One person who celebrated the Divine Feminine and Sophia is the late Catholic monk Thomas Merton.
Merton, like Julian of Norwich whom he praised prodigiously, developed the theme of the “Motherhood of God.” He wrote: God is at once Father and Mother…. As Mother His shining is diffused, embracing all His creatures with merciful tenderness and light. The Diffuse Shining of God is Hagia Sophia [Holy Wisdom]. We call her His ‘glory.’ In Sophia His power is experienced only as mercy and as love.
Elaborating on the Divine Feminine, Merton went on to suggest a Quaternity rather than just a Trinity in the Godhead: Perhaps in a certain very primitive aspect Sophia [Sophia is Wisdom and is feminine] is the unknown, the dark, the nameless Ousia. Perhaps she is even the Divine Nature, One in Father, Son and Holy Ghost. And perhaps she is in infinite light unmanifest, not even waiting to be known as Light. This I do not know. Out of the silence Light is spoken. . . . In the Nameless Beginning, without beginning, was the Light. We have not seen this Beginning. I do not know where she is, in this Beginning. I do not speak of her as a Beginning, but as a manifestation.
As a monk, Merton spent hours every day and night feeding that intuitive side through prayer and chanting the wisdom scriptures such as the psalms and in meditation and contemplation and quiet, both alone and in communal ritual and ceremony.
Adapted from Matthew Fox, A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey, pp. 158f. Retrieved from this link https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org/2021/09/26/thomas-merton-on-the-divine-feminine/
Invitation: “…only as mercy and as love.”
More about Thomas Merton and his exploration of the Divine Feminine Hagia Sophia - Holy Wisdom
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This reflection is timely as it comes to us on Mother's Day. "One person who celebrated the Divine Feminine and Sophia is the late Catholic monk Thomas Merton. Merton, like Julian of Norwich whom he praised prodigiously, developed the theme of the “Motherhood of God.” Surely, God could not be just male, nor should we allow a hierarchy wherein one gender is superior to the other, or that each individual human being is binary -- either male or female, but rather we are a mysterious and wonderful mix. In my family and home, my Mom was absolutely equal to my Dad in every possible way. Her presence, voice, wisdom and contributions to the life of our family were valued, respected and appreciated alongside my Dad's. On this Mother's Day, I am grateful to have grown up and been formed by such a family and home.