A Woman of Great Value

A Woman of Great Value

The readings this Sunday invite us to consider very carefully the foundation and the purpose of the vocation of marriage and family, and the roles of man and woman respectively, in the preservation and flourishing of this beautiful institution. And since the devil is unrelenting in his attacks against marriage and family, it is important that we offer some guidance and suggestions to consider.

In the book of Genesis 2:7, man was created first, then, as a crown of human perfection, the woman was created and given to the man (Genesis 2:22). This order of creation does not lessen at all, the equal dignity of a woman to a man. They are both equal in the eyes of God. A “Suitable Helper” (Gen. 2:18) was found, to help the man come to full maturity and knowledge of himself. A woman was not created to be a slave of the man, but as an active instrument of human perfection, of complementarity, of fostering full development of humanity, for the greater glory of God. Such is the noble and sublime vocation of a woman in relationship to the man.

The Help that the woman gives to the man was desired and ordained by God. In other words, the woman works together with God to help the man. So, the woman helps the man to become what God desires of the man, which means that, the woman looks at the man with the eyes of God; she wants to make him more virtuous, more holy, and more in line with God. For, to love someone is to want their sanctification for the glory of God.

The question is, how exactly is the woman to help the man? In what ways? In answering this question, we must think of the primary role of the woman as ordained by God. The unique gifts and talents God gave to the woman to help the man. In his encyclical “Woman’s duties in social and political life,” Pope Pius XII of Blessed memory, wrote;

“The sphere of woman, her system of life, her natural inclination, is motherhood. Every woman is made to be a mother; a mother in the physical and spiritual sense. For this reason, the Creator organized the whole make-up of the woman, her organic construction, but even more her spirit, and above all her delicate sensitiveness. Thus, it is that a woman who is a real woman can see all the problems of human life only in the perspective of the family. That is why her delicate sense of her dignity puts her on guard anytime her mission of mother is threatened by social and political prejudices.”

We must admit that we cannot sufficiently paint a good picture of a woman’s vocation without looking at the example of the Blessed Mother of God, Mary Most Holy. In one of her lofty titles, Our Lady is rightly called the Mirror of Justice. She mirrors God Himself in her life. In other words, God dwells in her, thus, she is most beautiful and perfect of a woman. And just as in the very beginning of Creation, God entrusted the man to the woman as his suitable helper, so also, at the foot of the Cross Jesus entrusts all of redeemed humanity to the woman, Mary; “Behold your Mother” (John 19:27). And Mary’s highest vocation as mother is to help us to be saints in heaven. The woman receives life from God and nurtures it and fosters it to the glory of God. She does this with the utmost humility and reverence. And in the end, God says, “well done, my good and faithful servant.”

One of the easiest ways the devil uses to destroy the man is through the woman. Why? Because the man must listen to the woman. If the devil controls the woman, then he can easily control the man. But if, on the contrary, the woman is filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit, she is of the greatest good and help to the man. “Her husband entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize. She brings him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. Her value is priceless” (Prov. 31:10ff).

Today, more than ever, the woman must stand up to her vocation and preserve the holiness and the sanctity of the man. What the woman thinks of herself and makes herself to be, and the way she conducts herself, directly affects the man. And as the closest coworker with God, a woman is invited to think of what is pure, what is holy, what is beautiful, what is just, and what is good, and then present it to the man. Then, the man will reach his full maturity and perfection to the glory of God. Let us pray for a greater love of sanctity in a woman, and the protection of her dignity, and the awareness of the vocation of motherhood in the whole world.

Amen.

Homily given by Father Wasswa on the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time