Posted on 05/17/2007 12:17:47 PM PDT by stfassisi
LETTER TO A YOUNG GIRL
My dear young friend:
I know that young girls like secrets, and I am going to share one with you. God has chosen your sex for you; He made you to be a girl. You know that girls today are often told by feminists that the Church is "sexist" and has "discriminated" against them from the very beginning. She is accused of having treated them as "inferior", less talented, less gifted, made to be man’s servants. She has denied them power in the Church, and prohibited them from receiving the highest honor, to be ordained to the priesthood and so on.
No doubt, you have heard this siren song, because the media are good when it comes to spreading this negative message. And this is why, to rebut these false claims, I would like to make you realize that women – far from being discriminated against – have been granted a unique place by God in the work of redemption. The beauty of their mission is already hinted at in the Old Testament, but it finds its fulfillment only in the New, that is in the sweet Mother of our Savior; in Mary, the gentle Maid of Nazareth who was chosen from all eternity to be the Mother of the Redeemer.
Let us take off our "secular" eyeglasses, and then we shall be able to see that women, far from being "discriminated" against, are in many ways privileged. And this is the "secret" I wish to share with you. The body of every little girl born into this world is mysteriously sealed by what is properly called the "veil of virginity". That is to say, a "secret" is entrusted to her body, and a secret is always "veiled". According to Christian teaching, this veil closes the entrance to a mysterious garden which belongs to God in a special way, and for this reason cannot be entered into except with His express permission, the permission that God grants spouses in the Sacrament of Matrimony. Any little girl aware of this "mystery" will feel that her body is to be modestly clothed, so that its secret will be hidden from lewd looks.
Little girls, of course, grow up. How beautiful when a bride can say to her husband on their wedding night, "I have kept this garden virginal for you, and now, with God’s permission I am giving you its key, knowing that you will enter into it with reverence".
Moreover, when a wife conceives a few hours after her husband has embraced her, God creates the child’s soul in her body, (as you certainly know, neither husband nor wife can produce the human soul; God alone can create it.) In other words, there is a personal "contact" between God and the woman which, once again, gives to the female body a note of sacredness. Don’t forget that He whom the whole universe cannot contain, was "hidden" in the womb of the Holy Virgin for nine months. Once you realize this, you will be awe-filled for the double mystery that God has confided to you: to conceive a human being made to God’s image and likeness, and to give birth to it in pain and anguish. Do not forget that it was also in pain and anguish that Christ re-opened for us the gates of paradise – which had been shut by sin. To women has been granted the awesome privilege of nobly suffering so that a new human being, made to God’s image and likeness, might come into the world. Meditate upon this for a moment, and you will feel a deep reverence for your body. It belongs to God, and is not a "play thing" that you can dispose of as you please.
If you ever study pagan art, you will discover that it pays tribute to the male reproductive organ, representing it in various sculptures and paintings as a symbol of strength, virility, creativity, power. But from the very moment that the Catholic Church became a recognized religion, she fought relentlessly against this pagan cult. But the Church introduced a prayer uttered millions of times every single day in which the female organ par excellence, the "womb" is mentioned. "Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus". I am sure, my dear young friend, that if you meditate on this, you will understand that it is a privilege to be born a woman, and will respect the mystery that God has put in the female body.
Thank God that He has made you to be born a woman; I am sure now that you understand that it is a great privilege.
Dr. Alice Von Hildebrand
Those of us with daughters should give this to them to read.
I have been Blessed with two daughters
Ping!
Just wondering (non-Catholic thinking about conversion here), does the Catholic Church have a stand against epidurals or other means to relieve the pain of childbirth? Kind of sounds like it in this quote. I had my first child three months ago (also blessed with a daughter!) and hardly felt a thing (now the recovery, that was another story...). I know early on in the development of anesthesia, many religious leaders were against it because they believed pain to be ennobling.
Anyway, good post, something I'll hopefully remember when it comes time for "the talk"...
No, absolutely not. The Church does not require anyone to refrain from medical care.
http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_df80eu.htm
human and Christian prudence suggest for the majority of sick people the use of medicines capable of alleviating or suppressing pain, even though these may cause as a secondary effect semiconsciousness and reduced lucidity. As for those who are not in a state to express themselves, one can reasonably presume that they wish to take these painkillers, and have them administered according to the doctor’s advice.
Now I need them for putting them thru college -;)
Us men are such wimps.
My husband needed a day off work after we had our first....said it took a lot out of him! LOL
Good luck with that college stage. We are beyond that stage now, and got our daughter safely to the altar and into the hands of a very good man!
This is magnificent! It reminds me of a conversation I had with a very holy abbess at the monastery outside my maternal village down in Greece and another I had with a truly fine young Antiochian Orthodox woman. What the author has written is thoroughly Orthodox and what we try to impart to our young girls and women.
No, no, and no. Mrs. von Hildebrand is being poetic.
Dear Friend,Thanks for sharing that,thats wonderful to hear,It is so difficult to get that message across here in the USA because of so many horrific outside influences in our society.
We must be persistent though ,no matter how many people call us nuts for trying.
You Might like this..
It is by Mrs Von Hildebrands late husband Dietrich von Hildebrand who was also very fond of Orthodoxy
” You Might like this..
It is by Mrs Von Hildebrands late husband Dietrich von Hildebrand who was also very fond of Orthodoxy.”
http://www.ewtn.com/library/Marriage/SIPMARRG.HTM
That’s a fine essay; reminds me of this:
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf113.iii.iv.xxi.html
“”That’s a fine essay; reminds me of this:””
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf113.iii.iv.xxi.html
WOW that is awesome! I have never seen that before.
Thank you. I,m saving that for when my daughters get married someday.
I wish you a Blessed Evening!
“WOW that is awesome! I have never seen that before.
Thank you. I,m saving that for when my daughters get married someday.”
My Father gave me a copy just before I got married...30 years less 19 days ago. When I am the Koumbaros (like a best man) at a wedding, I usually quote this to the groom in the toast:
“And again, never call her simply by her name, but with terms of endearment, with honor, with much love. Honor her, and she will not need honor from others; she will not want the glory that comes from others, if she enjoys that which comes from thee. Prefer her before all, on every account, both for her beauty and her discernment, and praise her. Thou wilt thus persuade her to give heed to none that are without, but to scorn all the world except thyself. Teach her the fear of God, and all good things will flow from this as from a fountain, and the house will be full of ten thousand blessings.”
I love it. Especially good to read while not enjoying the less glamorous aspects of motherhood...namely the first trimester.
Thanks, all. That’s what I thought!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.