feminine-genius

A necessary disruption

Vultis Christi has lovely meditations and notes focusing our attention in the right place during this penitential season:

Lent is supposed to be unsettling. Lent is supposed to disrupt our routines. Lent is about entering into another rhythm of life, a rhythm different from the one by which we ordinarily organize our lives. The unwillingness to be disturbed, to make a change, even a very little one, in what has become customary reveals an underlying resistance to the grace of conversion. Newman speaks of indolence. Indolence is a state of sluggishness; it is the habit of seeking to avoid exertion. The indolent person says, “I am quite comfortable with things as they are, thank you. I have neither the desire nor the need to change my routines, to displace myself, or to do anything differently from the way I have always done it.” Indolence is incompatible with Lent.

The opposite explained therein is alacrity, "an eager willingness to get up and get moving." As I ponder the disaster in the kitchen, the stacks of unfolded clothes, and the daily chores, I need to pray for more alacrity. This goes beyond duty, certainly! Time to take inventory:

Concretely, we are obliged today to ask ourselves, after seven days of Lenten observance, to what extent we have allowed our little routines to be unsettled and changed. If Lent has not disrupted my life — literally, caused a break in things as they are and have been — I have not yet entered into its grace.

Thoughts for Lent

We have a couple weeks 'til Lent, and once again I'm toying with the idea of giving up all politics (news, blogs, all sources of secular day-to-day events). I did it for Advent and it was refreshing -- but that was only four weeks with lots of chores to distract. Seven weeks -- can it be done?

Having just read the chapter offered by CERC of Dinesh D'Sousa's new book, the idea is taking root. Do not read it unless you want a radical rethink to take place upstairs. I've read widely on Islam from many, many sources from historical tomes to tell-all-tales of unhappy women. But D'Sousa's book is different if that chapter is any indication. I think he's gotten in the head of the Other Side and made sense.

If you carefully read bin Laden's statements, not to scoff at the ravings of a maniac but to genuinely understand what the man is trying to communicate, two major themes emerge. One is that the Islamic world and Islam itself are gravely threatened, and the other is that America is the chief threat to the survival of both.

Okay, so far the threat is justified. They kill innocents, we plant liberty, right? But who is "America?" That's the key question.

In his "Letter to America," released in November 2002, bin Laden enumerates his grievances against the United States. Contrary to "the deceptive lie that you are a great nation," bin Laden informs the American people that theirs is a country based on "oppression, lies, immorality, and debauchery." He calls on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and trading with interest" and instead to embrace "manners, principles, honor, and purity." American culture, he says, has become a kind of "abyss." Specifically, "You are a nation that permits acts of immorality and you consider them to be pillars of personal freedom." ... In addition, "you are a nation that exploits women like consumer products" after which "you then rant that you support the liberation of women." Finally, bin Laden calls America a civilization in rebellion against God because "you separate religion from your policies" and thus "contradict the absolute authority of the Lord and Creator."

Regardless of the "source," these words are true. There is nothing mentioned there that Christians don't deplore, nor is there anything mentioned that we not only allow but promote freely in all media outlets. These are not abominations we pretend don't exist, but things many people are proud of -- and export at great profit. Elsewhere he writes:

I also argue that the policies that U.S. "progressives" promote around the world -- including abortion rights, contraception for teenagers and gay rights -- are viewed as an assault on traditional values by many cultures, and have contributed to the blowback of Islamic rage... When Planned Parenthood International opens clinics in non-Western countries and dispenses contraceptives to unmarried girls, many see it as an assault on prevailing religious and traditional values. When human rights groups use their interpretation of international law to pressure non-Western countries to overturn laws against abortion or to liberalize laws regarding homosexuality, the traditional sensibilities of many of the world's people are violated.

D'Sousa explains why their version of "innocents" is not the same as ours:

Even attacks on civilians in America are justified, bin Laden argues, because in a democracy the citizens are not detached from the actions of their government. The basic idea of democracy is that the people are the government. As bin Laden puts it, "it is a fundamental principle of democracy that the people choose their leaders, and as such approve and are party to the action of their leaders." The American people are ultimately accountable, he contends, because "they chose their government, and voted for it despite their knowledge of its crimes."

So where am I going with this? I cannot influence the war effort. I cannot bring about a "theocracy" that reflects Catholic values -- and don't think it's possible with our Constitution. Thus I am left with a government bound to defend depravity and an implacable foe. What does a woman do?

I intend to make this Lent an intense one, in order to find direction in this difficult time. I mentioned Elena's blog and she has loads of materials on the French revolution, another time when the Church had no viable options. Blood everywhere, mixed with tears and prayers.

I ask you, dear readers to put together a little plan for Lent -- reading materials, prayer time, and much supplication for guidance. I'm reminded of the words of Cardinal Ratzinger who said:

Perhaps the time has come to say farewell to the idea of traditionally Catholic cultures. Maybe we are facing a new and different kind of epoch in the Church’s history, where Christianity will again be characterized more by the mustard seed, where it will exist in small, seemingly insignificant groups that nonetheless live an intensive struggle against evil and bring good into the world -- that let God in.

Remember, women are the icon of this very Church that may be so transformed in our lifetimes. Without undue drama, I know that the age of woman -- humble, faithful, life-giving -- is upon us and we need to be courageous. "Be not afraid," but have your lamps trimmed and ready. Let's prepare for a great Lent.

One small lamp in the dark

Speroforum reprints an article I had read many years ago, which is an excellent backdrop for our tiny mortifications offered in the coming weeks. It concerns a midwife taken prisoner at Auschwitz who tended to the sick in horrific conditions.

Stanislawa spent two years in the women's facility at Auschwitz, working as a midwife in three different blocks. The "sick-ward" in all of these was the same: 40-meter long bare wooden barracks heated by single brick stove. Because the camp was situated in a low-lying area, the barracks were frequently flooded with 2-3 inches of water. Within the sick-ward were three layers of bunks, lining both sides of the building. Up to three or four women would sleep on the filth-covered bunks at a time. The straw "mattresses", ridden with vermin, had long ago been ground nearly to dust and thus provided little comfort. Most women were left to lie on nothing more than wooden planks.

She worked diligently to help in whatever way she could. Imagine what labour and delivery is like in the best of conditions, and then move it to that place, and wonder what immeasurable suffering took place.

"In these conditions," explains Stanislawa, "the fate of the women in labor was tragic, and the role of the midwife extremely difficult. There were no antiseptics, no dressings, and no medicine, other than a small quota of aspirin." The food, such as it was, consisted mainly of "decayed, boiled greens." Initially, Stanislawa had to manage on her own, with occasional help from her young daughter. ... Later, she was aided by female physicians who were themselves prisoners. As evidence of Stanislawa's deep humility, she placed very little emphasis on her own remarkable work. Rather, she spoke of the "greatness of the doctors, their devotion, [which] is frozen in the eyes of those who, tormented with the bondage of suffering, will never speak again. . . . The physicians did not work there for fame, approval, nor for the fulfillment of professional ambitions. All these motives were put aside. There remained only the medical duty of saving life in every case and in every situation, compounded with compassion for human suffering."

What graces must have flowed as God's gift to the children held bound by torment.

When time for delivery approached, the already famished mother had to give up her bread ration for a time in order obtain a sheet which would be used to make diapers and clothing for the child. Needless to say, the Nazis did not provide such things. To make things worse, there was no running water in the barracks which made cleaning diapers a risky experience, since inmates were not permitted to move freely in the block. Any cleaning had to be done surreptitiously. Finally, there was no extra food or milk allocated for the infants. But simple neglect apparently did not satisfy the camp administrators. Thus, criminal inmates were employed to dispose of the troublesome infants.

Until May 1943, all the children born in Auschwitz were drowned in a barrel. These operations were performed by Schwester [sister] Klara, a German midwife who was imprisoned for infanticide. "As a Berufsverbrecherin (one guilty of occupational crime), and thus forbidden to practice her profession," says Stanislawa, "she was entrusted with a function to which she was more suited." Later, Klara was aided by a German prostitute, the redheaded Schwester Pfani. "After each delivery, the mothers were able to hear the characteristic gurgle and splashing water" as their babies were disposed of.

The situation changed somewhat in May 1943. "Aryan-looking" children, with blue eyes and fair hair, were spared Schwester Klara's treatment and sent to a center in the town of Naklo to be "de-nationalized." There they would end up in orphanages or were placed with German parents.

"Hoping that in the future it would be possible to recover these children, to bring them back to their mothers," Stanislawa explains, "I organized a method of marking the children with a 'tatoo' that would not be recognized by the SS guards. Many a mother was comforted by the thought that some day she would be able to find her lost happiness." Meanwhile, the fate of those left behind was hardly improved. The infants slowly died from malnutrition. Among the countless tragedies witnessed by Stanislawa, one in particular, stands out.

"I vividly recall a woman from Vilno, sent to Auschwitz for giving help to the partisans. Immediately after giving birth to a child her number was called out. . . I went to excuse her. This did not help but merely intensified anger. I realized she was being called out to the crematorium. She wrapped the child in a dirty piece of paper, pressed it to her breasts. . . Her lips moved noiselessly. She tried to sing her baby a song, as mothers often did there, murmuring to their infants various lullabies with which they tried to compensate them for the piercing cold and hunger, for their misery. However, she did not have the strength. . . she was unable to emit a sound . . . only large copious tears came from under her eyelids, flowing over her unusually pale cheeks and falling onto the head of the tiny child condemned to death."

And this continues today, in various places around the world -- in parts of Africa, in North Korea, in totalitarian gulags, and where even natural disasters have struck. Let's remember mothers everywhere and those who are the most vulnerable. Jesus, mercy!

Entering Lent with Our Lady

From Romano Guardini:

Mary believed blindly. Again and again she had to confirm that belief, and each time with more difficulty. Her faith was greater, more heroic than that of any other human being. Involuntarily we call to mind Abraham and the sudden, terrible sublimity of his faith; but more was demanded of Mary than Abraham. For years she had to combat an only too natural confusion. Who was this "Holy One" whom she, a mere girl, had borne? This "great" one she had suckled and known in all his helplessness? Later she had to struggle against the pain of seeing him steadily outgrow her love, even purposely flee it to that realm of ineffable remoteness which she could not enter. Not only did she have to accept this, but to rejoice in it as in the fulfillment of God's will. Not understanding, never was she to lose heart, never to fall behind. Inwardly she accompanied the incomprehensible figure of her son every step of his journey, however dark. Perseverance in faith even on Calvary—this was Mary's inimitable greatness.

And literally, every step that the Lord took towards fulfillment of his godly destiny Mary followed—in bare faith. Comprehension came only with Pentecost. Then she understood all that she had so long reverently stored in her heart. It is this heroic faith which places her irrevocably at Christ's side in the work of redemption, not the miracles of Marianic legend. Legend may delight us with deep and gracious images, but we cannot build our lives on imagery, least of all when the very foundations of our belief begin to totter. What is demanded of us, as of her, is a constant wrestling in fide with the mystery of God and with the evil resistance of the world. Our obligation is not delightful poetry but granite faith—more than ever in this age of absolutes in which the mitigating spell is falling from all things and naked opposites clash everywhere. The purer we see and understand the figure of the Mother of God as she is recorded in the New Testament, the greater the gain for our Christian lives.

Let's accompany Mary closely in the coming weeks, begging for the graces to understand her motherly heart and her perfect submission to the plan of God -- for therein lies the feminine-genius.