{"id":18987,"date":"2024-07-02T17:33:09","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T21:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/discerningdeacons.org\/?post_type=witness&p=18987"},"modified":"2024-08-31T02:37:47","modified_gmt":"2024-08-31T06:37:47","slug":"dermis-de-jesus","status":"publish","type":"witness","link":"https:\/\/discerningdeacons.org\/es\/witness\/dermis-de-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Dermis de Jes\u00fas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mary, our Blessed Mother, Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, Mary and Martha, Lazarus\u2019 sisters; Veronica (from the Catholic tradition), Mary Magdalene\u2026these are women whose stories I have heard and some that I have proclaimed since my early years as a confirmed Catholic.\u00a0 These are women in whom I have seen pieces of myself throughout my development as a devout Catholic. These are saints who have inspired my spiritual journey along with those closer to my times, like Mother Teresa and the Servant of God, Sister Thea Bowman.<\/span><\/p>\n

I, however, had not sat with the words in Romans 16; 1-2, until I attended prayer services with Discerning Deacons:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI commend to you our sister\u2026receive her in the Lord\u2026for she has been a benefactor to many\u2026”<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n

I felt a recognition of these words deep in my being. I thought of the Phoebes in my life:\u00a0 my grandmother Isabel, my religion teachers- lay and nuns; my mentors in youth groups, my role models in young adult ministries; the mothers of the Church in my Germantown, Philadelphia parish; my own mother, and then I even dared to look at myself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I find joy in service as something that I am called to do, whether I am interpreting, proclaiming, praising in song and dance, teaching or offering reflections; distributing communion, visiting the sick, supporting individuals in mental health crisis and women confronting abuse; counseling parents of neurodivergent children or holding and feeding babies in the intensive care nursery. I just want to be of service, taking Jesus to everyone and encountering Jesus in everyone, for the glory of God, and in gratitude for what God has done in me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore I march on, celebrating St. Phoebe and discerning <\/span>diakonia<\/span><\/i>, locally and nationally, with many more like me, for many more like me, guided by the Holy Trinity. We are serving the discernment, listening, rethinking, imagining, hoping, praying, doing\u2026for a Church that truly welcomes everyone who surrenders to God\u2019s love.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I thought of the Phoebes in my life: \u00a0my grandmother Isabel, my religion teachers- lay and nuns; my mentors in youth groups, my role models in young adult ministries; the mothers of the Church in my Germantown, Philadelphia parish; my own mother, and then I even dared to look at myself.” <\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":18988,"template":"","witness-tag":[],"class_list":["post-18987","witness","type-witness","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t