The liturgy of the Holy Church gives testimony to the role of the heart in religious life; she has blessed us with a litany to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. There is no litany dedicated to the divine intellect or the divine will.
When Christ in agony spoke the heart-breaking words —”I am thirsty” — the Holy One was thirsting for our love. The heart is where love resides. The heart needs to be vindicated and this can best be achieved by distinguishing between valid and invalid feelings, legitimate and illegitimate feelings, “baptized feelings and unbaptized ones.” Continue reading →
Perhaps it is because women compete with men in so many fields where cut-throat methods have destroyed all courtesy and much honor.
Perhaps it is because the stage so often treats women as bait for the unpleasant-minded. Perhaps it is because some silly women will do anything, wear anything, say anything to win a date or a dance or a none-too-complimentary smile.
But whatever it is, our age is rapidly losing its respect for women. Men are losing it. The fact that men let women stand in a crowded street car and elbow them savagely in crowds is relatively unimportant.
But it is important that girls are laughed at by college comic papers; that women are exposed shamelessly on stage and magazine covers that they are expected to pay with precious privileges for the parties they attend, the dinners given them, the dates which some man casually permits them; that pure women are sneered at and that feminine virtue is frankly doubted.
Too many boys and men are coming to take it for granted that girls and women will allow promiscuous liberties, and they class the girl who indignantly refuses as an old fogy, and the woman who declines as a foolish prude.
Women are losing it.
The harsh and bitter struggle into which modern commercialism has thrown them is trying enough. But it is frightening when women begin to accept coarse men’s standards of dress and manner.
If the women take it for granted, when privileges are demanded, that is the price they must pay for popularity; if they laugh at an unclean play for fear that they will be frowned on by their escort; if during the revue or the movie they sit calmly while their sisters are required to sing filthy songs and disport themselves shamelessly, they have lost respect for their own womanhood.
Like it or not, our age, which uses woman’s figure and frailty to advertise its wares, run up its magazine circulations, jam its theatres, popularize sin on our city streets, is losing, if it has not already lost, its respect for women.
And the respect with which the Church for centuries has surrounded women is the one thing that has kept them from being the prey of the beast in men and the beast in themselves.
Respect women because of the fairest of women, who is disgraced by every woman who disgraces herself and by every man who disgraces a woman.
Respect women for the sake of our own mothers.
Respect women for the sake of future mothers, future nuns, future wives.
Respect women for the sake of the frail, who will fall if, between them and their own weakness, there is not the steadying influence of noble men and pure women.
This is our new and very modern crusade.
Catholics, we will respect women.
What will our children learn from us? We want our children to live life fully, realizing their great potential. We want them to be thankful for what they have and to flourish in any situation they find themselves. Our job, as a parent, is one of the most important jobs on earth. We must pray for the wisdom and the courage to impart all that is needed, though imperfect it may be, to help our children to live a life of faith and joy! -Finer Femininity
A Nudge!! Advent is around the corner and it is always nice to be prepared. Many years I put off getting things together because there is so much going on! But if we can think a bit each day about this wonderful season that is approaching, the things we want to accomplish, what materials we will need, and get it together before that first Sunday of Advent (Dec. 2nd this year), we will breathe a huge sigh of relief.
If you have been following my site, you may have adopted some of the customs we talk about here. So, I am going to post this page from my Traditional Advent Journal to get you thinking. You can print it out as a checklist on what to get together before Advent arrives…
Digital version the Catholic Mother’s Traditional Advent Journal here.
A beautiful way to deepen your Advent experience…for yourself and your family. The Catholic Mother’s Traditional Advent Journal available here.
Advent Package Special! The Catholic Mother’s Traditional Advent Journal & Celine’s Advent! Available here.
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Femininity is a beautiful thing…and Mary Reed Newland teaches us to relish in it. Let it be a light to the world around us who has seen a very negative side of womanhood. Let’s bring it back, Ladies!
Below is pictures of the two tea parties we have had in the past two months…a lovely way to express our femininity!
When I was a little girl, I used to dream of being a “lady.” The world of Little Women, with its gracious manners and old-fashioned, flowing dresses fascinated me.
Softness and lace, tantalizing fragrance and exquisite texture, a nurturing spirit and a love of beauty-these images of femininity shaped my earliest ideas of loveliness.
Is that kind of femininity a lost value today? I don’t believe it. The world has changed, and most of us live in simple skirts or business suits or jeans instead of flowing gowns. But I still believe that somewhere in the heart of most of us is a little girl who longs to be a lady.
I also believe that today’s world is hungering to be transformed by the spirit of femininity. What better antidote for an impersonal and violent society than warm, gentle, feminine strength?
What better cure for urban sprawl and trashed-out countrysides than a love of beauty and a confidence in one’s ability to make things lovely?
What better hope for the future than a nurturing mother’s heart that is more concerned for the next generation than for its own selfish desires?
All these qualities – gentle strength, love of beauty, care and nurturing – are part of femininity.
Being a woman created by God is such a privilege – and the gift of our femininity is something we can give both to ourselves and to the people around us.
Just one flower, one candle, can warm up a cold, no-nonsense atmosphere with an aura of “I care.” Women have always had the ability to transform an environment, to make it comfortable and inviting. I believe we should rejoice in that ability and make the most of it.
This doesn’t mean we have to follow a set pattern or adopt a cookie-cutter style. Specific expressions of femininity vary greatly.
When I think “feminine,” I usually think of soft colors, lace, and flowers. I love ruffled curtains and flower-sprigged wallpaper, delicate bone china and old-fashioned garden prints. And I feel especially beautiful when I’m dressed up in soft and colorful fabrics.
But I know women with vastly different styles who still exude that special quality I call femininity -women who wear tailored tweeds or casual cottons (or gardening “grubbies”) with an air of gentleness ness and sensitivity.
Women who fill sleek modern kitchens or utilitarian office cubicles with that unmistakable sense of warmth, caring, and responsiveness. Women who combine self-confidence and an indomitable spirit with a gracious humility and a tender teachability.
Women who wear the spirit of femininity with the grace with which they wear their favorite elegant scent.
To me, the spirit of femininity is expressed in objects chosen for their beauty as well as their usefulness… and lovingly cared for. It is people accepted and nurtured, loveliness embraced and shared.
More important, the spirit of femininity is the spirit of care and compassion. In my mind, the most feminine woman is one with an eye and ear for others and a heart for God.
“Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself…do not be disheartened by your imperfections, but always rise up with fresh courage.” Introduction the the Devout Life― St. Francis de Sales
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Why does a woman desire a man? Why does a man desire a woman? What is the explanation of that mysterious attraction which draws the two sexes toward each other?
Will anyone ever be able to explain it? Will anyone be able to exhaust the subject?
One fact is certain: Even aside from the physiological aspect of the problem, the effeminate man does not attract a woman; she makes fun of him, finds him ridiculous. So too the masculine woman weakens her power of attraction for a man, and ends by losing it entirely.
The age-old spell which each sex casts upon the other is closely allied to the fidelity with which each exactly fulfills its role. If woman copies man and man copies woman, there can be comradeship but love does not develop.
In reality, they are nothing more than two caricatures, the woman being degraded to the rank of a man and a second-rate man at that, and the man to the rank of a manikin in woman’s disguise. The more feminine a woman’s soul and bearing, the more pleasing she is to a man; the more masculine a man’s soul and bearing, the more pleasing he is to a woman.
We do not mean to say that between two poor specimens of either sex there will never be any casual or even lasting sexual appeal and experience. But we can hardly, if ever, call it love.
If men and women are no more than two varieties of the same sex, a sort of neuter sex, the force which creates love disappears. Normally, as we say in electrical theory, opposite charges must exist before any sparks will shoot forth. Bring into contact two identical charges and there will be no effect; electricity of opposite polarities must be used; then and then only will there be reaction.
In the realm of love, the general rule is the same. In fact, man and woman are two different worlds. And that is as it should be, so that the eternal secret which each of them encloses may become the object of the other’s desire and stimulate thirst for a captivating exploration.
That is love’s strange power. It brings two secrets face to face, two closed worlds, two mysteries. And just because it involves a mystery, it gives rise to limitless fantasies of the imagination, to embellishments in advance of the reality. So that one finally loves all toward which one rows.
Whether that toward which one rows is an enchanted island or one merely believes it is, what ecstasy!
Comes the meeting, the consecration of the union by marriage; each brings to the other what the other does not possess. In the one, delicate modesty and appealing reserve; in the other, conquering bravery. A couple has been born. Love has accomplished its prodigy.
Yet, how true it is, that having said all this, we have said nothing. The reality of love is unfathomable.
Could it be perhaps because it is the most beautiful masterpiece of God?
“Marriage has been chosen as the image of the perfect union between the soul and Christ because in marriage, likewise, the center and core is love. No other earthly community is constituted so exclusively in its very substance by mutual love.” -Dietrich von Hildebrand
🌸💞I want to be able to lay my head down at night knowing I have connected with those things that matter most….. So that when my life is at its close it can be said, “You have run the race, you have fought the good fight.” and I will be remembered, not for what I have accomplished, but for HAVING LOVED WELL….. -Finer Femininity
The masculine and feminine roles, clearly defined above, are not merely a result of custom or tradition, but are of divine origin. It was God who placed the man at the head of the family when he told Eve, “Thy desire shall be unto thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”
The man was also designed to be the protector, since he was given stronger muscles, greater physical endurance, and manly courage. In addition, God commanded him to earn the living when he said, “In the sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread, till thou return to the ground.” This instruction was given to the man, not to the woman. (Gen. 3: 16, 19)
The woman was given a different assignment, that of helpmeet, mother, homemaker.
In Fascinating Womanhood we apply the word helpmeet to mean the role of the wife as she offers understanding, encouragement, support, and sometimes help.
Since she is biologically created to bear children, her role as a mother is unquestioned.
Her homemaking role is assumed: She must nurture her young and run the household, to free her husband to function as the provider. (Gen. 2: 18)
The masculine and feminine roles are different in function but equal in importance.
In Henry A. Bowman’s book Marriage for Moderns he compares the partnership of marriage to a lock and a key which join together to form a functioning unit. “Together they can accomplish something that neither acting alone can accomplish. Nor can it be accomplished by two locks or two keys. Each is distinct, yet neither is complete in and of itself.
Their roles are neither identical nor interchangeable. Neither is superior to the other, since both are necessary. They are equally important.
Each must be judged in terms of its own function. They are complementary.”
Division of Labor
As you can see, the design for the human family is based on a division of labor.
You may be interested to know that modern research has proven this ancient plan to be the best means of people working together. In the 1970s several large industries in America joined forces in a research project to discover the best system for people to work together in groups, especially to get along with one another, without contention.
Part of their study took place in hippie communes which had begun earlier, in the sixties. These idealistic groups were not based on a division of labor, but on equality.
Men and women shared equally in all daily chores. Women worked side by side with men in the fields or building shelters. The men shared household chores and care of the children.
The interesting discovery was this: They found that equality didn’t fit masculine and feminine differences. Women were better at some jobs and men at others.
Women’s hands, more delicately formed, were better for mending and sewing on buttons. Men were more capable of hauling and shoveling.
The most significant discovery, however, was that when they shared work equally, they didn’t get along with one another. There was contention, frequent hostility, and even hatred. Such dissension caused whole communes to fall apart.
The conclusion of the research was this: The best way to work in groups is by a division of labor. What a perfect plan God designed for the family.
The greatest success in marriage occurs when husband and wife devotedly live their respective roles.
On the other hand, the greatest problems occur when either of them fails to perform his or her duties, or when one steps over the boundaries and forcefully takes over the partner’s role, or shows an anxious concern for performance or lack of performance.
To succeed in your role, accept your womanly duties with a keen sense of responsibility. Let it be your concern, your worry. You can of course employ servants, or assign your children to help. But you are the one who must see that it’s done.
To further succeed, learn the feminine arts and skills. Learn to cook, clean, and manage a household. Learn the womanly art of thrift and how to rear children. Forget about yourself and devote yourself to the welfare and happiness of your family.
“One secret of a sweet and happy Christian life is learning to live by the day. It is the long stretches that tire us. We think of life as a whole, running on for us. We cannot carry this load until we are three score and ten. We cannot fight this battle continually for half a century. But really there are no long stretches. Life does not come to us all at one time; it comes only a day at a time.” -My Prayer Book, Father Lasance http://amzn.to/2mwR5u6 (afflink)
Blessed Mother “Mother and Son” Apron! Feminine and Beautiful! Fully lined, lace overlay, quality material, made with care!
Pamphlet from the National Catholic Rural Life Conference in 1946 concerning the function of woman in the social order. Its message is applicable today, to help a Christian “woman know her power, her role, her destiny” in today’s world.
National Catholic Rural Life Conference, 1946, written by Janet Kalven
“The important thing for a country is that the men should be manly, the women womanly.” This comment of Chesterton’s embodies a fundamental principle of social order. In society, as in any organism, unity and order are achieved through the cooperation of very different members, each fulfilling his own functions and contributing his special qualities to the common good.
The deepest difference among human beings–far more fundamental than any difference of intelligence or ability, nation or race– is the difference of sex. “And God created man to His own image: to the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
This basic difference is not merely physical but also psychological, coloring the total personality. In the whole range of her being–her mind, her senses, her emotions, her will, her interests and reactions–woman differs profoundly from man.
It is obviously of the greatest importance that this difference find its proper expression in the social functions of the two sexes. Each has unique qualities to contribute to the enrichment of human life. It is essential for the full and harmonious development of society, and especially for a Christian society, that “the men should be manly, the women womanly.”
Man and woman are made to complement each other at every point. Man’s capacity for theory, for forming an abstract and comprehensive view, is matched by woman’s practical sense and her gift for detail.
Man’s ambition and self-assertion which spur him on to great achievement must be balanced by the creative power of woman’s spirit of sacrifice and self-surrender. Man’s ability for leadership and desire for power must be tempered by woman’s spirit of love and selfless devotion.
The undue predominance of either masculine or feminine qualities creates profound disturbances which reverberate throughout the entire social structure, as we can see in our own culture.
In our time we need women with a vision of their great task as women who will help to restore the social equilibrium by creating a vital current of the great womanly virtues: the spirit of love, compassion for the suffering, generous self-sacrifice.
As women our fundamental contribution to the new order lies in finding our proper role in society. Our most urgent task in the work of reconstruction is to face this problem: What is the function of woman in the social order?
The Universal Mission of Woman
Woman’s essential mission in the world is to be for mankind a living example of the spirit of total dedication to God. To love God with her whole heart, her whole mind, her whole strength, and to radiate that love to the world—this is the universal task of woman. It is true that every human being is made for the love of God and is meant to be totally consecrated to His praise. In what sense, then, can we say that it is the particular mission of woman to be both an example and guide of man along the way of dedication?
There are two poles, two principles in human nature. Father Gerald Vann, O.P., in his recent book, The Heart of Man, distinguishes these two basic tendencies as “man the maker” and “man the lover.” Both principles are present to some extent in every human being, but man the maker is realized most perfectly in man; man the lover in woman. It is the maker who asserts, who imposes his idea and his will on the surroundings. The race takes its forward motion along the way of organization and invention from him. It is man the lover who gives, who yields his own will and gladly surrenders not only his will but his very self to the beloved.
Mankind has always recognized that love plays a far greater role in woman’s life than in man’s. Every woman when she looks into her own heart finds there the deep desire to surrender herself completely in love. Woman is by nature total in her giving; love absorbs her whole being. Byron was expressing the common experience of mankind when he wrote:
“Man’s love is of man’s life a thing apart
‘Tis Woman’s whole existence.”
In relation to God, we must all fulfill the role of the lover, awaiting the divine initiative, surrendering completely to the divine will. As C. S. Lewis writes so beautifully, “Our role must be always that of patient to agent, female to male, mirror to light, echo to voice. Our highest activity must be response, not initiative. To experience the love of God in a true and not an illusory form is therefore to experience it as our surrender to His demand, our conformity to His desire.”
Christian tradition has often expressed man’s relation to God in the beautiful phrase: the soul is the bride of Christ. But woman’s nature has the greater innate affinity for the bridal role, for the act of loving surrender.
That is why woman has been throughout Christian history a symbol and example of the spirit of complete consecration to God. Woman’s natural capacity for wholehearted giving of herself in love is the basis for her glorious supernatural vocation. It is her function to help to lead mankind to God by becoming herself a radiant example of total dedication to His will.
The lover’s surrender opens the way for the action of God’s grace in the world. “The world can be moved by the strength of man, but it can be blessed in the real sense of the word only in the sign of woman,” writes Gertrude von Le Fort.
It is first of all to Our Lady that these words apply. In her, the universal mission of woman, the lover, was fulfilled most completely. Her “fiat” is the perfect expression of the creature’s wholesouled surrender to the creator, and through her surrender the fullness of blessing entered into the world. These words may be applied, too, to the universal task of womankind, for it is the function of every woman to re-echo the “fiat” of Mary and thus to become a source of blessing to humanity.
One who, in order to please God, perseveres in prayer although he finds no consolation in it, but rather repugnance, gives Him a beautiful proof of true love. –Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, Divine Intimacy
All 4 Maglets! Finer Femininity is a small publication compiled to inspire Catholic women in their vocations. It consists of uplifting articles from authors with traditional values, with many of them from priests, written over 50 years ago. These anecdotes are timeless but, with the fast-paced “progress “of today’s world, the pearls within the articles are rarely meditated upon. This little magazine offers Catholic womankind support and inspiration as they travel that oftentimes lonely trail….the narrow road to heaven. The thoughts within the pages will enlighten us to regard the frequently monotonous path of our “daily duties” as the beautiful road to sanctity. Feminine souls need this kind of information to continue to “fight the good fight” in a world that has opposing values and seldom offers any kind of support to these courageous women. Inside the pages you will find inspiration for your roles as single women, as wives and as mothers. In between the thought-provoking articles, the pages are sprinkled with pictures, quotes and maybe even a recipe or two…Available here.
My grandmother, a wee woman of 4’10”, had six children and lived in Sri Lanka during a time when the country was going through a transition of power. Money was scarce, so she had to work for most of her adult life as an English teacher while my grandfather did his best to support the family as a clerk.
Through her daily activities, she constantly reminded us to educate ourselves in English literature, learn to cook and clean, paint, read the bible, attend daily mass, and always, always dress so tastefully. These continue to make an imprint on my mind.
She is the epitome of virtue, with such great dignity, intelligent character, and a fiery opinion all encompassed in an armor of authentic femininity. She had immense confidence in her role as a wife and mother; her magnificent poise as a woman of God was hard to overlook. Were she to care enough to keep up with the silliness that passes for modern activism these days, she would no doubt be shocked to learn of the vicious attacks and lack of respect from which her feminine identity suffers on a daily basis.
More notably, she would be shocked to learn the source of these attacks; from the advent of the sexual revolution and the pill to the recent march of Nasty Women, the key perpetrators in this attack on femininity can be found heading the ranks of the feminist movement.
Women were treasured beings; the ‘fairer sex’ as some put it back in the day, beings of mystery, femininity, virtue and sacrificial love.
St. Joan of Arc, Susan B. Anthony and St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta are some of the virtuous heroines who greatly contributed to the grandeur of our individuality. These women sacrificed their lives for the women and men before them, quite the opposite of what modern day feminism promotes. Nowadays, these charming ladies thrust forward and demand respect for their gender and ask to be treated equally to men, while simultaneously sexualizing all that is pure and beautiful.
Marriage is one institution that has suffered under the stiff rule of feminism, but not quite as much as that most hated role, motherhood, which is deemed as being quite unworthy of woman-kind. Noting the work that accompanies child-rearing, this movement has championed the solution to this “problematic” consequence of nature: abortion and the pill, which both establish a woman firmly in “control” of her “reproductive rights”.
The sad reality is that these women have actually lost control of their uniqueness and their aspirations; they consistently disgrace the splendor of our being, and dutifully murder our children. As feminism eradicates everything that is beautiful and significant to our identity, it simultaneously creates a new identity, a new fangled being, i.e., the nasty woman.
As the seas of pink marched on through the big cities on the day after the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump, chants of being “nasty women”, also, “my body, my choice”..etc., were ghastly declarations that were heard everywhere, as these nasty women walked around with genitalia props on their heads (quite an unsavory sight I must say).
How can anyone respect these feminists? How would anyone take a woman’s thoughts on intellectual subjects seriously? The high regard and respect that our feminine identity treasured for thousands of years has diminished because of this movement.
In Humane Vitae, a significant encyclical issued by the Catholic Church back in the early days of the sexual revolution, Pope Paul VI noted, “a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.”
As the use of the birth control pill became more widespread and feminism has come to full fruition, we see these words as nothing but truth. Men have lost respect for the feminine identity because there isn’t a feminine identity anymore. Women want to be like men, and now we’re sadly getting accustomed to the repercussions.
Is this what being a woman is all about? Women have reduced themselves to mere objects now? Has everyone forgotten how powerful we are, how capable we are? Feminists nowadays constantly grumble about the lack of respect for their strengths and potential; the ironic reality is that they are the driving force behind the destruction of our identity. They are the reason that women have been reduced to the pill; their so called “reproductive rights” kill the future women of America. This movement really has no foundation or structure; it’s just another satanic means of promoting the culture of death.
Of course, we should be able to vote, we should be able to drive, we should be able to work, and I am more than grateful for all the women in the early feminist movement who fought for those civil liberties, but most of these women did not agree with the abhorring mindset that the women nowadays adhere to.
One of the early suffragists, Dr. Margaret Blackwell said, “Look at the first faint gleam of life, the life of the embryo, the commencement of human existence. We see a tiny cell, so small it may be easily overlooked; it is a living cell; it contains a power progressive growth, according to laws, according, towards a definite type that we can only regard with reverent admiration.”
Another feminist, Victoria Woodhull wrote, “Wives deliberately permit themselves to become pregnant of children and then, to prevent becoming mothers, as deliberately murder them while yet in their wombs. Can there be a more demoralized condition than this?”
Many of the early suffragists condemned abortion and birth control. Sadly, this modern day feminist movement is not fighting for that. This movement is taking away the beauty, the grace and the femininity that women naturally have.
Dr. Alice Von Hildebrand, a Catholic theologian and philosopher, has considerably contributed on the topic of the toxicity of feminism. She says, “They let themselves become convinced that femininity meant weakness. They started to look down upon virtues — such as patience, selflessness, self-giving, tenderness — and aimed at becoming like men in all things. Some of them even convinced themselves that they had to use coarse language in order to show the ‘strong’ sex that they were not the fragile, delicate, insignificant dolls that men believed them to be.”
A few months ago while I was breastfeeding my then 9 month old son, I was lost in thought and wonder as he fell asleep, nourished and happy. This baby boy one day will be a grown man. A man that will journey through life for a career, be a husband or a priest, have children of his own someday, all because of me, a woman.
This little boy has exactly half of my DNA, has relied on me to come out into this world, has relied on me to be nurtured and one day his persona will be determined by my actions. What a responsibility, what a task, what an honour.
Feminism brings about the lack of charity, selfishness and the permanent termination of our most precious jewels- our families. Whether one is a wife, mother or a single woman, we all share a significant capability that feminists tend to overlook- our God given maternal and feminine care.
This doesn’t make us any lesser than men; even so we should be even more revered for our strengths. We are all called to nurture, love and to sacrifice. Truly, it is an identity that must be cherished and esteemed.
Don’t forget to dress for your role as Domestic Queen! You can still look feminine as you go about your business. – Fascinating Womanhood http://amzn.to/2orXm6w (afflink)
Pamphlet from the National Catholic Rural Life Conference in 1946 concerning the function of woman in the social order. Its message is applicable today, to help a Christian “woman know her power, her role, her destiny” in today’s world.
National Catholic Rural Life Conference, 1946, written by Janet Kalven
“THE important thing for a country is that the men should be manly, the women womanly.” This comment of Chesterton’s embodies a fundamental principle of social order. In society, as in any organism, unity and order are achieved through the cooperation of very different members, each fulfilling his own functions and contributing his special qualities to the common good.
The deepest difference among human beings–far more fundamental than any difference of intelligence or ability, nation or race– is the difference of sex. “And God created man to His own image: to the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
This basic difference is not merely physical but also psychological, coloring the total personality. In the whole range of her being–her mind, her senses, her emotions, her will, her interests and reactions–woman differs profoundly from man.
It is obviously of the greatest importance that this difference find its proper expression in the social functions of the two sexes. Each has unique qualities to contribute to the enrichment of human life. It is essential for the full and harmonious development of society, and especially for a Christian society, that “the men should be manly, the women womanly.”
Man and woman are made to complement each other at every point. Man’s capacity for theory, for forming an abstract and comprehensive view, is matched by woman’s practical sense and her gift for detail.
Man’s ambition and self-assertion which spur him on to great achievement must be balanced by the creative power of woman’s spirit of sacrifice and self-surrender. Man’s ability for leadership and desire for power must be tempered by woman’s spirit of love and selfless devotion.
The undue predominance of either masculine or feminine qualities creates profound disturbances which reverberate throughout the entire social structure, as we can see in our own culture.
In our time we need women with a vision of their great task as women who will help to restore the social equilibrium by creating a vital current of the great womanly virtues: the spirit of love, compassion for the suffering, generous self-sacrifice.
As women our fundamental contribution to the new order lies in finding our proper role in society. Our most urgent task in the work of reconstruction is to face this problem: What is the function of woman in the social order?
The Universal Mission of Woman
Woman’s essential mission in the world is to be for mankind a living example of the spirit of total dedication to God. To love God with her whole heart, her whole mind, her whole strength, and to radiate that love to the world—this is the universal task of woman. It is true that every human being is made for the love of God and is meant to be totally consecrated to His praise. In what sense, then, can we say that it is the particular mission of woman to be both an example and guide of man along the way of dedication?
There are two poles, two principles in human nature. Father Gerald Vann, O.P., in his recent book, The Heart of Man, distinguishes these two basic tendencies as “man the maker” and “man the lover.” Both principles are present to some extent in every human being, but man the maker is realized most perfectly in man; man the lover in woman. It is the maker who asserts, who imposes his idea and his will on the surroundings. The race takes its forward motion along the way of organization and invention from him. It is man the lover who gives, who yields his own will and gladly surrenders not only his will but his very self to the beloved.
Mankind has always recognized that love plays a far greater role in woman’s life than in man’s. Every woman when she looks into her own heart finds there the deep desire to surrender herself completely in love. Woman is by nature total in her giving; love absorbs her whole being. Byron was expressing the common experience of mankind when he wrote:
“Man’s love is of man’s life a thing apart
‘Tis Woman’s whole existence.”
In relation to God, we must all fulfill the role of the lover, awaiting the divine initiative, surrendering completely to the divine will. As C. S. Lewis writes so beautifully, “Our role must be always that of patient to agent, female to male, mirror to light, echo to voice. Our highest activity must be response, not initiative. To experience the love of God in a true and not an illusory form is therefore to experience it as our surrender to His demand, our conformity to His desire.”
Christian tradition has often expressed man’s relation to God in the beautiful phrase: the soul is the bride of Christ. But woman’s nature has the greater innate affinity for the bridal role, for the act of loving surrender.
That is why woman has been throughout Christian history a symbol and example of the spirit of complete consecration to God. Woman’s natural capacity for wholehearted giving of herself in love is the basis for her glorious supernatural vocation. It is her function to help to lead mankind to God by becoming herself a radiant example of total dedication to His will.
The lover’s surrender opens the way for the action of God’s grace in the world. “The world can be moved by the strength of man, but it can be blessed in the real sense of the word only in the sign of woman,” writes Gertrude von Le Fort.
It is first of all to Our Lady that these words apply. In her, the universal mission of woman, the lover, was fulfilled most completely. Her “fiat” is the perfect expression of the creature’s wholesouled surrender to the creator, and through her surrender the fullness of blessing entered into the world. These words may be applied, too, to the universal task of womankind, for it is the function of every woman to re-echo the “fiat” of Mary and thus to become a source of blessing to humanity.
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