Herself a Sign

By Mia Schilling Grogan

Herself a Sign
Luke 15:8–10

She holds the silver coin high,
her arms stretch out their aching,
the broom leans on the door jamb.

It’s exhausting to be always
looking for the lost thing,
crouching to reach beneath

the bench or slide a knife
under the fridge. Bunnies
evades the fact that mostly

we find ourselves: our skin
cells and hair returning
to the dust we’ve always been.

She found the round minted
thing that means something else,
earth refined to otherness:

at once the bread or oil
it barters for, or the dowry
that sheltered her

and, like the sheep or son,
a sinner redeemed.
She is herself a sign.

See this weary woman
at the center of rejoicing
elevating the thing we all seek:

the circle that contains
everyone, lost and found;
the coin that feeds.

Artist Statement

I wrote this poem after hearing the parable of the lost coin proclaimed in church one Sunday. This image of the woman holding up the found coin became an icon for my contemplation, suggesting to me something about the ministerial roles of women in our Church. I feel it speaks to this reflection question from the Instrumentum Laboris: 4) Most of the Continental Assemblies and the syntheses of several Episcopal Conferences call for the question of women’s inclusion in the diaconate to be considered. Is it possible to envisage this, and in what way? This poem is an exercise in such “envisaging.”

About the Artist

Mia Schilling Grogan is an associate professor of English at Chestnut Hill College. She is a medievalist who specializes in hagiography and women’s spiritual writing. Her poems have appeared in many journals including America, First Things, and Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry. In 2023 she was pleased to win third place in the Catholic Literary Arts Sacred Poetry Contest, a Laureate’s Choice award in the Maria Faust Sonnet Contest, and an Honorable Mention in the Fare Forward Poetry Competition.