians (and Jews for that matter) have been persecuted a great deal over the years. There were other times where one might say that Christians were doing the persecuting (e.g. the Crusades). Even so, the struggles that exist relating to religion and just how far people will go when others don't see the world in the same way vis-a-vis who created it and who is in charge. Indeed, Jews and Christians diverge on a few notable things and the emergence of Islam in the 600's AD aggravated that further (Madigan, 1998).

Reflection -- Leviticus Chapter 15:19-33

The passage noted in the header is obviously about a woman's monthly period that is experienced when she does not get pregnant during a given month. The passage is fairly clear that anything touched at that time is unclean and that no man should have sex with a woman that is having their monthly period. The passage even goes so far as to talk about rituals and such surrounding the same. Such rituals are obviously not followed today and suggesting them to anyone would probably elicit ridicule or even laughter. Even so, there is the assertion that a husband should not have sex with his wife while on her period. That being said, so many people nowadays are having sex outside of marriage and some of them even do it when a woman is menstruating. To cite another passage, 1st Corinthians 7 notes that immorality with sex happened even then and it was encouraged that husbands and wives be intimate.

Reflection -- Mystics Chapter 16 & 19

The last two chapters of reflection focus on Sojourner Truth and Dorothy Day as they are the 16th and 19th women in the table of contents. Truth was a huge proponent of women's suffrage and a huge opponent of violence. Her passion against the latter was so prolific that she parted with no less than Frederick Douglas over the aggressiveness of the abolition movement. Dorothy Day was also a trailblazer for women in that she wanted to be a journalist. John Day "forbade" her from doing so but she refused to accept this as she wanted to be a journalist with every fiber in her being. Both Day and Truth rose against what they felt to be improper actions or feelings as it related to their passions and goals. This can and should draw parallels to anyone (women and men) that see an injustice and decide to rise against it. However, this upheaval should not be mindless or violent as neither is helpful.