Another day, another matchup. Today it's Monica vs. Joanna the Myrrhbearer. 4th century Christian and the mother of a saint vs. a Biblical disciple of Jesus with a great moniker. Tough call, but one you'll have to make.
In yesterday' saintly action, Richard Hooker took down Scholastica 61% to 39% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen.
And if for some shocking reason, you missed this week's edition of Monday Madness you can watch it here. Tim and Scott take it very personally if you don't have the entire extended family gather around the computer screen to watch. Just so you know.
Time to vote!
Monica
Monica is a saint because she’s another saint’s mom. It stands to reason that if being someone’s mom makes you a saint, you were a pretty fantastic mom, and your child was a pretty amazing person.
Monica was born to Berber parents in North Africa in around 331. We don’t know much about her early life except that she was Christian. She was married to Patricius, who did not share her faith. When they had children, he would not allow them to be baptized until they were adults and could choose for themselves. Monica and Patricius both had some habits they strove to overcome. They both attempted to improve themselves throughout their adult lives, and Patricius was baptized just before his death.
One of Monica and Patricius’s three children was Augustine. Yes, THAT Augustine. Monica knew her son was highly gifted and a natural leader, and she encouraged him to marry someone in their social class who could help him launch a political career. Like many moms who try to plan their children’s lives, things did not work as she wanted. Augustine had a girlfriend, and together they had a son. Her political ambition for Augustine morphed into a fervent desire for him to be a Christian. By the time he was ready to marry the person Monica had in mind, he had decided to lead a life of chastity and piety.
Monica was with Augustine when he and his brother, Navigius, were baptized by Bishop Ambrose in Milan in 387. Monica fell ill and realized she would not return home. When Navigius expressed concern about her dying far away from home, she said, “Nothing is far from God, and I need have no fear that he will not know where to find me, when he comes to raise me to life at the end of the world.”
Augustine’s role as a leader in the Christian faith assures his sainthood. So why is Monica also listed among the church’s saints? She had a strong prayer practice that made a difference in her life and those of her family. Monica shows us the depth and breadth of a mother’s love. She shows us what it looks like to believe in someone—and that they will return when they are lost. We honor Monica on behalf of all of us who love our children, pray for them ceaselessly, follow them where they travel, and want them to know God. We celebrate the feast of Saint Monica on May 4.
Collect for Monica
Deepen our devotion, O Lord, and use us in accordance with your will; that inspired by the example of your servant Monica, we may bring others to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Joanna the Myrrhbearer
If, like Kool and the Gang, you’ve searched so far, searched so long to find someone, someone to count on, Joanna is your girl.
After all, Jesus counted on her.
Joanna is mentioned twice in the Gospel of Luke, and some scholars speculate she may have been one of the sources for the book. She appears first among the Twelve and the women traveling with Jesus as he proclaims the good news of the kingdom of God. The women had been “cured of evil spirits and diseases,” Luke tells us, and also, “were helping to support them out of their own means.”
Certainly, Joanna had the means to support Jesus’s ministry. Luke tells us she was the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household. (More on how it went over when Chuza’s boss beheaded Jesus’s cousin, John the Baptist, if Joanna makes it through to the next round.) Joanna doesn’t stop at giving money to support Jesus’s ministry, though. She follows him out of her privileged, comfortable life and into the margins. Jesus also counts on Joanna to be among the first to share the good news of his resurrection.
When she appears for the second time in Luke’s Gospel, it’s Easter morning, and Joanna is among the women who prepared and brought spices (hence the title of “myrrhbearer”) to the tomb to anoint Jesus’s body. Instead of his body, the women find two angels and the stone rolled away from the mouth of the tomb where he had been buried.
The angels repeat Jesus’s words: The Son of Man would suffer many things. He would be rejected and killed. And, on the third day, he would be raised to life. “Then they remembered his words,” Luke writes, meaning Joanna and the other women who were with Jesus when he spoke to them the first time. Jesus’s prediction of his death appears earlier in Luke’s Gospel, when he was “praying in private and his disciples were with him.” Joanna is with Jesus when he preaches to large crowds, she is with him when he prays with close friends, and she is with him to the very end.
It’s possible Jesus also counted on Joanna to help lead the early church. One scholar has argued that Joanna is the same person as Junia, who Paul describes as “outstanding among the apostles” in his letter to the Romans.
Joanna is honored as a saint in a number of Christian traditions.
Collect for Joanna the Myrrhbearer
Almighty God, who revealed the resurrection of your Son to Joanna, Mary and Salome as they faithfully came bearing myrrh to his tomb: Grant that we too may perceive the presence of the risen Lord in the midst of pain and fear, and go forth proclaiming his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Monica: Benozzo Gozzoli, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Joanna the Myrrhbearer: school of tsar’s izographs, c. 1700. Public domain
120 comments on “Monica v. Joanna the Myrrhbearer”
I was not able to vote for Joanna, couldn’t mark her circle. I was able to mark Monica’s. Joanna is winning anyway. This happens every so often for me.
As a Quaker (hope you don't mind my voting here) I found Joanna's story much like that of Margaret Fell, who, living in the 17th century, did get partial credit as co-founder of Quakerism with George Fox. She too gave up some of her privilege, while using her husband's wealth and influence to further her faith and protect the faithful. As I mentioned in a Reply, Joanna & the other women of that early time were not so much silent as unrecorded. As with Scholastica, who knows what they said, and how their ideas contributed to those that did get written down, attributed to others.
Well stated, Sasha
As long as you only vote once per match up, you are very much welcomed, as is anyone else who follows the voting rule of one person one vote.
I am so glad to see Scott looking so well! I prayed mightily for him last summer!!
With that said , I have a bone to pick with Scott. I am the keeper of the most amazing dog . George T Dog is just fine, and I am sure that he is wonderful, but my dog, Peter Tchaikovsky Puggles is THE amazing dog of all times. He become famous on the Diocese of Chicago monthly leadership videos during the pandemic, and has a gigantic fan base in Chicago, including the Diocesan staff. He is highly favored canine of The Right Reverend Paula Clark!
I think that Pete T. Puggles deserves a special shout out for his bark and snoring abilities and ever famous judgmental side-eye! Maybe there should be a special edition of "Dog. Madness" ... just saying!
Perhaps your two dogs could be the warp and the "woof" of the Lent Madness tapestry.
I had to vote for Joanna, not only because because I want to find out what happened when Herod beheaded John the Baptist. She gave up a privileged life to follow Jesus and helped to support his ministry. And this was at a time when she would never be acknowledged for all she did.
What kind of relationship, if any, do you suppose Monica had with her grandson? I have to wonder.
To the Supremes:
Your Monday Madness video showed up in my inbox this morning, Tuesday. Today’s matchup appeared at 3:43 pm, Eastern Time. I voted this morning, accessing the Tuesday matchup from the link on the right side of my screen.
No worries! Just thought you would want to know.
I am grateful to all at Forward Movement (and Tim, of course) who make Lent Madness possible.
Oh my! This is a tough one. I want to vote for both!
I can't help it. I know who Joanna is. But I can't stop reading mythbearer or myrthbearer. So I have to vote for her.
I'm very grateful when Lent Madness coaxes my muse into action, and it did so this morning, Day Five. Doubly grateful now that I'm retired from salaried priestly ministry, and intent on nurturing my poetic urges.
I've finally found some time this afternoon to put the morning's inspiration into shareable form:
The Myrrh Jar
Of course, it is considered perfume.
But we had planned it, that long-ago morning,
for its other use: to take away the smell –
if not the sting – of death.
Instead, when I got home, I put it down
on my dressing-table, in front of the mirror
next to my hairbrush and washing pitcher and bowl.
It has been there ever since; since that morning
when the whole world changed. I suppose
that might seem odd, perhaps even
irreverent. It’s not a dainty perfume bottle, after all,
but a rough clay jar, its contents
meant for burial preparations.
Sometimes I catch my husband considering it. He doesn’t
say anything. His job is stressful, his boss
bad-tempered and unpredictable – we never talk politics
or religion. He just looks at the jar, then at me, and then
looks away, pondering.
Still, all these years, morning and night, I touch
a spot of the myrrh to my forehead, and another tiny bit
just above my lips. Sometimes I put some on my
temples; sometimes even a dab beneath my dress
right over my heart.
People say that myrrh has a bitter scent. But to me
it is pure,
holy
sweetness.
Lisa Keppeler 2/28/2023
What difference does it make if Saint Monica was black? She is still a powerful prayer warrior (black, white or green), she is still the one who took her son's poor choices to heart, and who prayed and prayed for him to accept the salvation Jesus offers, perhaps she was white, perhaps Mediterranean, what does it matter?I don't care; if she were white, I am not going to stop loving her. If she were black, she will be precious to me..
Joy, I believe the comment referred to the portrait posted with the bio, which shows a light-skinned woman. Monica was from the Berber tribe in north Africa. Both she and her son would have been dark-complexioned, but many artistic renderings from over the centuries do not reflect that.
I thought the same when I saw Monica's portrait today. I had heard of Augustine in church circles but never paid any attention to the geography of "of Hippo". It was a revelation to me embarrassingly late in life that Augustine (and his family) were North African and that I should probably ditch my rather-too-pale mental image of him.
Similar situation with fully understanding that Jesus (and his family) were Jewish (and incidentally probably also of darker skin tones than the pictures I was raised with.)
My surprise may not be to my credit, but it does help me realize that yes, it matters how people are represented.
Joanna may have known Jesus but this mom is voting for the saintly mom!
Was torn today - both great choices. My first and strongest thought was Joanna- as one of the 'hidden figures' or minimally named women barley mentioned - really want to lift those women up.
I ended up voting for Monica - as a mother who knows that when you've done everything else - the only thing left is prayer. Voted in empathy remembering the many times in my child's life that the only thing I could do was put it in God's hands.
I like this method better. I can choose to see the results before or after I vote!
Hard one today. Monica was obviously dedicated to her family and her faith. Joanna the Myrrhbearer, won my vote for her leadership and her determination to stay with Jesus.
Tough choice today! In my mother role, I found Miriam Willard McKinney's words about Monica resonant, but in my self role, I wished I could be found as faithful as the women disciples, and so voted for Joanna.
Voted Monica for her persistent faith, love and commitment to her kid in the face of some pretty poor treatment. The brief time they share after he comes to his senses and stops being such a jerk to his mom is a beautiful piece of writing. (She's not doing very well today but that's ok; her defeat here will save them from the prospect of yet another mother-son battle in the next round, and their reconciliation/reunion can stand. Cue Paul Simon "...on this strange and mournful day...")
I am fascinated by the idea that Luke's Joanna might be Paul's Junia! Thanks for including that in your write-up, Emily.
Everybody should read Gnomon by Nick Harkaway to get the inside scoop on St. Augustine's girlfriend, the one with whom he had a son. Heaven forfend anybody should point out that the book is science fiction and therefore the saintly narrative might be, shudder gasp, completely made up. . . .
I guess it's pretty obvious why I voted for Joanna:-)
I also think it's about time that the supporting role of women in the life of Jesus and his ministry be highlighted. After all, if the women left the Church it would probably fall apart. Years ago I was involved as a liturgical dancer which took on the liturgical role of thurifer, so we got to fill the house with holy smoke (myrrh). I choreographed a piece for the Easter gospel of the women going to the tomb with 100 pounds of myrrh to find the stone rolled away but then they left and told no one as they danced down the aisle to the door. Which opened up the sermon - do we still head out the door and tell no one?