Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe shows us most gloriously how to live as feminine and beautiful women. She brings the gift of motherhood to everyone, regardless of social status, thereby providing an example to all women of the gentleness and openness we must use in approaching our neighbor. She is soft and motherly, and her promise is that she will pour out her care on her children. Notice her rich mantle, the mantle that she will use to wrap around those who pray for her protective embrace; it is covered with stars, for she wraps her arms around the entire world! This is why she appeared to St. Juan Diego, so that the extent of her dominion of love (which has been revealed by the Church from the earliest times) might continue to be known by all. Also, in the traditional veneration of this image, Our Lady is surrounded by flowers! In a recent film, the father of one of the main characters observed, "All women love flowers." We do, because they are a symbol of beauty so fresh and perfect it can only come from God. They symbolize what we ourselves must do to the world, to enliven it with color, to fill it with wonderful fragrance, to live out our bloom and our fading with dignity. Let us ask for the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe to fulfill our feminine vocation and fill us with the love that knows no bounds.

Asking

Our Lord is the Bridegroom and His Church is His bride: so what does he tell us? He implores us to ask for things! Ask and it shall be given you (Matt 7:7), whatever you ask for in prayer you will receive (Matt 21:22), if you ask anything in my name I will do it (John 14:14), ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full (John 16:24). There are countless other verses in the New Testament which emphasize the necessity of asking, asking with faith and trust in our Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. We can take this back to the natural level and see how in the feminine vocation, asking is of fundamental importance. Ask and you shall receive. The keynote of woman is her receptivity (cf. The Privilege of Being a Woman, Alice von Hildebrand), and how can we receive if we never ask? This can become a problem not only in our relationship with God, but even more so in our relationships with men. How fatal to expect that a man know what we need before we ask him! On the other hand, how liberating to ask and trust in a loving response. C.S. Lewis, in his concluding chapter of The Four Loves, discusses an often-overlooked aspect of charity: the transformation and supernaturalization of our need-love for others. Charity is not just giving, but also, in a mysterious way, receiving. To ask someone for something may actually be an act of love for that person. In the relationships between men and women, for the woman to request is a golden opportunity for the man to sacrifice and give.

In the Beginning

woman was created to give joy to the human race. There is no question about it, but Adam was sad before Eve was created. He looked about him at everything else that had been created, and there was no one with whom he could share his thoughts, with whom he could share the rest of creation, with whom he could love, and talk, and sing, and laugh, etc. So God created a special creature, a woman, to be a companion and a gift. And what was Adam's reaction--it was great joy. He said, "At last, this is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh!" In the very beginning, woman was made for joy, for the giving of joy, for the channeling of joy, for living in joy.

It's An Art

"The art of being a woman is the art of lifting the spirits of others," says Veronique Vienne in her book The Art of Being a Woman. While one wouldn't necessarily agree with everything she says, on this point she is absolutely correct. She has hit upon a truth that goes far deeper than even she is aware, a truth that reaches the very core of feminine existence, and this truth is the foundation upon which this blog is built.

So, to whomever happens upon this little blog, we hope that it brings you joy, that it lifts your spirits, that it gives you some new ideas--both serious and silly, and that most of all, it helps you rejoice in your femininity or that of the women around you.