  urlLink God's Maternal Love by Diana Rowan : "Christian visionaries from St. Anselm and St. Mechtild to St. Catherine of Siena, even St. Augustine -- for all his misogynous moments -- have spoken of the maternal nature of God's love. Clement of Alexandria alludes to 'the milk of the father', and to 'the father's loving breasts', perhaps surprising to us.
Twelfth century Cistercian monks wrote of 'Mother Jesus' as a symbol of tenderness and supportive love. And I was surprised and touched, last Sunday here in church, to hear a parallel human theme in the exquisite Purcell anthem: 'Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem, ...for kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers...' What can this mean for us, this ancient gender-bending which could even leave us a bit uncomfortable.
One can find it in Buddhist imagery as well: the great mother protector in Tibetan Buddhism, the saviouress Tara, is often referred to as 'the female Buddha', and an embodiment of wisdom and compassion. She is said to have sprung from a single tear of grief and compassion for the sufferings of all humankind -- which fell from the eye of the great bodhisattva, Avalokiteshvara. He in turn, was an androgynous/male figure which, over the centuries and in various lands, was closely identified with the female protectress, Kuan Yin --'She who hears the cries of the world', She who comforts every grief'..." 
