THE DIGNITY OF WOMAN.
POPE ST. LEO, in one of his homilies on the nativity of our Saviour,
says, in addressing man: "O man, recognize thy dignity!" We might,
with all due propriety, address these same words to woman, for her
happiness and virtues depend in great measure on the elevated idea
that she has of herself, and on the care with which she maintains
this idea, both in her own mind and in that of others. Woe to the
woman who, through false modesty, or something still worse, has lost
self-respect, for she has deprived herself of her most powerful
safeguard against instability of character and seductions of the world.
Woman has received from God the sublime mission of fostering in
society the spirit of sacrifice and devotedness. Faithful, nay,
sometimes perhaps over-zealous, in the discharge of these duties, she
feels an imperative need of sacrificing herself to another who should
constitute the complement of her life. As long as she has not made
this surrender of herself to another she is a burden to herself, for
she seems to find her liberty and happiness in this voluntary
servitude of the heart, in this constant abnegation, in this
perpetual sacrifice of her whole being.
This disposition of woman's heart, which has been given her for the
good of society and for her own happiness, can be easily used to the
detriment of both; such is necessarily the case the moment she sinks
in her own estimation, so as to account herself a being of little
value. It is a matter of vital importance to her to have a just idea
of the value of the present she is making when she engages her heart
and her fidelity. In fact, when a thing is lightly appreciated, we
make little account of giving it away and less of choosing those to
whom we give it. Now, if we consider the deplorable facility with
which a vast number of women obey the caprice of their heart or of
their imagination, we will be led to conclude that their valuation of
them--selves is very low indeed. They seem to lose sight of the fact
that in giving their heart they give the key to all the treasures
that enrich their soul; they give their will, all their thoughts,
their whole life. They sometimes give more than all this, they give
their eternal salvation, their conscience, and God Himself, putting
in His place, by a sort of idolatry, the object that claims their
heart.
To prevent this deplorable prodigality of themselves, women should
spare no pains to comprehend thoroughly their dignity, of which they
can never have too high an appreciation or too great an esteem. It
would be most prejudicial to them to lower in their own mind their
just value by a false humility.
The most humble of all women is, at the same time, she who had the
best knowledge of her dignity. And her humility, which was never
equaled by that of any other woman, did not hinder her from seeing
the great things that God had operated in her, as she herself
proclaims in that sublime canticle which is the "Magna Charta" of the
rights, the prerogatives and the greatness of woman.
The two most beautiful and most elevated things in all creation are
the intelligence of man and, the heart of woman. They are the special
objects of God's complacency. He seems to be absorbed in the work of
their education; to this end he seems to have converged all the
miracles wrought by His divine Son, all the mysteries of Jesus Christ.
To impart to man a knowledge of truth and a love of virtue was the
end that God proposed to Himself in the creation of the world. But
the order which he had established was iniquitously subverted, and
this subversion has shaken society to its very foundation, leading
man's intelligence to conceive a hatred for truth and to become the
slave of error; turning away the heart of woman from what is truly
good and great to pander to false and transitory goods, which sully
without contenting it.
The heart of woman may be said to be the source from which flows all
the good or evil that consoles or afflicts mankind. As the city and
state receive their form and character from the family, so the family
is modelled after the type of the mother's heart, since upon her
devolves the culture of the infant mind, that all-important education
upon which depends man's weal or woe, both for time and eternity.
Hence it is that, while writing this little work, and considering
that many to whom it is addressed will read its pages, namely those
who are destined to be one day heads of families, charged with the
education of several children, who in turn will found numerous
families to act a more or less important part in the great movement
by which the plan of divine Providence is executed throughout ages, I
feel a kind of profound respect, bordering on reverential awe, that
engages me to pray God to inspire me with thoughts equal to the
sublimity of my subject.
Whoever you may be that read and meditate this little book, I honor
and venerate the dignity of your vocation; I regard you as an august
and sacred being. I admire the great designs that God has over you; I
pray Him to have you participate in the sovereign esteem and respect
with which your condition inspires me. You are as yet free from all
engagements, in the bloom of youth, adorned with the treasures of
innocence and candor, standing like a queen upon the threshold of the
future which opens before you like a spacious temple. The past is
immaculate and free from the sting of remorse; with a vigorous mind
and will you behold the future's perspective without anxiety or
dismay,--rich in pious souvenirs, saintly hopes, heavenly thoughts
and merits acquired by prayer and the practice of virtue, ignorant of
vice and its bitter consequences, save by the pictures that have been
painted in order to inspire you with horror for it; your liberty is
such that every Christian soul envies your happy state. You possess a
power--I would almost say, a majesty--that no one can help admiring
and revering. As there is no one freer than he who has never been the
slave of sin, so there is no man stronger than he who has never
succumbed to the allurements of pleasure. The woof of your life is
there spread out before you intact and flexible, you can dispose and
weave it as you please; you will now find none of those knotty or
broken threads which, in after life, must sometimes be met with.
You are now at the period of life at which all the roads of life
meet. You can choose the one that pleases you most, and enter on the
good way with all that generous ardor so natural to youth. But,
whatever you do, whatever the choice you may make, you will occasion
the future weal or woe of many, perhaps for many generations. Whether
spouse of Jesus Christ or of man, whether mother of a family or of
the poor, whether a cloistered nun or a celibate in the world, you
will neither save nor lose your soul alone; the effects of your
virtues or vices shall be reproduced, long after your departure from
the scene of life, in the lives of beings yet unborn, in favor of
whom divine Providence implores your compassion. What a solemn
moment! What sublime power! Have you given it serious thought?
Transport yourself, in thought, to the house of Nazareth, recall to
mind the day on which Gabriel proposed to your Queen to become the
mother of God, asking her consent to the Incarnation, by which was to
be accomplished the salvation of the world. The angel's words
astonished Mary's humility so far as to make her recoil before such a
prodigious elevation, and, to obtain her consent, it was necessary to
assure her that the Holy Ghost Himself would accomplish in her this
prodigy. Indeed, it was a most memorable moment in the world's
history,--a moment wherein the salvation of the entire human race
hung upon the word of a virgin's lips.
Now, in your present condition, at this period of your life, you
bear a certain resemblance to the Blessed Virgin at Nazareth, on the
day of the Annunciation. A glorious destiny is also announced to you;
to you also is promised a saintly posterity, if you give your consent
and concurrence to the Holy Ghost, with docility to the operation of
His grace. Be not astonished at so great an honor. The choice that
you are going to make, the course that you are going to adopt, will
determine and fix the fate of a family, of a generation,--of many
generations perhaps, for God alone can tell how far the influence of
your virtues or the result of your faults may extend.
If you have no regard for your own salvation or glory, oh, at least
have pity for those whom the hand of God will place under your care,
to be modeled by your instructions and example. Have compassion on
them and on those who, succeeding them, must inherit your virtues or
vices. Oh! how pleasing to God and respected of men is the young lady
who, piously impressed with the greatness of her vocation, prepares
for the future in a Christian manner, and resolves courageously to
embrace and faithfully to discharge all its duties.
Like Mary, the model and glory of your sex, you also, but in a
spiritual manner, are carrying Jesus Christ within you; and He, by
the operation of the Holy Ghost, is leaving the impress of His
virtues in your soul, that one day you may give Him birth
spiritually, producing Him externally by a pure and Christian life.
Like her you should be ready to accomplish the will of God in your
own regard, saying, as she did, with sentiments of obedience and
profound humility: "_Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done
unto me according to Thy word;_" abandoning your soul with perfect
docility to the operation of the Holy Ghost, following Him wherever
He desires to lead you. Let your soul glorify God, and rejoice in Him
on account of the great things He has done in you, remembering that
His mercy extends from generation to generation, in favor of those
who fear him, and that holy families, fearing God, are formed by the
lessons and examples of virtuous, God-fearing women. He reduces to
naught those who confide in their own power and strength, while He
sustains and exalts the humble. He freely shares His treasures with
those who desire them, and reduces to indigence those who glory in
their own abundance.
Let this beautiful canticle dwell in your heart and be the prayer of
your lips; in this canticle, composed by the Mother of God, the honor
and glory of your sex, or rather by the Holy Ghost Himself, who
inspired her, He has inscribed all the rights and glories of women,
by celebrating in it the power of her feebleness, the greatness of
her humility and of all those modest virtues which so well become
your condition.
A Christian woman who would never lose sight of what she is, of her
worth, of her moral capabilities and of her sacred duties, will find
in the frequent meditation of this sublime canticle considerations
suggestive of thoughts and sentiments corresponding to God's designs
over her. She should nourish her soul with the vivifying substance of
the words it contains, and look therein for light to dispel her
doubts, and for consolation in her troubles. In them she will also
find a cheering hope in her languor, a powerful prayer in temptation,
an acceptable act of thanksgiving, and a hymn of joy and triumph in
her victories.