A View From the Pew

Geniuses

I am somewhat of a broken record on the topic of woman's vocation. I have spoken a lot about how wife and mother are woman's primary vocation. That is pehaps because we have a "crisis of life" in our time and as women we are the ones who hold the most power in overcoming this crisis by refusing to continue to contracept abort or relinquish the care of our children to paid caregivers (all of which are attacks on our nature and our God given power).

All this talk of motherhood seems to exclude a large number of women who do not marry or have children. I asked myself how do these women live out their God given vocation. I believe all women are called to motherhood--- the difference is some are called to "spiritually" and "emotionally" mother and not bear children of their own. Also--- those of us whose children are grown and those women who have yet to marry and have children are still called to live out our primary maternal vocation. This was a confusing concept to me for a long time--- But then I discovered through the writings of John Paul II that if I think of this maternalness in even more basic terms it is easier to understand. Our late, beloved Pope spoke of the feminine and masculine geniuses. This helped me to see clearly how this maternal nature is lived out in the world beyond the family.

We are made in God's image--- I learned to say the Shema when I converted to Judaism--- the prayer is recited by Jews three times a day --- the beginning of which found in Mark chapter 12:

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one"

God is one--- but yet He is three persons--- "man" is one nature but made of two types of persons--- one male the other female--- we were made for each other and are called to unity--- to become one flesh--- different ---but yet this difference unites us in one flesh--- In Ephesians chapter 5 St. Paul refers to this as a "great mystery" that is somehow linked to the Great Mystery that is God. Man has his "genius" and woman has hers--- The feminine genius is receptivity---biological, emotional and spiritual. The Blessed Virgin is the perfect example of feminine genius. She accepted God's invitation---she was not forced or coerced--- and She received into herself---God made Man. Woman's physical design is to receive--- it is built into our very being. And to be fully feminine our hearts and souls must be receptive as well.

Having the ability to welcome life within her own body makes woman more aware of the inner life of others. Before the world knows the person she carries within her she already is attuned to its needs as well as carrying hope for its future---because of this inward focus she has a natural yearning to nudge those around her to grow interiorly as well as to build and nuture relationships. She has an innate ability to see beyond the exterior and look into the deepest needs of the heart---she doesn't seperate outward appearances from the inner person. A woman living fully from this receptivity to the life in and around her can have tremendous impact and profound influence on public life and policy.

One more thought before I pack it in for the night--- St Irenaeus said "the glory of God is man fully alive". That reminded me of that somewhat troublesome passage in I Corinthians chapt 11 where St Paul says that man should not cover his head----

"because he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the
glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man;
nor was man created for woman, but woman for man.

I admit that I found it hard to swallow for a long time--- but I am beginning to have a deeper understanding of it--- I don't know what the official interpretation would be but today it says something very different to me then it did when I first heard it years ago. Woman is the archetype (the "glory"?) of "man" ---she symbolizes the bride of Christ--- the Church--- woman embodies in a very concrete physical way how mankind is to receive God's life --- In her creation she is a living example to man on how to be "bride" to Christ. Receptivity is not natural to man--- he must learn it. So when it says woman was made for man-- in the original sense--- before the fall--- it was not as a subserviant creature to be his helper purely on the physical plane but as an equal--- a helpmate--- Adam could not understand himself--- his masculine nature--- without woman--- he could not be as St Irenaeus said "fully alive" without her. Through woman man learned what being made in God's image as a man means--- and through woman he learns how to receive divine life within........Just a thought rattling around in my head today that I thought I would share---

Determining humanity's destiny

This past Sunday we went to the parish here in town. It is a small town parish and every so often when plans make it difficult for us to drive the extra half an hour to the parish we belong to we will go to Mass here. Sunday we were fortunate to witness a baptism. Being a smaller parish they have their baptisms during Sunday Mass. It was for the fourth child (third son) of a lovely young couple. They stood in front of the congregation and they were beaming. Everyone was dressed up in what were obviously their “Sunday morning clothes” --- nothing real fancy just neat, clean and respectful attire. The three older siblings (I would say ranging in age from 2-5 years) behaved perfectly--- obviously accustomed to being in church. As Fr. T. poured the water over their infant son’s head tears welled up in both his parents eyes--- their joy was obvious. They were truly present--- it was easy to see this wasn’t just a ceremony to them---it wasn’t a routine milestone along the road--- like baby’s first portrait--- or his one month check up--- it wasn’t just a party either. I could not only see but I could feel the depth of their commitment as Christian parents. The love of Christ radiated from this young family--- I am not exaggerating when I say I was deeply moved and honored to be able to witness and participate in their special day.

I have not stopped thinking about it since---not only did it renew in me a sense of hope and awe--- it has provided me with some profound insights as to why the great spiritual battle of our day is being waged in the arena of human sexuality.

Contraception, abortion, divorce, homosexual "marriage", reproductive and embryonic research and technology, genetic engineering--- Satan will try anything to disrupt or diminish what I witnessed at mass Sunday--- What I witnessed was Satan’s worst nightmare and our greatest hope. Many times I have heard comments about how the Church is just a bunch of repressed, celibate men “obsessed” with sex who are trying to impose their archaic and “unhealthy” ideas on others. I would suggest that if it seems that the Church is “obsessed” with sex it has little to do with the fact that the Church hierarchy is made up of celibate men and more to do with the fact that from the beginning---even when they may not have had depth of understanding or the ability to always articulate this truth well--- through the Holy Spirit they have nonetheless always understood that sex is something holy--- and not just between human beings but something intimately bound up in our relationship to God as well as one another--- it is deeply related to creation and revelation. Our bodies and our sexuality reveal sacred truths about God, about human nature and about our relationship to God. It is through our bodies that we fulfill God’s commands--- the first to Adam and Eve being---“be fruitful and multiply.” This isn’t just a quaint explanation of why the earth is populated with so many people--- it is a divine command and the primary purpose, for which we were created, second only to loving and obeying God.

If it seems the Church is obsessed with human sexuality it is only because it is so central to our being that it is a primary path that can lead to either our redemption or our destruction. Our sexuality can either lead us on a path of holiness to God or it can be our damnation. We have the witness of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Greeks, the Romans--- cultures lost--- which were rife with sexual deviation--- their history tells us that sexual deviancy leads to corrupt societies--- Acceptance of sexual deviation is the signal sign of a failing culture.

I am fascinated by how the Holy Spirit will throw seemingly unrelated things at us in a way that precipitates an awakening or understanding of some deeper wisdom. Such has happened to me recently. A while ago I read John Paul the Great’s Letter on the Dignity and Vocation of Women --- it is there that I found this statement that he took from the Closing Message of the Second Vatican Council:

"The hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at this moment when the human race is undergoing so deep a transformation, women imbued with a spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling."

When I first read it--- it stopped me in my tracks--- It sounded so urgent and powerful but I was at a complete loss as to how we women were to accomplish such an important and daunting task. I wasn’t even sure of what exactly it meant--- but somehow I knew in the very depths of my heart it was profoundly important and pertinent to our times. Understanding it and acting on it has become some what of an obsession for me.

This is how I began plumbing the depths of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, Love and Responsibility and then after reading references by John Paul to her works I began reading the writing of St. Edith Stein. In one essay St. Edith, being born a Jewess spoke of how she was raised understanding that all the women of Israel saw their vocation as bringing forth children who would see the day of salvation. Through this understanding a link was made between the Fall and Redemption. As woman was the first to be tempted so did God’s message of grace come first to a woman. St. Edith then said something that struck me deeply--- speaking of this connection she said that “each time woman’s assent determined the destiny of humanity as a whole.” Wow! Stop and reread that a few times--- let it sink in. The assent was acted out through maternity--- bringing forth those who would “see” the day of salvation--- it was this link of one generation to the next in Israel that culminated in the our Lady’s fiat, that as God promised, brought salvation to earth through the birth of His Son Jesus Christ. It is through woman’s innate vocation to motherhood that the destiny of humanity was and continues to be determined. This vocation to determine the destiny of humanity through the “assent” of woman did not terminate with the birth of our Lord. For if woman does not assent to that which she was designed in God’s plan--- The Body of Christ on earth will wither--- the Church will die--- without the Church how is salvation mediated to future generations? Suddenly--- the image of Revelation chapter 12 --- the Serpent who waits before the Woman to devour her child seems relevant to our culture--- the Woman especially in this particular instance has been has traditionally been identified with both the Church as well as Mary --- a contracepting Church (supposedly ¾ of American Catholics contracept) is a Church that is dying---

Just recently I happened to hear a hymn that I had never heard before. I fell in love with it. It is based on the Magnificat and it is called “The Canticle of the Turning”.  One verse tied all this together for me.  It goes:

“Though I am small my God, my All you work great things in me. And your mercy will last from the depths of the past to the end of the age to be”

God’s Mercy came to earth through Mary--- it continues on Earth til the end of this age through the Body of Christ--- the Church--- children born and raised in the faith (woman’s primary vocation)  keep the Body of Christ alive on earth in each generation---- extending salvation to all people in all times.  The refrain of the song goes like this:

“My heart shall sing of the day you’ll bring, let the fires of your justice burn. Wipe away all tears for the dawn draws near and the world is about to turn.”

How will our world turn? Now go back to those comments from the Second Vatican Council where women are implored to live their vocation and with it achieve their true power. It is this feminine power which the world desperately needs and that the council is calling forth. The Council Fathers through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is imploring women to help save a failing humanity.  Every woman is called to motherhood---whether physical or spiritual--- it is the nature of our being--- the foundation of our vocation. Reality is that the ultimate responsibility for changing our current “culture of death” rests squarely on each individual woman’s decision to either embrace life or reject it--- to accept the power given to her by God --- or to trade it for the power given by the world. It is each individual woman’s choices that have the power to restore families ----and so in restoring families renewing the Church--- it is the domestic church that generates vocations and passes on the faith--- it is faith in Christ that determines the destiny of humanity. The family--- the domestic church--- is the unique realm of feminine influence and power--- it is not surprising then that it is here that Satan has waged his spiritual battle.

So---- that woman that stood before the congregation with her husband and children---despite what we may perceive with our “worldly vision”--- her meek appearance and quiet demeanor is imbued with tremendous power--- through her assent and God’s grace she is determining the destiny of humanity.

The cracks in the foundation are showing

I remember the stare I got from a woman on the same committee as me when at a meeting not too long ago I dared to comment that i believed that a woman's innate maternal qualities are essential for the stability of society. That women are the "govenors" or tamers of the aggressive tendencies in males --- if you will the ones who show men the value of nurturing and love in interpersonal relationships--- I believe men are by nature (survival depended on it) more competitive and aggressive--- but left unchecked it can lead to violence. She didn't say it but I knew what she was thinking--- that I was hopelessly sexist.  Then I read this article yesterday and quite frankly I was shocked that a secular media source printed it. The article entitled "Bad girls go wild" describes how experts are alarmed by the burgeoning crises of violent girls. One section states:

"Schoolyards, where boy bullies once reigned supreme, are increasingly arenas for skirmishes between girls. "There are actually more physical girl fights now than between boys," says Bill Bond, a former school principal in Paducah, Ky., who travels the country studying safety issues for the National Association of Secondary School Principals. "I was just on a Cheyenne reservation yesterday and the principal said he had had one fight this year between boys and six between girls." Jennifer Clayton, 14, was beaten up in May by three other girls as she walked home from her school in Guelph, Ont. "I could hear them saying, 'Punch her in the face'," she told the local newspaper."

But what really surprised me was the analysis on the second page of the article where the author states:

"Part of this spike in violence is related to evolving sex roles. Historically, boys have received messages from the culture that connect masculinity with physical aggression, while girls received opposite messages, encouraging passivity and restraint. Now girls are barraged with images of "sheroes"—think Sydney Bristow on ABC's "Alias" or Uma Thurman's the Bride in "Kill Bill: Vol. 2"—giving them a wider range of role models and tacit permission to alter their behavior. Accordingly, says Spivak, some girls have "shifted from internalizing anger to striking out.

The women's movement, which explicitly encourages women to assert themselves like men, has unintentionally opened the door to girls' violent behavior. "I was at a JV lacrosse game, watching my granddaughter. We cheered like hell because she was being aggressive on the field," says Joan Jacobs Brumberg, professor of history, human development and gender studies at Cornell. "I don't want to blame women's liberation for violence among girls," cautions Brumberg, but "traditional femininity and passivity are no longer valued in young females."

It will be interesting to see if there is any response from NOW with regard to the comments in the article. Of course keeping true to form later the author says that feminists shouldn't be blamed and said it is more likely from the violence around them:

Research suggests that the best predictor of violent behavior, however—for girls and for boys—is not hours logged playing videogames or competitive pressure, but firsthand exposure to violent behavior. And social scientists warn that the number of children who see guns, fights and other kinds of physical abuse on a day-to-day basis is on the rise."

Seeing guns???? I love it! Blame it on the guns--- not on the individuals---- the big question remains why the rise in violence--- seeing a gun doesn't cause violence--being subjected to violence whether it is a gun, fist fight or knife fight---is the problem and the question is what changes in our society have lead to the increase in violent BEHAVIOR.

I think it has more to do with the collapse of family life, women being too busy or too disinterested to mother, fathers being too busy or to disinterested to father, runaway materialism, a culture that does not respect life and objectifies and "consumerizes" people--- but instead secular culture will do what it always does--- look for the easy answer--blame it on guns, music, games, movies--- don't dare look inward or ask the really difficult questions---

Then for the other side of this whacked world here is this story: Move over Rambo, you're cramping new man's style

From the article:

"The masculine ideal is being completely modified. All the traditional male values of authority, infallibility, virility and strength are being completely overturned," said Pierre Francois Le Louet, the agency's managing director.

Instead today's males are turning more towards "creativity, sensitivity and multiplicity," as seen already in recent seasons on the catwalks of Paris and Milan.

Arnold Schwarznegger and Sylvester Stallone are being replaced by the 21st-century man who "no longer wants to be the family super-hero", but instead has the guts to be himself, to test his own limits.

"We are watching the birth of a hybrid man. ... Why not put on a pink-flowered shirt and try out a partner-swapping club?" asked Le Louet, stressing that the study had focused on men aged between 20 and 35."

Now isn't that just peachy?!? How much more self centered and narcisisstic can we become?

What makes Christianity different---

Peruvian cardinal rips hedonism, neo-paganism

"There is a massive process of de-Christianization which harms women most of all. The Church prays for women and preaches the doctrine of the sacrament of matrimony which cannot change to follow the fashions or ideological currents of today which are, sad to say, neo-pagan."

Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani

Seems Satan realizes how important women are in God's plan. The comment by Cardinal Cipriani sort of explains not only secular culture's attack on women but also why it seems women's religious orders are so decimated by feminist/pagan thought. I know with every fiber of my being that the restoration of Western culture will come only when there is a (Catholic) Christian centered understanding of personhood. It is the philosophy of secular egalitarianism that has reduced the value of a person to nothing more then what they do and how productive they are--especially financially. This is why Satan had to convince women that they were nothing unless they worked outside the home, unless they makes as much money and have as much political power as men. This is why we were told that we were being oppressed if we did nothing more then be a wife and mother--- This is why reproduction must be curtailed--- why babies must be killed in their mother's womb-- motherhood threatens, according to secular philosophy anyway, the ability of women to achieve material, social/political and intellectual power and success.

Instead of women demanding that they be allowed to fight on the front lines with men, or girls be allowed to compete on the boy's wrestling/football/rugby team, or scripture be rewritten in "inclusive" language or that women be ordained we should be demanding that society give up the one-sided and purely patriarchal concepts of success, power, and social status. Women need to understand that to embrace secular feminism is to embrace the very ideals that have oppressed them all along--- we are not being liberated we are simply being enticed into accepting the male defined social "ideals". We are square pegs being forced into round holes--- pretending all the while that it is a perfect fit. One look at the "health" of women, children and society today tells us how destructive this lie has been.

Women are twice as likely as men to suffer from a major depression and more young women are depressed then older women. Depression, suicide, alcoholism, and drug abuse have steadily increased among women over the past several decades. Due to divorce and unwed motherhood poverty has increased among women and children and in this country single moms make up the largest group living below the poverty level. These days women are more likely to be less satisfied with their physical appearance and feel increasingly pressured to "perfect" themselves through cosmetic procedures. Even teen age girls are buying bigger breasts. Popular media, business and culture has created a thriving market that objectifies and exploits women and girls.

In the past years we have teen girls and young women obsessed with physical appearances who now worship 'Ana', children and teens who are depressed and suicidal in ever increasing numbers (suicide in children has increased 300% since the 1950's), we have promiscuity, pregnancy, and violence increasingly a part of child/teen life. In fact just a couple weeks ago there was a twelve year old girl who stabbed a fellow classmate in the back with a kitchen knife because he broke up with her--- this at the junior high school my own children attended. This school is in a community of homes that range from $400,000- 1.5 million --- where both parents are usually successful professionals and where the kids have received the best opportunities that money can buy.

Women instead should be demanding that they be valued for their innate and unique feminine gifts--- which the errors of secular culture are quickly proving are essential for the well-being and stability of human society. Women and men, each with their unique "genius", were created in the image and likeness of God and it is secular culture which must change its understanding and philosophy of equality--- not the Church. It is this very issue that will prove that not only was John Paul II one of the greatest popes ever, as well as one of the greatest reformers of the Church but also perhaps the greatest influence in the liberation of women.

The First Sin and Woman

Did you ever have an experience where you will hear or see something and suddenly the world makes more sense? It is like finding the missing puzzle piece and suddenly the whole puzzle falls into place and understanding washes over you like a giant wave. Just recently I was reading “Crossing the Threshold of Hope” written by John Paul II. I had read it before but I felt compelled to read it again as we went through the days before his death. This time one comment of the Holy Father’s suddenly grabbed my attention and in that instant I was given a whole new understanding of humanity and the current state of the world particularly our American culture. The comment can be found on page 228.

He was speaking about the agelessness of the father-son paradigm and the rays of fatherhood contained within the Trinitarian mystery of God Himself. A mystery which has illuminated human history. He says these rays of fatherhood meet their first resistance in the “obscure but real fact of original sin”. Then he goes on to say:

This is truly the key interpreting reality. Original sin is not only the violation of a positive command of God but also, above all a violation of the will of God as expressed in that command. Original sin attempts, then, to abolish fatherhood… placing in doubt the truth about God who is love and leaving man with only the sense of a master-slave relationship..."

Those words blew through my mind like a breeze that clears away the fog on an early summer morning.

Going back to Genesis 3:1-6:

The serpent asked the woman, "Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden? "The woman answered the serpent: "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.'" But the serpent said to the woman: "You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad."  The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it."

Our first parents only had to stretch out their hands and receive from God all that they needed but instead they chose to doubt God’s providential love and care and grasped for divinity themselves. The CCC says in chapt 398:

In that sin (lack of trust in God’s goodness) man preferred himself to God and by that very act scorned him. He chose himself over and against God, against the requirements of his creaturely status and therefore against his own good. Constituted in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully "divinized" by God in glory. Seduced by the devil, he wanted to "be like God," but "without God, before God, and not in accordance with God."

In this lies the denial of God’s gift to man and denial of his receptivity before God. Man sets himself up as the initiator of his existence and grasps at what God wanted to give him freely. I understood original sin in a generic way as simply doubting God’s goodness and refusing to receive the gift by choosing our own will over His. Yet I know that there was some specific act committed by Adam and Eve that is symbolized by the eating of the fruit. I have often wondered what that first sinful act was and why the serpent chose to approach Eve rather then Adam.

The comment by John Paul II that I quoted earlier gave me a new lens with which to view that first rebellious act. Applying the nuptial imagery that fills sacred scripture to the dynamics of original sin it is the bridegroom’s masculine constitution to initiate the gift and the bride’s feminine constitution to receive it. So in the scriptures it is God symbolically masculine as the bridegroom and man (male and female together) symbolically feminine as the bride which finds its fulfillment in the relationship of Christ to the Church.

So staying with this nuptial imagery of original sin it is ultimately man’s (the bride) rejection of receptivity in relation to the Bridegroom. In this reality it becomes easier to understand why the serpent approached Eve. Simply, as the one who embodies receptivity woman stands as the archetype of all humanity.

Going back to the words of John Paul II that original sin is the attempt to abolish fatherhood it would seem that the sinful act that precipitated the fall was a sexual act in which Eve rejected the complete gift of her bridegroom. In other words they engaged in a sexual act devoid of the possibility of conception.

If we go back to Genesis and the creation story in chapter 2:25 it says after Adam and Eve were created:

"The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.”

But then in continuing on in Genesis chapter 3:7 after Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil :

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.”

In their original innocence when Adam and Eve looked on each other’s nakedness there was no shame because there was no lust. They saw each other as God had intended. The joy expressed by Adam when he first saw Eve--- “this one at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” was in finding another who was equal to him--- a true partner and the nakedness of their bodies spoke the language of the gift of love and life which was given to them by God.

(It is interesting to note here that in Genesis chapter 1:28 God’s first command to Adam and Eve is to "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.”)

When they engaged in a sexual act that denied the fullness of the gift they began to see each other as a means to an end--- sexual union for the sake of personal sexual gratification rather then a sacrificial gift of self to the other. With this in mind the curses spoken of by God in Chapter 3:16-19 are not so much a punishment meted out by God as they are understood to be the consequences of the misuse of their sexuality. What God is saying to Eve is that her “urge” for her husband, now disordered by original sin will not only bring her the pain, suffering and dependence of child bearing but also make her subject to him and his disordered urges. The same is true of the curses spoken to Adam. It is these disordered urges that disfigure the original innocence which Adam and Eve had looked upon one another.

The shame they feel as they become aware of their nakedness is due to the fact that now their nakedness has become a sign of their disordered urges and their disobedience to God. They no longer see themselves as it was originally intended as a “sacramental” sign of God’s freely given gift of love and life --- through the lens of original sin they now see each other as objects to be used to meet their disordered needs and desires.

Anthropological realities have made this loss of original innocence historically a greater burden for women because the primary feminine constitution of receptivity makes them more vulnerable physically, emotionally and socially. Disordered by original sin, historically, mankind has viewed this as a sign that women are weaker and less capable then men and ultimately this has manifested in social structures that institutionalized masculine ideals of success and power further oppressing women.

Secular feminism has justifiably fought for the liberation of women from these historically oppressive social ideals. While their intentions were honorable the means they employed have been more destructive then productive for both women as well as society. The reason for this is that secular feminist thought is based on the oldest lie known to mankind. It is based on the lie that began in the garden.

The cornerstone of modern secular feminism is “reproductive rights” which is a more socially palatable way of describing abortion and contraception. What more are abortion and contraception except an attempt at the abolition of fatherhood---which is the reality of Adam and Eve’s original sin. In John Paul II’s "Theology of the Body” he explains how the human person is a sacrament. Sacraments are physical signs that make present invisible realities. Contraception, abortion, and euthanasia are “sacraments” of our current “culture of death”. Pornography, sexual exploitation of women and children, divorce, genetic engineering, cloning, all forms of violence including war are all the result of the dehumanizing effects that stem from viewing the human person as an object whose value is determined by how useful they are to others in society.

Even the cry from some Catholics for the ordination of women is just another attempt at the abolition of fatherhood and the extension of the idea that all people are replacable because it is what they do and not who they are that is important--- human beings are reduced to a function rather then a whole person.

Without understanding the truth of what God has revealed about the true dignity and value of woman it is impossible for women to be truly liberated. The only place where this truth can be found is in the teaching of the Catholic Church. Just as it is easy to misunderstand Eve’s role in the fall of man it is easy to misunderstand what the Church teaches without understanding the depth of the dignity and esteem with which the Church holds woman.

Eve was approached by the serpent not because she was weak and stupid. He chose Eve because he knew God’s plan for woman. In Genesis 3:15 known as the “Proto-evangelium", God reveals this when He says to the serpent:

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel."

God reveals that evil will be crushed by the offspring of the Woman . It will be through the perfect expression of the Woman’s (Mary’s) femininity that salvation will come into the world. While this is a prophecy that points to Jesus Christ being born of Mary, every woman’s motherhood is an earthly sign that points to this invisible reality. God also makes clear that the battle between good and evil will be related to the woman and her offspring.

It is based on this that Edith Stein, considered on of the greatest philosophers and feminists in Europe in the early 1900’s and later Catholic martyr at Auschwitz (canonized recently by John Paul II), said in her “Essays on Woman” that woman will always set the quality of a given time acting either as the “demon of the abyss” or as a savior of the life around her. Through her writings she portrays a unique redemptive role of woman in society. She believed that God battles evil through a woman’s maternal love and that this power is independent of her marital status or physical maternity and that it is something that must be extended to all areas of life and to whomever woman comes in contact with.

John Paul II trained in phenomenology the same school of philosophical thought as St. Edith Stein echoes her thoughts in his Apostolic Letter "Mulieris Dignitatem" when he says:

“That ancient serpent" (Rev 12:9), already known from the Proto-evangelium: the Evil One, the "father of lies" and of sin (cf. Jn 8:44). The "ancient serpent" wishes to devour "the child." While we see in this text an echo of the Infancy Narrative (cf. Mt 2:13-16), we can also see that the struggle with evil and the Evil One marks the biblical exemplar of the "woman" from the beginning to the end of history. It is also a struggle for man, for his true good, for his salvation. Is not the Bible trying to tell us that it is precisely in the "woman"-Eve-Mary-that history witnesses a dramatic struggle for every human being, the struggle for his or her fundamental "yes" or "no" to God and God's eternal plan for humanity?”

Woman has the responsibility as the archetype of human receptivity to teach mankind how to be bride to the Bridegroom. This is demonstrated in the marital union where out of love for the other she freely and completely gives herself to him and then willingly accepts the entire gift he has to offer her "yes" In using artificial contraception the couple distort the truth of who they are as human persons in relation to one another and to God. It is this age old battle begun in the garden--- the same battle with the serpent who works to abolish God’s Fatherhood from the beginning of the created world to its end.

Eve was not approached by Satan in the garden because she was a weak and easy mark but rather because of the centrality woman has to the salvation of man. She was targeted precisely because of her importance in God’s plan. The fact that sacred scripture is begun and ended with the image of Satan battling the woman underscores her importance. Without the Woman’s “yes” (Luke 1:38) salvation could not take flesh on earth. Without that same yes through each generation until the end of time salvation cannot continue. It was Mary’s fiat--- her total self giving in faith and trust to God that allowed the Savior to be formed in her womb. It is the yes of women today, especially Catholic women that will allow salvation to continue until the end of time.

It is more then just bringing children into the world. They must be raised in an environment where every human life is welcomed and valued regardless of its physical beauty or its functionality. Children must be raised in an environment that holds every human being in higher regard then it does material possessions or social power and status.

John Paul continues on in Mulieris Dignitatem saying:

"The moral and spiritual strength of a woman is joined to her awareness that God entrusts the human being to her in a special way….In our own days too the Church is constantly enriched by the witness of the many women who fulfill their vocation to holiness. Holy women are an incarnation of the feminine ideal; they are also a model for all Christians, a model of the "sequela Christi," an example of how the Bride must respond with love to the love of the Bridegroom."

Without this witness human society is doomed. It is the broad acceptance by society of the contraceptive mindset that destroys woman’s true vocation, dignity and power and keeps women and society chained to the purely masculine ideals of success, status and power. A society that embraces contraception does not value and respect women nor does it value and respect human life and it also ultimately leads to the rejection God. One need only to look at western culture to see the proof.

Once Christian but now largely secular not only has Christianity been dying but in Europe one country after another is facing social crises caused by declining birth rates and aging populations. In some countries, like Italy, death rates exceed birth rates and social systems face collapse as the pool of workers continue to shrink.

Quite prophetically the documents of the Second Vatican Council declare in its Closing Message:

"The hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at this moment when the human race is undergoing so deep a transformation, women imbued with a spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling."

John Paul II in his audiences and various writings has implored women to bring to the Church and the world the gift of their “feminine genius”. The dehumanization of humanity can only be stopped by women who wholly embrace their feminine genius and live it authentically and radically in every state of life.

Until society realizes that its very existence and salvation depends on woman’s physical and spiritual fertility as well as her maternal love and care there will never be equality. When the vocation of wife and mother is held by society in the same esteem as a CEO of an international corporation, or a brain surgeon, judge or a president or prime minister only then can there be equality. When a woman’s fertility and maternity are seen as an asset as opposed to an obstacle or liability then women will be equal. Women ultimately are the ones that must reject the culture of death by refusing to continue to contracept and abort. Whether women believe it or not they are part of the ongoing battle between good and evil that began with Eve and the serpent and will continue until the end of time. As women we can choose either to perpetuate the lie or we can choose to restore the truth.In that choice lies the ultimate destiny of humanity. Now that is power.

Oreo cookies and women priests

Since it appears the cacophony of voices telling the next pope what he must do to make American Catholics "happy" seems to be increasing rather then dying down--- I have decided to present the side you will not see anywhere else if all you do is read the mainstream press.

First of all --- the issue of women priests. Believe it or not this issue has been definitively answered already. From the ruckus that continues ad nauseum with this regard you would never know this. In ORDINATIO SACERDOTALIS which is the Apostolic Letter that specifically addressed the ordination of women Pope John Paul II said:

4. Although the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone has been preserved by the constant and universal Tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the Magisterium in its more recent documents, at the present time in some places it is nonetheless considered still open to debate, or the Church's judgment that women are not to be admitted to ordination is considered to have a merely disciplinary force.

Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.

John Paul II's letter was written specifically to address the on-going debate and put an end to it. And he says clearly that it cannot be done without altering the Church's "divine constitution" itself--- no man--- no pope has the authority to allow women priests--- and folks that IS the final answer.

You will also notice that he says that this is not merely a "disciplinary" matter. So what does that mean? What that means is that it isn't just an issue of an unyielding patriarchy bent on oppressing women--- or that the church has a poor opinion of the capabilities of women--- or that the pope just wants the priesthood to remain a "good ol' boys club"--- or that women are best kept barefoot and pregnant--- although this is what you will see cited in most reports---- There are real reasons that go beyond what is just church discipline in the matter. It goes to the very nature of human beings.

In Genesis chapter two we see that man is created in a particular way--- the creature man was created as male and female--- in the image and likeness of God. What this means is that our human design tells us something about God. First we know that God is a community of persons yet one in being--- and so is man. Each person of the Trinity is whole and distinct---yet each fully possesses the Divine Nature and each acts as God in their own way. The Son cannot be the Father and the Father cannot be the Son--the same with the Holy Spirit.

So it is with human beings. Mankind is male and female. Man and woman are complete persons and both fully possess the same human nature but just as the Son is not the Father--- so the man is not the woman. Just as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are equal in their Divinity--- so are man and woman equal in their humanity. Equal but different. Mankind most fully images God in the nuptial union of man and woman--- a true community of persons bound by love--- a love that produces new life --- The Father in total self giving to the Son--- The Son in total self giving to the Father brought forth the Spirit who gives new life to mankind-----So it is mirrored in mankind through the nuptial union of man and woman who in total self-giving bring forth new life as well. The spiritual reality of Trinitarian life is demonstrated by the creation of mankind as male and female yet one "in the image and likeness of God".

What makes human beings different from all the other creatures created by God is that we are embodied souls. We are not spirits that live in a body suit that has no relation to our being. The fact that we are resurrected in our bodies means that the relationship of our souls to our bodies is not meaningless. Since our bodies and souls are one we are feminine and masculine from the spiritual perspective as well. Being made male and female does not just pertain to our earthly bodies--- it pertains to our whole being. 

So--- if Satan wanted to blaspheme God and destroy His creation what would he do. He cannot change reality--- but he can manipulate our perception of the truth. Secular society has spent decades now trying to destroy the idea that men and women are different. Modern thought on gender is that it is formed by social conditioning--- it is more "nurture" then "nature". Mothers and fathers don't matter as long as a child has "parents". The natural attributes and assets of each gender are replaced with utilitarian androgyny. So rather then an equality based on complementarity of differences we have attempted equality based on a competitiveness sameness. Women must try to be more like men and men must try to get in touch with their "feminine side". This diminishes the dignity of both men and women (particularly women because our society places a higher value on masculine attributes for measuring success and power). What this has lead to is an equality based on what we do not who we are--- this is a lie and it is doomed to fail because dignity and equality are based on our being--- not on the functions we perform in society. A woman becoming a firefighter does not make her equal to a man--- she is equal simply by virtue of her creation in the image and likeness of God.

The irony here is that modern feminism has further enslaved women to the tyranny of the "patriarchy" they constantly decry by accepting the  patrimonial definition of power and success rather then elevating cultural appreciation and acceptance of what is innately and uniquely feminine.

Back to the priesthood--- People--- Jesus Christ was a man. This FACT cannot be dismissed as irrelevant as so many feminist theologians are want to do. Also God didn't make the Christ a man simply because he would be more readily accepted by first century society (as so many feminist theologians insist you believe). From Genesis creation accounts we know that our gender transcends earthly life and thus has meaning even beyond this world. God is Father because "generation" is the primary male principle---- God "generates" the universe from nothing. Receptivity is the primary female principle--- that is why God's plan required the receptiveness of the Virgin of Nazareth in order to give the Son human flesh and so eternally uniting God and man. A women can no more be a priest then a man can be a mother.

The problem is that most people---unfortunately even Catholics--- look at the priesthood as a job. If something is just a job which is nothing more then performing certain tasks--- then there is no reason that a qualified woman or man could not perform that "job". The priesthood is not a job--- it is not just a series of tasks that need to be done. That is why I used motherhood as a comparison--- being a mother is not a job. It is more then wiping noses, feeding children or disciplining and teaching them. There are nannies and teachers who perform those tasks and they often are not mothers themselves. Also there are women that give birth and then give up their children--- yet even though they perform none of the tasks associated with motherhood--- they are still a mother. So you see being a mother is not what a person does--- it is who a person is--- and that person is always a woman.

The same is true of the priesthood. Jesus is a man. When it comes to the Mass and the sacraments the priest stands in for Christ--- he is "in persona Christi"--- Christ's manhood was not incidental to his personhood or his priesthood--- his manhood was a actual and vital element. As qualified as a woman maybe she cannot be a man and the Church has no authority to assume that Christ's manhood is irrelevant to the priesthood. It is not that the Church doesn't want to ordain women--- or that women are not good enough to be priests--- the issue is that there is no way to know for sure that when a bishop lays his hands on a woman to ordain her that the sacrament will be valid--- what good would it do---and even more important what harm would it do if the church had people acting as priests who were not? If that were the case the sacraments they perform would be meaningless--- and souls could be lost forever. The power of the Church is in Christ and God works through the sacraments--- render the sacraments impotent and then the church becomes impotent--- who would that benefit?

So where do the Oreo cookies come in--- In order for sacraments to be valid there must be valid form---the minister of the sacrament reciting the correct "formula"--- most often the priest but it could be a deacon--- or in the case of marriage-- the man and woman getting married. There must be the correct matter. For the Eucharist there must be unleavened  bread made with wheat flour and nothing else--- and wine made from the juice of grapes and the priest (who is the minister of the sacrament) must have the intention of confecting the sacrament. That means that a priest could recite the Eucharistic prayers all day long over a plate of Oreos and a chalice of milk and it would not become the Eucharist--- no matter what his intent was (it is invalid matter)--- in the same way a deacon could not take a plate of communion wafers and a chalice of wine and say the Eucharistic prayers with full intent and confect the Eucharist--- he is not a priest --- nor could a priest take the wafers and wine and make up his own Eucharistic prayers (these are invalid form)--- So it is with ordaining women--- A bishop could perform the sacrament perfectly--- but if a woman isn't the right "matter" she will not become a priest--- it is not the choice of the Church it is the choice of Christ --- he chose the "matter" or the "signs" for the sacraments and it is through him that they work--- that is why the Church speaks sincerely when the Pope said that it has no authority to ordain women--- and it is the exact same principle behind the bishop in NJ who ruled that a little girls First Communion was invalid because the pastor of her church took it upon himself to use a rice wafer for her First Communion. He wasn't punishing the girl or being unreasonable--- he was being a conscientious shepherd--- the girl was not receiving the Eucharist--- she was receiving a rice wafer--- and nothing more. It was his duty to let her family know she did not receive Christ---- it was not his decision that made it invalid--- it never was valid to begin with--- So it would be with women priests...

I'm done--- for today anyway!

Advent & feminism---

I know--- that is kind of an odd paring of concepts. But that is where my reflection has taken me. As a Catholic, Advent brings contemplation of Mary, the mother of Jesus. I heard a contemporary song written about her. It is a song that repeatedly asks the question "Mary, did you know?" It describes some typical scenes of motherhood--- holding a newborn in your arms, helping with baby's first steps, comforting a child with a skinned knee--- and then after each asks Mary if she knew this child of hers would save the whole world, including her, from our own darkness--- doing so with the sacrificial offering of his life. Having been granted the privilege of motherhood myself these images resonate very deeply in me. It is so easy to forget that Mary was a woman, certainly the most important, extrodinary and most holy of all women ever--- but still a woman and a mother having the same emotions and feelings as every mother has watching her child grow up--- She loved Jesus in an intimate, personal way that no other person could possibly understand. When one considers their relationship it is easy to focus on her as the one with the needs and weaknesses--she was only human---whereas her Son was truly God and truly man. Omnipotent and omniscient--- Yet there is something here we do not often think about. Jesus possessed fully two natures---human and divine. One did not cancel out the other. So, except for sin, Jesus experienced all the same needs and limitations we all do as the result of our human nature. That means, just like every other human being he was fully and completely dependent on the love and care of his mother for the first years of his life.

Now it is really easy to move right past this concept without stopping to consider the deeper implications. I know that I did for most of my life. There is something very profound here that never occured to me until just recently. God honors and values the vocation of women in a very exalted manner--- unparalleled in all of creation. God--- the creator of the universe, the one who willed it into existence from nothing and whose will holds it all in existence still--- CHOSE to be born of a woman. He undoubtedly could have incarnated in any manner he's God! --- but he chose to become flesh in the womb of a woman, he chose to be nourished at a woman's breast. He chose to submit himself completely to the care and nurture of a human mother. God did not have to do this--- he CHOSE to do it. Why? This question has been the source of endless hours of contemplation on my part. Why have women, both virgins and mothers (Mary was both, remember) been chosen by God to have such an exalted relationship to him? What is so special about women and their vocations that God uniquely incorporated it into His final and everlasting covenant with the human race? In his apostolic letter, Mulieris Dignitatem, John Paul II said

Motherhood has been introduced into the order of the Covenant that God made with humanity in Jesus Christ. Each and every time that motherhood is repeated in human history, it is always related to the Covenant which God established with the human race through the motherhood of the Mother of God.

In Luke's Gospel Chapter 11 verses 27 and 28 we see a woman in the crowd cries out "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts you sucked" and Jesus replies "Blessed rather are those that hear the word of God and keep it". Jesus' response confirms motherhood in the body while at the same time he indicates an even deeper meaning in spirit--- that being that it is a sign of the Covenant with God who is Spirit. This is true above all in the motherhood of Mary. The motherhood of every woman , understood in the light of the gospel , is also not only of flesh and blood. It also expresses listening to the Word of God and a willingness to safeguard these words of eternal life--- for it is those born of earthly mothers, the sons and daughters of the human race, who receive from the Son of God the power to become children of God. This dimension of the New Covenant in Christ's blood enters into human parenthood, making it a reality in each new generation. The history of every human being passes through the threshold of a woman's motherhood.

Women, by nature of their motherhood, profoundly shape the future of the world. This seems to be entirely forgotten by secular society---and most sadly by those who call themselves supporters of women's rights.

In the secular realm freedom and liberation for women has been defined essentially by two things---contraception and abortion--- or more euphemistically stated "reproductive rights". These two things define and supply the foundation for secular feminism. Being released from these "encumberments" so goes the logic, women are free to persue advanced education and then careers that insure greater material wealth as well as greater power and prestige just like their male counterparts. It is incredibly interesting to me that the tenets of secular feminism ATTACK the power God has bestowed on women which gives them the deepest and most profound influence on the human race --- the very power--- innately feminine---to shape the future of the world. What a child learns on its mother's lap has the power to transform the world. This is incredible power which sadly, according to secular feminists, means nothing in the face of more money, power and public recognition. Secular feminism says if you are to become someone important do not let motherhood get in the way, delay, prevent it, destroy it--- or if you must have children place them in daycare as soon as possible -----do not let motherhood derail your career.

I was a stay at home mom until an unwanted divorce forced me back into my career. I remember the comments I would get during those days at home. The condescending comment---"you mean you don't work?" or the one disguised in a supportive tone "you should use this time to work on your graduate degree----as long as you are not working." In other words, raising children is not legitimate work for one's life--- it is a waste of valuable time, time that could be spent furthering my career or developing my potential.

Secular society has also attacked the idea of virginity as a virtue. We are told women have the right to enjoy their sexuality without being repressed by social "double standards" and fear of pregnancy--- just like their male counterparts. Supposedly here to contraception and abortion have freed women to the same level of sexual freedom men have always enjoyed. This is also an area where women have an innate power personally as well as socially. Abortion and contraception have not freed women in society--- in fact they have accomplished the exact opposite. they have subjected women to the desires of men in unprescedented ways--- by making themselves perpetually available to every sexual whim their partner expresses. This has created a society that now views people, particularly women, as objects--- solely for the sexual satisfaction of another--- pornagraphy, casual sex, even pedophilia is common because the person has become a means to an end--- that end being sexual satisfaction--- nothing more.

A woman's natural fertility cycle, aside from being essential for the continuation of the species, also serves an important social function. It requires that men to curb their sexual impulses and to learn self control for the sake of another. On an individual basis, each couple must learn to respect a woman's fertility and all that it implies. In this matter a husband must submit himself to the natural cycle of his wife's body--- for her well being as well the well being of their relationship and family. This teaches respect for her as a person---not an object and makes clearly apparent the unique gifts and power of womanhood. While not widely publicized a recent study discovered something interesting. While Catholics in general divorce at about the same rate as the general public but a deeper look into the statistics revealed that of those Catholics who divorced, 83% of them used artificial contraception. Only 17% of the divorces were among couples who practiced natural family planning. That is an interesting fact.

There is also a wider social aspect. If women in general, once again, saw virginity as a virtue, and strove to protect it, men in general would have to learn to control their sexual impulses and both would need to find more constructive ways to release these energies--- for the good, rather then the detriment of society. If you stop and think even for just a few moments the vast majority of social problems are related to the misuse and abuse of our sexuality. Like it or not women seem to be the natural "moral barometers" of human society. The level to which a society sinks is dependent upon on the values it places on motherhood and virginity. As well as on families the center and source of a woman's innate power. While some may complain this is a burden--- in reality it is a great power. Isn't it interesting that two of the most influencial aspects of feminine power are the very things secular feminism has attacked so ferociously?

On need only look at where we have come in the four to five decades since artificial contraception fueled the flames of secular feminism. Divorce rates around 50%, unwed births constitute one third of all births today. Also, the concept of family has been all but destroyed and replaced by the idea that any group of people living together constitutes a "family". More women are depressed and addicted then ever before. Suicide rates in general have sky rocketed, especially among children and teens. Kids have become sexually active at younger ages with every generation. Sexual promiscuity, pornagraphy, and sexually transmitted disease are epidemic. We live in a culture preoccupied with sex--- and a stunted and unhealthy view of sexuality. I read today of Abercrombie and Fitch being forced to pull their catalogs --- because aside from the nudity and suggestive poses of its teen age models it gave suggestions and tips on safely engaging in group sex and freely exploring one's sexuality---especially for those going off to college for the first time. It even suggested group masturbation as a good safe way to explore one's sexuality. There have been some good advances made especially in the early days of feminism--- That is very true... but at what price? We will never have equality with men if we continue down this misguided path. Equality does not come from being able to function and behave like men--- it comes from society recognizing and and valuing women for the natural gift of their feminine power to transform and advance society--- when motherhood is seen as just as pretigious as as well as as valuable and essential to society as is being a brain surgeon, or a CEO of a multimillion dollar corporation or a movie director--- then women will be equal. Only when sex is seen as more then just a means of personal pleasure--- until it is again seen in its fullest meaning--- both PROCREATVE and unitive --- then will women find true freedom. To illustrate the reality of secular feminism in it's most profane absurdity I will leave you with this question. How do you think men would respond to a liberation movement promising them freedom by means of castration? Yet this is precisely what feminism has told women for years.