For all the time I've spent over the last year or two delving into the differences between men and women, you'd think this topic would have crossed my mind. Eh, not so much, I'm afraid. Until now that is.
Because we are beings consisting of both a body and a soul which cannot and never will be separated, our gender is bound up with our spirituality. It inevitably affects how we relate to our Creator.
In her book Full of Grace, Johnnette Benkovic states (speaking of body and soul unity) "... our gender reveals and defines the innermost aspect of who we are... [this] spiritual reality of our femininity speaks to the very influence in the world that God intends for woman."
Not only will our roles in society and marriage differ, but our role in the Church as well. Women in particular are called to bring life, both physical and spiritual. Women encourage, support, edify, and nurture those around them. We are meant to pour our lives into our loved ones, never exhausting our supply of life-giving love, as we continually receive more love and nourishment from our Lord.
I am finding that more emphasis today seems to be given to the physical giving of life and less to the spiritual giving of life. While bringing women back to the truth of their great gift and privilege of bearing human souls and bringing an end to the horrific tragedy of the abortive and contraceptive mindset is very important, attention must also be given to the truth of our mission as spiritual life-givers as well. Both are crucial and deserve a place in our studies and spiritual growth.
"The deepest longing of woman's heart is to give herself lovingly, to belong to another, and to possess this other being completely... Only God can welcome a person's total surrender in such a way that one does not lose one's soul in the process but wins it. And only God can bestow Himself upon a person so that He fulfills this being completely and loses nothing of Himself in so doing. That is why total surrender... [is] the only adequate fulfillment possible for woman's yearning." - Edith Stein
When this longing is fulfilled by Jesus, we are filled with such life that we cannot help but pour it into others. Our God-given desires for pure, authentic, complete love are not meant to fulfill us, but to be used to bring life to our broken world.
2 comments:
This is deep! How do you write so well?
Hi Alex! And thank you for the compliment. I'm not quite sure how to answer your question, except to say that I read a lot of books by people I think are pretty knowledgeable and good writers, and I just go over things in my head until I think I know what I want to say and how I want to say it, and then it just kind of works itself out on paper. Lol. Thanks again. :-)
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