CHRIST IN THE HOME
http://www.ewtn.com/library/FAMILY/CHRISTH1.TXT
BY RAOUL PLUS, S.J.
a Translation from the French
FREDERICK PUSTET CO., INC. Publishers NEW YORK AND
CINCINNATI
Nihil Obstat:
JOHN M. A. FEARNS, S.T.D., Censor Librorum
Imprimatur:
+FRANCIS CARDINAL SPELLMAN,
Archbishop of New York
New York, June 19, 1951
MARRIAGE
WOMAN'S SUPERIORITY
IN HIS book "Il Sangue di Cristo," Igino Giordani pronounces this judgment:
"Even when he is good, man always reminds one a little of a heron; he
stands on one foot and assumes poses. He turns to the right, then to
the left, and what concern he shows for his appearance!
"The Christian woman fulfills the more obscure domestic tasks,
services humble and hidden. The woman is to be like Mary. She will
become familiar with the tasks that require abnegation. Is it not
perhaps easier to ascend the pulpit than to watch at the bedside of
the dying? There are plenty of such examples. Saint Augustine wrote
stacks of books but who made a confessor of the faith out of this
professor? His mother--with her tears.
"More women than men enter religion; yet they do not have the
satisfaction of the priesthood. It is perhaps because of these
interceding and retiring women that all does not go up in the smoke
of vanity's fireworks."
Men might perhaps retort that on the score of vanity, women do not
yield to them a point. If they, the men, know how to pose to
advantage, and women, just to win admiration, also do their share of
strutting, and with an earnestness worthy of a better cause. Would
they be such slaves to fashion if they did not have--and how much
more than men--the mania for excelling their rivals and gaining notice?
Certainly in self sacrifice and above all in the daily humble hidden
devotedness which the tasks of the home require, woman is in the
lead. That does not mean that man, in his profession, does not know
how to sacrifice himself for the one he loves. Would he spend himself
as he does if he did not know that a smile would reward him in the
evening and a gentle voice would sing his praises? Nevertheless, in
general, the opinion of Giordani can be accepted as well as the
proofs he gives for it.
We need not consider religious life now. It has no point here. All we
need do is look to the Christian home to find without difficulty
numerous and sometimes touching examples of devotedness which nothing
can exhaust. Here is a wife; she has a husband who gets beside
himself with rage; he has real fits of temper, the blood rushes to
his head and he is practically on the verge of a stroke. Will the
woman let him to his fate and punish him for his violence by
depriving him at least for a time of her attentions? Not at all!
Wasn't it Shakespeare who gave us this delightful scene: A sheriff is
enraged against his wife. She leaves the room. Perhaps she has gone
off to pout because she is away for a while. But no! Here she comes,
her arms loaded down, and sets about preparing mustard packs for her
husband's feet and cold packs for his head to avert the ill effects
of his moments of fury.
It might be just an episode in a play but it is none the less symbolic.
That is woman for you!
THE BOSS IN THE HOUSE
AFTER a meditation on his duty of ruling his future home, Maurice
Retour wrote the following ideas to his fiancee: "In all the families
I have visited, the husbands want to appear to rule their wives while
the wives quietly claim that they rule their husbands. I eagerly
desire to have influence on your soul to help you ascend; but I
desire just as eagerly to have you exercise a great influence on
mine. Let us leave to others such petty behavior and thank God in all
humility that He has enlightened us."
In another letter he came back to the same idea "I wish to be master
before the law, I even want to be responsible to God for the morality
of our home, but for all the details of our life there is no master.
I have never had greater disdain for anyone than I have for a married
man who presumes to dominate his wife. I have seen some husbands grow
actually stubborn over some detail so that they do not have the
appearance before others of giving in to their wives. I think such
husbands are idiots." Then as a reason for his opinion he adds, "Two
persons living together necessarily have an influence upon each
other, but I promise you never to try by any subtlety to hold you
under my dominion. We shall live side by side without a thought for
such notions.
I want to believe that we can belong to each other in order to enjoy
life but with a love that will bring us ever close to God.... God
must always be foremost and He must be our goal even in our love, now
and always."
All husbands are not of that calibre. In a novel by a German author,
a certain baron gives his idea on how women should be treated.
"They must be made to feel their inferiority otherwise they will be spoiled.
"If you get married, do as I do. Never tell her beforehand about a
trip or a horseback ride. Just lead in your horse. 'Where are you
going, my dear?' she will ask the first or second time. Give no
answer, but continue putting on your gloves. 'Are you going to let me
alone like this?' she will add stroking your cheeks. You seize your
riding whip quickly and say, 'Yes, I have to go to town. I have this
and that to do. Goodby. And if I'm not back at nine o'clock for
supper, don't wait for me.' She trembles, but you don't pay any
attention. She runs after you, but you signal with your whip for her
to go back. She runs to the window, leans out and waves her
handkerchief crying 'Adrien!' But let her white banner wave and don't
bother. Dig in your spurs and get going! I swear that that's the way
to keep women respectful. By the third time, my wife asked no more
questions and God be praised, the wailing has come to an end."
A mere comparison of these two different attitudes makes the right
one stand out clearly. There are some husbands who are blackguards;
others who are gentlemen.
My choice is made.
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Lord, may everything we do begin with Your inspiration and continue
with Your help,
so that all our prayers and works may begin in You and by You be happily ended.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
<*}}}>< <http://halfthekingdom.mofuse.mobi/>Half the Kingdom!
on your Mobile <*}}}><
<*}}}>< <http://www.halfthekingdom.org/wordpress/>Half the Kingdom!
Blog <*}}}><
<*}}}>< <http://www.halfthekingdom.org/>Half the Kingdom! Main Site
<*}}}>< <*}}}>< <http://www.halfthekingdom.org/by-the-by/>Half the
Kingdom! By the by <*}}}><
Lord, may everything we do begin with Your inspiration and continue
with Your help,
so that all our prayers and works may begin in You and by You be happily ended.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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