Sunday Meditation: The Privilege to be a Woman

What? You think I'm a misogynist?

I once had a conversation in the parking lot with a fellow parishioner. She's blunt and a bit crusty and I like her all the better for it. She lamented that we don't have altar girls. I disagreed saying there were too many women in the sanctuary already. Testily she responded, "You're a misogynist!" and stomped off. I laughed. It's the first time anyone has ever accused me of that. I know what the word means, but I looked it up anyway. The definition is even stronger than I thought:

misogynist: a person who dislikes, despises, or is strongly prejudiced against women.

Me a misogynist? Not hardly!

There are female misogynists, of course. You'll find many of them among feminists who hate all women who refuse to drink their kool-aid. You'll find them working for Planned Parenthood and among the transgendered who hate themselves so much they have their breasts cut off and take hormones to grow beards. You'll find them in Congress wearing white at the State of the Union address and attacking all conservative women who defend life and liberty.

No, my friend, I am not a misogynist. If anything, I believe women are specially privileged and blessed by God. We are spiritually smarter than men because of our feminine nurturing principle. A man's strength and courage is a good thing, but to be oriented toward the spiritual is a particular gift to be celebrated. A good woman can make a man. A bad woman can destroy him. His courage lends her strength and confidence; her nurturing spirit lends him compassion and tenderness.

Women need to embrace their dignity as women rather than to jealously seek to be imitation men.

Who is the human person most blessed of all men and women, our "nature's solitary boast?"

A woman.

Who was full of grace from the first moment of her conception?

A woman.

To whom do we turn naturally when we need special help or comfort as we struggle in this "vale of tears?"

A woman.

Was Jesus a misogynist for not calling Mary to be among his apostles. She, who was without sin, was most worthy to be a priest. And yet, the priesthood was not her role. Was her role less dignified? No... perhaps more so in fact. She herself was the tabernacle, the temple filled with the Godhead. We mothers imitate her as we carry our own children and as we nurture them and others. Mary, the Mother of the Church, is first among the apostles!

And what a mother she is to us as she showed at Guadalupe!  With great affection she called Juan Diego, her "Juanito" and treated him tenderly like a mother rocking her baby:

...put it into your heart, my youngest and dearest son, that the thing that frightens you, the thing that afflicts you, [his uncle's illness] is nothing: do not let it disturb you? Am I not here, I who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am 1 not the source of your joy? Are you not in the hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Do you need something more? Let nothing else worry you or disturb you.

I think it was Alice von Hildebrand who once said that God gave men the priesthood because he gave women everything else. Like Mary we carry the "word made flesh" in our wombs. The baby called forth by God through the love of husband and wife "knowing" one another is, indeed, the word of their love with skin on. Mothers are the temples carrying God's word of love made flesh.

The complimentarity of man and woman does not put us in competition with one another, but invites us to enter into a deeper reflection and understanding of God's love for us. He made us, male and female, to imitate His love in the Holy Trinity. The three Persons of the Blessed Trinity don't compete with each other or lust after each other's roles do They?

The article that spurred this reflection for me was written by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski:

Female Lectors and the Parable of the Sower

It opened my eyes to new ways of looking at the proclamation of the "the word."

I have never liked to see hordes of women in the sanctuary as lectors, servers and LEMs (lay extraordinary ministers). When I was asked to be a lector, I declined. When I was asked to be a LEM I agreed to take Communion to the nursing home since the people there need the strength of the Sacrament and, clearly, the priest can't take it to all the homebound every Sunday. But I said I would not give Communion at Mass.

Leon Podles in his book, The Church Impotent, describes the impact of the feminization of the Church and anyone with eyes can see the damage it's caused. I remember a priest at Holy Spirit saying Mass with an elderly woman serving. At the Our Father they held hands as if the woman were concelebrating. I could only shake my head with a rueful smile and think. "He obviously can't say the Mass without an altar babe holding his hand." At least she was old enough to be his mother. What a picture if she were young and pretty. How can anyone respect a priest as another Christ when being inflicted with such an image?

In my opinion, the cowardly and wimpy reaction to the coronavirus is the direct outcome of the feminization of the Church. It appears our bishops now care more about the body than the soul. In this health crisis many are leaving us abandoned and orphaned wringing their hands and talking about protecting the flock. What is more important -- to protect the flock from a disease of the body or the disease that can send them to hell? How many will lose the way because of losing the Holy Eucharist? Sensible precautions -- yes, suspending the Mass -- hell no! ( And I mean that literally.)

Frankly, I would rather contract the coronavirus and die of it than be deprived of the Mass. Of course I don't go to Mass if I'm sick, but to have no choice in the matter when I'm well? Where are the St. Charles Borromeos, the St. Rochs, the fourteen Holy Helpers who faithfully ministered to the flock during plagues? We certainly are not seeing them in the dioceses suspending the Mass!

So far we still have the Mass in my diocese, thanks be to God. But if Bishop Burbidge follows the lead of other worldly bishops and closes our churches I will find the Mass even if I have to travel far and wide. Recently when my husband and I were in Surry, VA on a short getaway with our daughter and her family, I missed daily Mass for three consecutive days. I realized during that time that spiritual starvation is worse than physical starvation. I NEED THE MASS! It nurtures my faith and is a prescription drug against the assaults of the evil one.

I pray our diocese will continue to offer it and I hope priests in dioceses where the bishops have suspended it will, like the early Christians in the catacombs, continue to offer it anyway. Let parishioner know when they will be saying their "private Masses" and leave the Church doors open for worship. How much risk is there, for example, in saying daily Mass for a half dozen people, the number who attended at a daily Mass I went to in Berkeley Springs several months ago.

It's madness!

Please, Bishops, BE MEN! Suspend the obligation for the vulnerable if you must (I'm actually one of those by age and an autoimmune disease), but don't rob us of our birthright as Catholics. Don't deny us our Daily Bread and give us a stone instead.

One last comment related to "misogyny." One of the things I love about going to the TLM (traditional Latin Mass) is its manliness. In an age of the "metrosexual male" it is a joy to see a young priest modeling strength, courage, and zeal to our sons and grandsons. He teaches them what it is to be a man...and he teaches our daughters how to recognize a good man of God. The reverence and maturity of the altar boys making the Latin responses fills me with hope for the future. And to hear the word proclaimed in bass and baritone fills me with gratitude -- not because women are less worthy than men, but because men are called to be fathers, leaders, and protectors like St. Joseph and what better place to see that modeled than at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Lord give us men of strength who are guardians and protectors of their families and of Holy Mother Church! Give us women who, like all the holy female saints, model the true feminine virtues that make our world a more beautiful and fruitful garden of love.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, patron of the Americas, pray for us.

St. Joseph, guardian of the Holy Family, pray for us.