And For Woman

Gentle woman, quiet light, morning star, so strong and bright, gentle Mother, peaceful dove, teach us wisdom; teach us love.

Today is quite possibly my favorite of the holy days of obligation: The Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

I was lucky enough to get a bit of time of work and be able to join Mommy at 9 o'clock mass, and as always, I feel complete after attending mass.

To anyone who says that the Catholic Church is anti-woman, I say, "Attend one of Mary's feast days, just one, and then say that again."

The Church holds women in the highest regard possible. Mary is the MOTHER OF GOD. You can't get much higher up than that.

You were chosen by the Father; you were chosen for the Son. You were chosen from all women and for woman, shining one.

The song brings up thoughts of what it means to be a mother. Are our children chosen for us for a particular reason? Yes, I believe so. And Mary, a strong, gentle woman, was chosen to be the Mother of God.

I love, though, that she questioned the Angel Gabriel when he brought her God's word. She said, "But I've never had relations with a man, how is it possible for me to have a child?"

Although she did say, "Let it be done to me," and accept God's will for her life, at first, she was rather confused. She didn't just blindly say, "Okay, whatever." She wanted to know how it was possible. And that reassures me that God will let me have a moment to work out in my mind how a certain thing is possible, how it is that I have come to this place in my life.

I have always felt specially protected by the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is my mother and my friend. She is a guiding light when I stop to think about what it means to be a girlfriend and eventually a wife and a mother. She had a wonderful husband in Joseph, but even he balked at God's plan. She accepted God's plan for her, regardless of how her husband would react. She didn't say, "But my fiance won't like it." She put GOD first.

Over the past year or so, I have struggled with what it means to be a girlfriend and remain wholely myself. It is impossible to be in a relationship and remain unchanged, but Mary shows us that our fundamental beliefs, our foundational values, do not change simply because there's a man involved.

Mary would have been a single, divorced mother, living in a time when that could result in her being stoned to death. But she was willing to accept the consequences of God's plan for her.

Am I?

Blessed are you among women, blest in turn all women, too. Blessed they with peaceful spirits. Blessed they with gentle hearts.