“She used to be a nun,” my workmate said. I looked up from my soggy tuna salad. A woman not much older than me was at the entrance of the employee cafeteria, speaking with the shift supervisor. She stood straighter than a stop sign. Her arms remained rigid at her sides as she spoke; her hands not needing the simple comfort of a coffee mug to hold or a pocket to rest in. She wore a black pantsuit as sharply creased and polished as her stance.
“She used to be a nun?” I asked.
“What?” My workmate was distracted by his leftovers from a weekend barbecue.
“You said she used to be a nun.”
“Yeah, that’s what I heard,” he said, glancing back at the unbending woman. “Now she’s some consultant HR hired; something to do with Strategic Organizational Linguistics, whatever that means.” My workmate went back to messing with his lunch.
I never heard of a nun quitting the convent. The implications are profound if you think about it! When a nun takes her vows, she accepts a wedding band on her finger because she is literally marrying Jesus. By quitting, turning her back on her vows, she is unmarrying the one true Son of God, as the church believes. “Holy shit! She divorced Jesus Christ!” I said.
“Yeah, I guess you could look at it that way.” My workmate wasn’t as staggered by the potential repercussions of divorcing Jesus.
I was in awe of the former nun’s courage. She chose to follow an inner urge to consult in Strategic Organizational Linguistics, whatever that means, risking an eternity in the old fiery pits. I assume that would be the punishment for divorcing Jesus: eternal damnation. It’s gotta be a sin, and those Christians give no quarter to the unrepentant. But she made the leap despite the risk! I looked at her unmoving hand, and there was no wedding band on her leveled ring finger… a single woman, perhaps dating, maybe with a steady boyfriend or girlfriend, whose ex happens to be the Messiah.
In that moment, I decided to introduce myself to that iron-rod woman and try to learn everything she had to teach about Strategic Organizational Linguistics. With a bit of grace, I might learn something about courage, about following your heart and passion, and about changing your path, regardless of the risks, including being flung into Hell by a wrathful God.
She used to be a nun! Now she was a free-standing example of self-empowerment. She divorced Jesus Christ and answered her own calling. I’m sure the priests warned her what would happen if she walked away from the church and her spiritual husband. And she did it anyway. If I were the Pope, I would make her a saint, the patron saint of the boldly courageous, and I would pray to her for strength to poke in the eye all those priests who threaten eternal damnation and all those small-minded ones who seek to dominate our dreams with fear.
The shift supervisor said something funny, and the former nun laughed out loud, from her belly, softening her tautness and showing her teeth that I imagined were taking some nice bites outta the divorcée life. In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.