God is so good!
12:19 PMI'll say it again - God is so good!! If we are open to His Spirit, He will lead us exactly where we need to go.
Lately, I've been struggling to articulate a truly Christian response to the unjust state of gender relations in our world. Working in a domestic violence shelter, I see effects of violence towards women on a daily basis. This violence is not only physical, but emotional, psychological, and spiritual as well. This violence attacks every facet of women's worth and dignity. And too often, these abuses are subtly (and not so subtly) reinforced by cultural values that debase women by turning them into objects of sexual pleasure, by telling them that their worth is entirely defined by the extent to which they are able to sexually captivate men.
Too often throughout history, and even in our own times, sacred scripture has been used to justify and rationalize violence towards women. In the past, my reaction to this misuse of scripture was simply to disregard scripture and the Church that had preserved it. Yet lately, something has been pushing me to investigate Church teachings with a more open heart and mind.
And so, by a series of events, I was led to the "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the collaboration of men and women in the Church and in the World". I half-expected a rigid tome on traditional gender roles, one that would define woman solely by her biological "destiny" - yet what I found was an astoundingly beautiful reflection on the dignity of woman as a full and equal partner with man in the life of society and the Church. I am increasingly awed and humbled by the steadfast witness of the faith I once denounced as misogynistic.
I found this document so powerful for several reasons. Firstly, because of its honest acknowledgment of the fact that state of gender relations in our world has, more often than not, been plagued by unjust domination on the part of men, leading to countless violations of the dignity and worth of women.
Secondly, because of its bold proclamation that these abuses are not part of God's plan for men and women. In the beginning, God created both men and women in the image and likeness of Himself, and gave us as gifts to one another, to be joined in a union of mutual love, respect, honor, and dignity. Yet as a result of original sin, God's vision for men and women has been distorted, resulting in the unbalanced gender relations that have characterized so much of human history. Viewed through the lens of original sin, the harmony that is supposed to exist between men and women becomes "a relationship in which love will frequently be debased into pure self-seeking, in a relationship which ignores and kills love and replaces it with the yoke of domination of one sex over the other...In this tragic situation, the equality, respect and love that are required in the relationship of man and woman according to God's original plan, are lost."
And thirdly (and most importantly!), because of its deep faith that "in Christ the rivalry, enmity and violence which disfigured the relationship between men and women can be overcome and have been overcome." In Christ, men and women are called to reclaim the true love and respect of God's original plan for humanity. This is a plan which shows deep respect for the unique gifts of men and women, without falsely proclaiming that one set of gifts is greater or more useful than the other. This is a plan which upholds the dignity of women as wives and mothers, while at the same time bearing witness to the gifts of reason and intelligence which indicate that "women should be present in the world of work and in the organization of society, and that women should have access to positions of responsibility which allow them to inspire the policies of nations and to promote innovative solutions to economic and social problems."
The relationship between men and women described in this document is symbolic of the state of all of human existence - fundamentally good in the plan of the Creator, yet damaged and distorted by our fallen state. Yet the death and resurrection of Christ reminds us that the goodness of God's original vision can be, and has been, redeemed.
These truths give me hope that as we move towards the Kingdom of God on earth, we will move towards a world in which violence is no longer perpetrated against women. We will move towards a world in which all people are able to live out the fullness of their humanity - not in the fallen state we live in now, but in the glorious perfection of God's original vision for us.
And that vision is nothing more and nothing less than Love incarnate.
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