In order to understand women, or womanhood itself, one must understand the Blessed Mother. The pagan world does not understand her. They might have their goddesses and priestesses, but they fail to recognize the heart of a woman. Perhaps it is because woman tend to lack the ability to communicate their feelings, their heartaches, to men. Men assume that women are no different than them, and women will generally want to agree with them. Most will hide their feelings out of a sense of piety or honor (both highly respected manly virtues), while others will guard their own hearts out of a fear of heartbreak (since men are apt to trample over their gentle hearts in order to toughen them up). But women are not women when their hearts have been toughened.
What a sad world it must have been to have lived among the Romans who praised Lucretia for her piety when she plunged a dagger into her own heart. A good woman, Livy claims on behalf of all Romans, is one like Lucretia who works hard in her home, manages her servants well, and does everything without complaint. According to Livy's tale, Lucretia's husband bet his fellow soldiers that he had the most noble wife among them, when they went to each of their homes to see what their wives were doing they found all of the other wives partying, but Lucretia was still working late into the night. It was here that the evil son of the evil king Tarquin began to plot how he might seduce Lucretia and have her for himself. After the men left, he returned to her home secretly and she invited him in, knowing him to be a friend of her husband, but he soon revealed his true intentions. He sneaked into her room after she had laid down to bed and woke her with a sword to her breast saying, "Quiet, Lucretia; I am Sextus Tarquinius, and I have a sword in my hand. If you speak, you will die." He proceeded to threaten and cajole her, both begging and commanding her to allow him to sleep with her.
Her virtue was so strong that she was not afraid of death, so his threats carried no weight. So he tried again but this time he threatened worse, he said, "When I have killed you, I will put next to you the body of a nude servant, and everyone will say that you were killed during a dishonorable act of adultery." This threat she could not handle for she was an honorable woman. Thus Sextus Tarquinius was able to triumph over her virtue.
Here is the great divide between the pagan women of Roman and the gentle women of Christendom. How many virgin martyrs are there written in the Book of Life? How many Christian woman even forsook their own honor in order to preserve their chastity? Had Lucretia been a Christian woman, not even the threat against her honor would have broken her. For a Christian's strength comes from God, not from the opinions of others. Certainly a Christian woman wishes she could whisper in Lucretia's ear, "Don't fear, daughter! Your piety is good and your honor pure but it is your heart that God finds the most dear! Do not give it up for anything less than true Love!" Just look how the Blessed Mother found herself in a similar position as a young girl, to sacrifice her honor for the sake of Love. To sacrifice her idea of perfection for true integrity. The integrity of her heart was so sacred and so beautiful to God that he found in her a home worthy of his presence.
The immaculate heart of Mary is said to be pierced by seven swords. Seven is a number that symbolizes perfection or completion, eternity. Her heart than was pierced as many times as was possible. She could not have suffered even a tiny bit more for her heart was completely pierced. The Blessed Virgin, however, remains alive in spite of her wounds. Amazingly, her heart is not destroyed by the swords, by the great suffering that she has endured! How is it possible?! Here is where the pagan cannot follow, for only one sword pierced Lucretia's heart, the one guided by her own hand, and she perished in spite of her honor, in spite of her dutifulness; in spite of all her efforts she perished by the sword.
The Blessed Mother remained true to her heart. She remained vulnerable. Vulnerability means that one is capable of being wounded. Mary never hid her heart from herself, let alone her Lord. Do you think that God loved Mary because she did her duties, certainly not! Although she certainly did do her duties but not in the way a pagan could understand. Do you suppose that God found Mary most pleasing to his sight because she was the most honorable woman? Certainly not! Although her honor is without stain, even though the law would have her put to death for being pregnant without a husband. Do you think that God chose Mary because she was the most obedient? Certainly not! Although she was indeed the most obedient to His Holy and Venerable Will! On the contrary! God looked with favor upon his lowly handmaid because she was full of Grace!
Before God planted his seed within her, she was full of Grace. Mary, concieved without Original Sin, enjoyed the happiness of a soul so tighly integrated within itself and so inseperably joined to the font of Life that she basked in the Glory of God! Here is a woman who lived, who experienced life, who held the Word of God within her very soul, to the point that it pleased Him to rest bodily within her own sanctuary. Imagine for a moment a woman so lowly that even her own honor delighted her not. She took no pleasure in her own piety even though she was with out a doubt the most pious person in all existance. She knew her Lord and He loved her.
Here is the mystery of our Faith: That Love was so in love with you, with me, that He waited and waited, groaning with expectation, for that one Woman above all other women who would let Him in to her heart so that He might redeem us from the death which we had merited for ourselves! How strange, is it not, that through a woman God was able to enter into this world? Surely, God came as a man, but only through the heart of a woman. Without her heart, open and unafraid, there would be no Salvation, no rescuer. In fact, she herself would not have been saved were it not for her own openness! Her grace filled heart was a result of Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross! She was already indebted to Christ before he even became flesh and dwelt within her!
Perhaps it was not possible for damsels in distress to exist before Christ, but one did. She recognized herself as the most in need of Christ's mercy. She basked in the joy of Grace even while swords pierced her beloved heart. She suffered the torments of the Dragon while holding on to the unfailing hope in her rescuer.
Without Mary there are no damsels in distress or princesses worth rescuing. There might be honorable and pious women but there are no woman worth the Dragon's time. The Dragon does not bother with those women who are content to live the way they perceive men to live, guarding their hearts and toughening themselves up. The truth is that a woman is to a man as her heart is to herself. Her joys and sufferings are his joys and sufferings! Why does the Dragon bother stealing the woman? Why does the man bother rescuing her? What treasure do they both see that she cannot?! Her heart is their greatest treasure! Listen to the Song of Solomon, truly the song of the Creator for His Chosen People, the song of Our Lord for His Blessed Mother, and the song of Christ for you:
"[1] How beautiful art thou, my love, how beautiful art thou! thy eyes are doves' eyes, besides what is hid within. Thy hair is as flocks of goats, which Come up from mount Galaad. [2] Thy teeth as flocks of sheep, that are shorn which come up from the washing, all with twins, and there is none barren among them. [3] Thy lips are as a scarlet lace: and thy speech sweet. Thy cheeks are as a piece of a pomegranate, besides that which lieth hid within. [4] Thy neck, is as the tower of David, which is built with bulwarks: a thousand bucklers hang upon it, all the armour of valiant men. [5] Thy two breasts like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
[6] Till the day break, and the shadows retire, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. [7] Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee. [8] Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus, come: thou shalt be crowned from the top of Amana, from the top of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards. [9] Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast wounded my heart with one of thy eyes, and with one hair of thy neck. [10] How beautiful are thy breasts, my sister, my spouse! thy breasts are more beautiful than wine, and the sweet smell of thy ointments above all aromatical spices.
[11] Thy lips, my spouse, are as a dropping honeycomb, honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments, as the smell of frankincense. [12] My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up. [13] Thy plants are a paradise of pomegranates with the fruits of the orchard. Cypress with spikenard. [14] Spikenard and saffron, sweet cane and cinnamon, with all the trees of Libanus, myrrh and aloes with all the chief perfumes. [15] The fountain of gardens: the well of living waters, which run with a strong stream from Libanus."
The heart, hidden within her delicate frame, is a fountain! a garden! a mountain teaming with beauty! It is as though God has hidden within a woman's heart the garden of Eden and only her lover can be let in, but oh how the Serpent has cast between them a fiery sword. He will not be let in until he can break the Curse of Sin and defeat the Dragon which ensnares her!
Look with the eyes of faith at any woman and you will see the Blessed Mother's innocence, purity, and beauty. Look even closer and you will see the Serpent slithering at her feet, the Dragon encircling her tower, the thorny brambles grown up around her fountain. Where is her Knight? Where is her Prince? Where is her Lord? Is he equipped to fight for her, to defeat the Dragon, to render the Serpent powerless, to rescue her from evil? Christ has come and made it possible for women to be true women and men to be true men! Now marriage is real, and not just a symbol. Now a man and a woman really can be united because the cavern that separated them was destroyed by Christ's Sacrifice. Only Christendom could produce knights in shining armor and princesses who need rescuing because Christ returned Love to its rightful place: a woman's heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment