With Christ’s coming to the world, one of the most noteworthy changes witnessed by humanity was the elevation of women to a new and true dignity. It was Jesus himself who took up the defense of the repentant adulteress during the dinner at Simon the Pharisee’s house. When the Apostles tried to send away the mothers who brought their children to Our Lord, He reproached the Apostles, and not the mothers. Together with the disciples, Jesus also permitted the holy women to accompany him in his mission. But it is noteworthy that he did not place any one of these women in the position of official preaching, or of governing within the Church. Some might say that this was just a precaution to avoid confrontation with the customs of the time. We object. If Christ had already challenged so many norms, thus causing an uproar among the Pharisees, would he really be afraid to alter this prevalent standard? Does this not, rather, pertain to the plans of the uncreated Wisdom in relation to his Church? Or are we to believe that Christ the Lord acted out of vile caution on such an important question in determining the structure of His Church?
Christ had lovingly reserved a different mission for women from all eternity.
So many holy women throughout the History of the Church have revealed the luminous and irreplaceable – though discreet and abnegated – role of women in the Church, following the example of the Most Holy Virgin. Would Clovis and the Franks have converted if Saint Clotilde had not patiently encouraged her spouse? Would the Church today have a Doctor called Augustine, if it were not for the tears and prayers of Monica? How many orphans and abandoned individuals owe their lives to the care of abnegated woman? How many missionaries owe the success of their apostolate to a young woman who lived hidden in a Carmelite convent, under the name of Theresa of the Child Jesus? These humble women are heroines, and demonstrate their complete gift of self in a way that few soldiers on the battlefield do. Isn’t it a glory for women in the Church to know that their actions, though hidden from the eyes of mankind, are often decisive before the Throne of the Most High for the spreading of sanctity throughout the world?
Don’t certain queries recently brought up – queries, which are nothing more, nothing less than an echo of worldly maxims – end up taking away from women that which is theirs by right? Should the harmonious and ascending continuity of the past two thousand years now be brutally interrupted? Is it really necessary to redefine the role of the women within the Church? How did the Creator differentiate the roles of the men and women in the foundation of his Church? The answers to these questions will be of great use to our readers. More here…
