I am both embarrassed and happy to admit that I stayed up until midnight on Thursday night to hear Taylor Swift’s new album The Tortured Poets Department. When I finished listening at 1:15 am, I quickly realized that another surprise was coming at 2:00 am so naturally, I stayed awake - eager to listen to new songs, new sound, and another vibey expression of Taylor’s life story. As a dedicated Swiftie, I closed my eyes and took in the words of each song. Themes of pain, struggle, rupture, repair, healing, and new love permeated the 31 songs in this new era, weaving stories and experiences from Taylor’s past and present relationships and life events.

Taylor (we’re on a first name basis) has historically written from her heart and her life. Often criticized for her blatant and obvious reference to past boyfriends, this time, Tortured Poets is not about who Taylor was in a relationship with, but rather how those relationships affected her - a reminder that the body keeps the score, and that our experiences are ultimately the moments where God is revealed to us and God remains with us.

“The Prophecy” is on the 2 a.m. edition of the album. In my listen, I hear Taylor speaking directly to God, asking why things have happened, curious about whether or not certain events could have been different. I’m emotionally attached to this album because I see it as a vulnerable expression of prayerful contemplation, of how we can sit with our thoughts and experiences and reflect on how they have shaped us, and what we can do next. I see this album as an extension of Taylor’s heart that yearns for listeners to see that she’s just like us, moving through the world and learning from mistakes.

When I sat down to write a blessing of the week, I immediately thought “well, Taylor Swift blessed my week with a new album.” But upon further thought, the blessing of this album is not only the music, but the invitation. How can we vulnerably share our experiences to express solidarity and togetherness with others? How do we love the people that we do not even know?

On Monday, April 8, 2024, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith released a declaration on human dignity entitled Dignitas Infinita (Infinity Dignity). Meant to affirm the inherent and inalienable dignity of each human person and defend their rights and freedoms, the declaration tragically fails the LGBTQ+ community – particularly transgender, nonbinary, and other gender diverse people – by clinging to long-outdated and harmful ideas of gender essentialism that particularly dismiss their lived experiences.

There is a lot at stake for women and for the Church as a whole in the choice of scripture passages we proclaim on Sundays. The ways in which we understand and know God are formed within the liturgy. What we pray and sing, as well as the stories we re-tell in public worship form and shape what we believe about God, ourselves, and our relationship to God and to one another.

Many Catholics do not realize that important stories of our foremothers in faith are excluded from or diminished in our lectionary. Catholics are deprived of learning about the gifts, grace, courage, leadership and ministry of women like Mary Magdalene, Phoebe, Junia, and Shiprah and Puah. Lifting up and telling the stories these faithful women will help Synod participants and all Catholics understand that women were and, should now be, leaders and ministers in our Church.

As we head towards the 2024 Synod, help us spread the word that women’s history is Salvation History and should be included in our lectionary!