Praying—with the Saints—to God Our Mother. Daniel F. Stramara
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them to heart, wherever among the nations Yahweh your God has dispersed you, and when you return to Yahweh your God and obey his voice with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything that I am commanding you today, you and all your children, then Yahweh your God will bring back your captives and have maternal compassion upon you and gather you back from all the nations in which Yahweh your God had scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the far distant horizons, even from there Yahweh your God will gather you and reclaim you, and bring you back to the land which your ancestors possessed, so that you might take possession of it and be made more prosperous and numerous than even your ancestors were.”
Deuteronomy 32:9–11 TNK
Yahweh’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted inheritance.
He found him in a desert land,
in a barren and howling wasteland.
He shielded, reared and guarded him,
as the apple of his eye,
just like an eagle incites her nestlings,
hovering over her young,
that spreads her wings to catch them,
and carries them on her pinions.
Deuteronomy 32:12–14 TNK
The Lord alone is Israel’s guide,
there is no alien god with him.
God gives the heights of the earth for him to ride,
nourishes him on the produce
of the slopes,
nurses him with honey from the crag,
and oil out of the flinty rock.
God supplies curds from the cattle, milk from the flock,
With fine meat from the pastures,
Herds of Bashan and goats,
With the finest grains of wheat to eat,
and blood of the grape to drink as wine.
Deuteronomy 32:15–18 TNK
Jeshurun grew fat and kicked.
(You became fat, gross and gorged.)
He abandoned the God who made him,
and disowned the Rock, his Savior.
They roused his jealousy
with strange gods,
with abominable idols they provoked his wrath.
They sacrificed to demons
which are not God,
to gods they had never known,
gods only recently appeared,
ones which your ancestors
never revered.
You neglected the Rock who bore you;
you forgot the God
who gave birth to you.
Nehemiah 9:13–17 TNK
You descended on Mount Sinai and spoke to them from the heavens. You imparted to them just ordinances, reliable rules, good statutes, and commandments. Your Holy Sabbath you revealed to them; you established commandments, statutes, and laws for them through your servant Moses. You gave them bread from heaven to satisfy their hunger and brought forth water from the rock to slake their thirst. You told them to enter and take possession of the land which you had sworn with outstretched hand to give them. But they and our ancestors grew arrogant and stiff-necked, obeying not your commands. They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles that you performed within their midst. They became obstinate and in their rebellion made up their minds to return to their former bondage. But you, O Eloah, are ever forgiving, gracious, full of maternal compassion, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Therefore, you did not abandon them.
Nehemiah 9:18–21 TNK
Even when they cast for themselves a molten image of a calf and said, “This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt!” and committed atrocious blasphemies, you, in your exceeding maternal compassion, did not abandon them in the wilderness: the pillar of cloud did not desert them, but guided them on their path by day, nor did the pillar of fire by night cease to light the way ahead of them by which they were to travel. Your benevolent Spirit you bestowed upon them, that she might instruct them. Furthermore, you did not withhold your manna from their mouths and you gave them water for their thirst. For forty years you cared for them in the desert, they lacked nothing, their clothing did not wear out, and their feet did not become swollen.
Nehemiah 9:26–31 TNK
[Your children] grew disobedient and rebelled against you, in fact, they cast your law behind their backs, slaughtered your prophets who had admonished them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed atrocious blasphemies. Therefore you delivered them into the hands of their enemies who oppressed them. But in the midst of their oppression they cried out to you, and you, you heard them from the heavens and because of your magnificent maternal compassion you granted them deliverers who rescued them from their enemies’ grasp. But as soon as they experienced a respite, they again returned to doing evil in your sight, so you abandoned them into the clutches of their enemies who in turn crushed them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from the heavens and because of your maternal compassion delivered them time after time. You warned them so they would come back to your Law, but they became arrogant and would not obey your commandments. They sinned against your ordinances in whose observance is found life. They turned a stubborn back, stiffened their necks, and refused to listen. Nevertheless, you were patient with them for many years, admonishing them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they paid no attention, so you handed them over to the people of the country. But because of your magnificent maternal compassion you did not destroy them completely or abandon them, for you are a gracious and compassionate God.
Job 28:12–19 TNK
But whence can Wisdom be found?
And where is the abode of Understanding?
No human being knows the path to her,
and she cannot be found on earth where they live.
The abyss says, “She is not in me”;
and the sea notes, “She dwells not with me.”
She cannot be purchased with solid gold,
nor can her price be weighed
in sterling silver,
nor can she be valued with the fine gold of Ophir,
precious agate or sapphire.
Neither gold nor crystal compares
with her,
nor can she be exchanged for a dress
of golden filigree,
not to mention coral and jasper;
the price of Wisdom
is beyond rosy pearls.
The topaz of Cush
cannot compare with her,
nor can she be valued against the purest refined gold.
Job 28:20–27 TNK
Where does Wisdom come from?
Where is the dwelling of Understanding?
She is hidden from the eyes of every living creature,
even concealed from the birds
of heaven.
Destruction and Death declare,
“Our ears have only heard rumors
about her.”
God