vessel

little appreciation post for my favorite saint (aside from our blessed mother herself)

prosecution established affiliation by way of defendants having fucking anarchist zines, the kind of shit you see in a punk house. this is what they want and are willing to pursue for all of us who aren't willing to lay down and die, imprisonment and torture and the absolute stripping of our dignity (the govt gleefully included their deadnames in a press release yesterday; Morris' public defender has consistently deadnamed and misgendered her despite her legal name change)

there is no one who will protect us except us, and if our sisters are lost to us and forgotten as soon as they are grabbed by the prison system (ie if the system is allowed to work as intended) then we are failing, and we are woefully unprepared for a world where they start taking more of us

Studio of Bernardo Strozzi in Genoa.

Incredulity of St. Thomas (Detail)

She is used as a weapon against women who question, women who complain, women who are critical. But there really is no evidence that this is appropriate in the slightest.

At the beginning of her story, we hear her directly questioning a messenger of God. “How can this be?” She doesn’t just put her head down and bat her eyelashes like Bambi, she challenges him, because what she is being told does not make logical sense.

She offers her consent which means that she assumes and understands that her consent is required and important. She doesn’t just quietly sit with her hands folded and wait to see what happens, she takes ownership of the moment.

She offers not only a song of praise but a lot of theological opinions in her Magnificat. She does not clam up and leave the heavy lifting of thoughts about God to the men and the scholars.

At Cana she pushes Christ to act even though “the hour has not yet arrived.” 

She is present at the cross. She is present with the disciples in the upper room. She’s not the little old lady who keeps to herself, she is in the middle of the birth of the church.

In the akathist, one of the most ancient sources we have about her, she is referred among many other appellations as the “woman who persuaded even the just judge.” She is described as persistent, relentless, maybe even headstrong in her advocacy for those who appeal to her for help.

She is a good mother, alright. She is tough, she is confident, she is protective, she is fearless.

"do you like the temple we built You? we built it on the bones of children. we built it by denying food to the hungry, and medicine to the sick. we killed the healers and the truth tellers, and we killed them for You. that's how much we love You, don't you see?"