And God Created Woman...

The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him." So the LORD God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man. So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called 'woman,' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken."Genesis 2: 19-23

I have been thinking about this since last Wednesday. I was in conversation with a priest. I told him I wanted to start my own order: Our Lady of the Levis, and we would all wear jeans. He told me that nuns and sisters could not wear jeans. I asked why. He said because it shows their shape.

Excuse me?

So we wear a sack cloth because men can't discipline themselves? I am thinking and hoping that whatever came out of my mouth was reasonably polite. Is this system as archaic as that? I seem to remember saying, "Well, they let men wear pants. It shows their shape, too." Sigh...another black mark against me in the Church. Thank heaven God is more reasonable!

I am confused. God made us, men and women, beautiful on purpose. He made us to be attractive to each other, right? That way we would procreate. We could perpetuate the species. It's a win-win situation.

Choosing the religious life is a deliberate free-will choice to, in the place of a specific human spouse, to choose the church as a spouse. This means to me what John of the Cross said, and I paraphrase: to love everything, one must desire to possess nothing. Including a spouse. At least in the Roman Catholic way. And I lean toward support of that doctrine, perhaps even more for women than for men. Women I think, hold a greater desire to protect the individual family. Men, I have observed, are more able to compartmentalize their feelings. They can do a job and have a family and they don't seem to encounter the conflict that many women do. Women are more aesthetic. They want it all to go together.

Hence the quagmire I have created for myself.

Shakespeare recognizes our constant battle, and makes sport of it:
The way it begins:
Katerina: "Asses are made to bear and so are you."
Petruchio: "Women are made to bear and so are you."
Katerina: "No such jade as you, if me you mean."
Act 2 Scene 1 "Taming of the Shrew"
And of course, the way it ends:
Petruchio: "Nay, I will win my wager better yet and show more signs of her obedience, Her new built virtue and obedience." Act 5 Scene 1


"To the woman he said: "I will intensify the pangs of your childbearing; in pain shall you bring forth children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, and he shall be your master." Genesis 3:16

In the Jerusalem Bible it says, "Your yearning will be for your husband and he will lord it over you."

Sigh...it is true. Power corrupts. There is so much more to say here, but I will leave it for another day.

I was at Panera on Friday and I saw a woman, in the very humid heat, covered from head to foot, with only her eyes visible to me, wearing a heavy black fabric outfit. No doubt she values her religion and her faith very much. I can admire that.

I value my faith and my religion very much also.

But I like wearing jeans. I do not see how wearing them would inhibit my ability to preach and live out the gospel. I'm thinking God gave me these blue eyes to draw people in, to get curious about me and then be surprised that I am all about God. God gave me a curious voice that people like to hear...and when I speak words from the Bible or pray, I think some people understand better and more. God hav me the gift of playing the piano, that, when I am in a state of prayer, actually calms and centers people in their own prayers.

Whatever beauty I possess, I offer it to God to use as He pleases. It is not meant to be a distraction, but an attraction...to the life I am trying to live.

There has got to be a better way. I just heard this morning about a woman who was terribly abused...and she is pregnant again. I am sad for her and praying that she will not kill this child, but these kinds of things have just got to stop. Wearing a bag for clothes will not stop or change that behavior. We have to find a way to claim beauty as a part of God's design and not as a symbol of some kind of power over each other. God didn't mean for us to mistreat and use one another.

He wants us to love one another. And I'm frustrated because...it seems we are spinning our wheels staring at the wrong things.

OK...I'll be quiet now...but only for a little while.

Love, Cindy