Realizing that Jesus did not wear trousers and Mary did not wear skirts, I am writing about our culture in the last 200 years with regard to dress. I think that the dress culture of Christ's day did change with Christianity and it would be interesting to follow those changes. One can say for sure that civilizations which were not Christianized until late did not see women moving into dresses until the 18th centuries or so.
Also, sems and priests wear cassocks, which is not a sign of transvestite dressing, but an older tradition, most likely coming from the fact that most priests for centuries were not secular, but in orders, such as Benedictines, Dominicans, Franciscan and so on.
I am writing for women in 2014, for the sake of role-modeling for little girls and for the necessity of avoiding the lies of society regarding "gender identity" issues.
Women who get angry when I write or talk about modesty have a problem. This is like the group which gets really angry when I write or speak about Harry Potter. If there was not a deep-seated knowledge that things are wrong in one's pursuit of dress or entertainment, why get so angry?
A few more points on women's clothing regarding the
evil of androgyny.
The Cultural Marxists and the Frankfort School of Marxism pushed androgyny. The writings of Antonio Gramsci (many posts on his on this blog) included these two phrases.
“I saw the revolutionary destruction of society as the one and only
solution to the cultural contradictions of the epoch.”
“Such a
worldwide overturning of values cannot take place without the
annihilation of the old values and the creation of new ones by the
revolutionaries.”
Part of the cultural changes he endeavored to start were the destruction of marriage, the family unit, and the introduction of the acceptance of homosexuality, androgyny and contraception.
The Marxist succeeded in changing the West culturally, as did other "isms" such as radical feminism from Marie Stopes and Margaret Sanger.
You can sit and read my many posts on Gramsci, if you have not done so.
But, you may ask, why is androgyny "evil"? Why is this an issue now, in 2014?
A few very basic points:
God created man and woman separately for various reasons. The main reason is that the woman "compliments" the man in her differences. If married, as Eve was to Adam, she is to be the "helpmate". Many women have rebelled against this helpmate ideal and do not want to help their husbands in their jobs, role as leader and priest in the domestic church, and even in intimacy.
The soul forms the body, not the other way around, and
our souls, therefore, are not separate from our being a man or a woman, although these souls do not have gender. In other words, my soul, which is manifested through my femaleness, is that of a woman, and I come to God through that reality.
We are not dualistic beings. We are unified, body and soul. We are not just bodies, but souls, and when the soul leaves the body, we die, we can no longer function as a union of spirit and matter. Only when our bodies are Resurrected on the Last Day, will we be joined again in that unity, which is separated in death. And, we shall get back our renewed bodies, with gender. Mary is our guide in this. She is in heaven body and soul, and recognizable even here on earth.
Our souls work in a way
not like those of the angels, who have no gender because they have no bodies. We are created as a man or a woman and that creation is our identity. Our bodies determine our gender, and our roles
, but we cannot separate the two .
"Man and woman He created them". We are not angels, we are not genderless or sexless.
Here are a few quotations from the
Catholic Encyclopedia to help with this.
The soul may be defined as the ultimate internal principle by which we think, feel, and will, and by which our bodies are animated.
And... all our souls are unique, as are our bodies....We are created from the moment of conception male or female. Our souls and bodies are created together.
- the rational soul, which is one with the sensitive and vegetative principle, is the form of the body. This was defined as of faith by the Council of Vienne of 1311;
- the soul is a substance, but an incomplete substance, i.e. it has a natural aptitude and exigency for existence in the body, in conjunction with which it makes up the substantial unity of human nature;
- though connaturally related to the body, it is itself absolutely simple, i.e. of an unextended and spiritual nature. It is not wholly immersed in matter, its higher operations being intrinsically independent of the organism;
- the rational soul is produced by special creation
at the moment when the organism is sufficiently developed to receive
it. In the first stage of embryonic development, the vital principle has
merely vegetative powers; then a sensitive soul comes into being, educed from the evolving potencies of the organism — later yet, this is replaced by the perfect rational soul, which is essentially immaterial and so postulates a special creative act. Many modern theologians have abandoned this last point of St. Thomas's teaching, and maintain that a fully rational soul is infused into the embryo at the first moment of its existence. (Our position now in the Church.)
Even God celebrates gender throughout the Bible and in the teachings of the Church. Christ's relationship with the Church and with the soul is that of the Bridegroom to the Bride, This fact is one reason why women who are feminine have an easier time coming to love God, as they can accept the female role of receiving.
But, the greatest saints, like St. Bernard and St. Augustine, allowed Christ to love them in the transcendent love which God pours into the soul. The Unitive State is one of receiving and being in Love.
This love is holy, is agape, is the complete sacrificial love of the Crucified One.
However, here is the real reason, the core of the evil of androgyny and why one can see this is from satan. Three connected points:
Androgyny denies the Incarnation.
Satan wants us to forget that Christ is both God AND Man, forever, in His Resurrected Body in heaven.
Androgyny also denies the Biblical account of Creation. Androgyny denies who we are as a person. I am unified in my femininity, body and soul.
Androgyny confuses the different roles of men and women, created by God.
The purposeful mixing up of the sense of identity makes people closed to the Incarnate God and to God the Father, and to the Spirit, Who was present at Creation.
Christ is fully Man and fully God. God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, as Spirits, do not have gender, but Christ, obviously, does.
He is not some odd transcendent, sexless, genderless being. That is the creed of some Gnostics and Neo-Gnostics.
In addition, through the Passion and Resurrection, we are made new. We are one nature, not two.
Christ redeemed humans on the Cross and redeemed nature. Gender differences are a great Good.
Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily
condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him
they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in
praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his
bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in
honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day." Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World.
We were restored to grace in our bodies as well as our souls, through Christ's Redemptive Act.
Women who refuse absolutely refuse to dress like a woman in our society, to see the beauty of the feminine, are denying Christ's Redemption of the entire female person in our times and falling for the lies of androgyny. We women were made new, to rejoice in our femininity
as Catholic women and in the West, femininity is expressed through dress.
I am sorry, but I suspect something wrong about women who
only wear men's clothes. It is unnatural and reflects not only a blind spot in the spirit, but perhaps severe sins, such as manipulation, rebellion, control.
Obviously, a woman may sin in these areas of emotional manipulation, rebellion and wanting control while wearing feminine clothing, but the constant expression of maleness can refer to a deeper problem.
Among my best friends, all wear dresses or skirts only.
Some change into trousers because of work around the house, but they only wear pants at home.
That is their decision. I wear skirts when washing windows on a ladder and when painting, or cleaning, or scrubbing floors.
Nuns manage to so all these things in long habits and so do I.
For a woman to deny her body as feminine is for her to deny her relationship with God as a woman.
If you are a woman and this article makes you angry, please stop and pray to Our Lady. Ask yourself this question: "Who am I?"
It is time to change, literally, your clothes.
I do not want to add to the misogyny I see on some other, even famous, Catholic blogs, but as a woman who learned to appreciate who I am before God and express myself through clothes, (even from the Good Will), I believe what I am writing needs to be addressed.
May I add that people have seen persons from heaven, hell and purgatory in visions or impressed upon the imagination. These people, without their bodies, are recognizable in their souls. The dead do not lose their gender-identity, as it were. If your great-grandmother is in heaven, she is there as a woman, not some odd transgendered soul. How do we recognize someone who is a man or a woman? Not merely by their bodies, but also, by their souls. We become holy through both our bodies and our souls. There is a mystery in this union.
More from the
CCC.
PART ONE
THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
SECTION TWO
THE PROFESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
CHAPTER ONE
I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER
ARTICLE I
"I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH"
Paragraph 6. Man
355 "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them."218
Man occupies a unique place in creation: (I) he is "in the image of
God"; (II) in his own nature he unites the spiritual and material
worlds; (III) he is created "male and female"; (IV) God established him
in his friendship.
I. "IN THE IMAGE OF GOD"
356 Of all visible creatures only man is "able to know and love his creator".219 He is "the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake",220
and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God's own
life. It was for this end that he was created, and this is the
fundamental reason for his dignity:
- What made you establish man in so great a
dignity? Certainly the incalculable love by which you have looked on
your creature in yourself! You are taken with love for her; for by love
indeed you created her, by love you have given her a being capable of
tasting your eternal Good.221
357
Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of
a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of
self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and
entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to
a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love
that no other creature can give in his stead.
358 God created everything for man,222 but man in turn was created to serve and love God and to offer all creation back to him:
- What is it that is about to be created,
that enjoys such honor? It is man that great and wonderful living
creature, more precious in the eyes of God than all other creatures! For
him the heavens and the earth, the sea and all the rest of creation
exist. God attached so much importance to his salvation that he did not
spare his own Son for the sake of man. Nor does he ever cease to work,
trying every possible means, until he has raised man up to himself and
made him sit at his right hand.223
359 "In reality it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear."224
- St. Paul tells us that the human race
takes its origin from two men: Adam and Christ. . . The first man, Adam,
he says, became a living soul, the last Adam a life-giving spirit. The
first Adam was made by the last Adam, from whom he also received his
soul, to give him life. . . The second Adam stamped his image on the
first Adam when he created him. That is why he took on himself the role
and the name of the first Adam, in order that he might not lose what he
had made in his own image. The first Adam, the last Adam: the first had a
beginning, the last knows no end. The last Adam is indeed the first; as
he himself says: "I am the first and the last."225
360 Because of its common origin the human race forms a unity, for "from one ancestor [God] made all nations to inhabit the whole earth":226
- O wondrous vision, which makes us
contemplate the human race in the unity of its origin in God. . . in the
unity of its nature, composed equally in all men of a material body and
a spiritual soul; in the unity of its immediate end and its mission in
the world; in the unity of its dwelling, the earth, whose benefits all
men, by right of nature, may use to sustain and develop life; in the
unity of its supernatural end: God himself, to whom all ought to tend;
in the unity of the means for attaining this end;. . . in the unity of
the redemption wrought by Christ for all.227
361 "This law of human solidarity and charity",228 without excluding the rich variety of persons, cultures and peoples, assures us that all men are truly brethren.
II. "BODY AND SOUL BUT TRULY ONE"
362
The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once
corporeal and spiritual. The biblical account expresses this reality in
symbolic language when it affirms that "then the LORD God formed man of
dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became a living being."229 Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by God.
363 In Sacred Scripture the term "soul" often refers to human life or the entire human person.230 But "soul" also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him,231 that by which he is most especially in God's image: "soul" signifies the spiritual principle in man.
364
The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a
human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it
is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of
Christ, a temple of the Spirit:232
- Man, though made of body and soul, is a
unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the
elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to
their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely
given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily
life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in
honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day. 233
365 The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the "form" of the body:234
i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter
becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two
natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.
366
The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by
God - it is not "produced" by the parents - and also that it is
immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death,
and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.235
367
Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for
instance prays that God may sanctify his people "wholly", with "spirit
and soul and body" kept sound and blameless at the Lord's coming.236 The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul.237
"Spirit" signifies that from creation man is ordered to a supernatural
end and that his soul can gratuitously be raised beyond all it deserves
to communion with God.238
368 The spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes the heart, in the biblical sense of the depths of one's being, where the person decides for or against God.239
* III. "MALE AND FEMALE HE CREATED THEM"
Equality and difference willed by God
369 Man and woman have been created, which is to say, willed by
God: on the one hand, in perfect equality as human persons; on the
other, in their respective beings as man and woman. "Being man" or
"being woman" is a reality which is good and willed by God: man and
woman possess an inalienable dignity which comes to them immediately
from God their Creator.240 Man and woman are both with one
and the same dignity "in the image of God". In their "being-man" and
"being-woman", they reflect the Creator's wisdom and goodness.
370
In no way is God in man's image. He is neither man nor woman. God is
pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the
sexes. But the respective "perfections" of man and woman reflect
something of the infinite perfection of God: those of a mother and those
of a father and husband.241
"Each for the other" - "A unity in two"
371 God
created man and woman together and willed each for the other. The Word
of God gives us to understand this through various features of the
sacred text. "It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make
him a helper fit for him."242 None of the animals can be man's partner.243
The woman God "fashions" from the man's rib and brings to him elicits
on the man's part a cry of wonder, an exclamation of love and communion:
"This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh."244 Man discovers woman as another "I", sharing the same humanity.
372
Man and woman were made "for each other" - not that God left them
half-made and incomplete: he created them to be a communion of persons,
in which each can be "helpmate" to the other, for they are equal as
persons ("bone of my bones. . .") and complementary as masculine and
feminine. In marriage God unites them in such a way that, by forming
"one flesh",245 they can transmit human life: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth."246
By transmitting human life to their descendants, man and woman as
spouses and parents cooperate in a unique way in the Creator's work.247
373 In God's plan man and woman have the vocation of "subduing" the earth248
as stewards of God. This sovereignty is not to be an arbitrary and
destructive domination. God calls man and woman, made in the image of
the Creator "who loves everything that exists",249 to share in his providence toward other creatures; hence their responsibility for the world God has entrusted to them.
IV. MAN IN PARADISE
374
The first man was not only created good, but was also established in
friendship with his Creator and in harmony with himself and with the
creation around him, in a state that would be surpassed only by the
glory of the new creation in Christ.
375
The Church, interpreting the symbolism of biblical language in an
authentic way, in the light of the New Testament and Tradition, teaches
that our first parents, Adam and Eve, were constituted in an original
"state of holiness and justice".250 This grace of original holiness was "to share in. . .divine life".251
376
By the radiance of this grace all dimensions of man's life were
confirmed. As long as he remained in the divine intimacy, man would not
have to suffer or die.252 The inner harmony of the human person, the harmony between man and woman,253 and finally the harmony between the first couple and all creation, comprised the state called "original justice".
377 The "mastery" over the world that God offered man from the beginning was realized above all within man himself: mastery of self. The first man was unimpaired and ordered in his whole being because he was free from the triple concupiscence254
that subjugates him to the pleasures of the senses, covetousness for
earthly goods, and self-assertion, contrary to the dictates of reason.
378 The sign of man's familiarity with God is that God places him in the garden.255 There he lives "to till it and keep it". Work is not yet a burden,256 but rather the collaboration of man and woman with God in perfecting the visible creation.
379 This entire harmony of original justice, foreseen for man in God's plan, will be lost by the sin of our first parents.
IN BRIEF
380 "Father,. . . you formed man in your own
likeness and set him over the whole world to serve you, his creator, and
to rule over all creatures" (Roman Missal, EP IV, 118).
381 Man is predestined to reproduce the image of God's Son made man, the "image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15), so that Christ shall be the first-born of a multitude of brothers and sisters (cf. Eph 1:3-6; Rom 8:29).
382 "Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity" (GS 14 § 1). The doctrine of the faith affirms that the spiritual and immortal soul is created immediately by God.
383 "God did not create man a solitary being. From the beginning, "male and female he created them" (Gen 1:27). This partnership of man and woman constitutes the first form of communion between persons" (GS 12 § 4).
384 Revelation makes known to us the state of
original holiness and justice of man and woman before sin: from their
friendship with God flowed the happiness of their existence in paradise.
218 Gen 1:27.
219 GS 12 § 3.
220 GS 24 § 3.
221 St. Catherine of Siena, Dialogue 4,13 "On Divine Providence": LH, Sunday, week 19, OR.
222 Cf. GS 12 § 1; 24 § 3; 39 § 1.
223 St. John Chrysostom, In Gen. Sermo 2,1: PG 54,587D-588A.
224 GS 22 § 1.
225 St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo 117: PL 52,520-521.
226 Acts 17:26; cf. Tob 8:6.
227 Pius XII, Enc. Summi Pontificatus 3; cf. NA 1.
228 Pius XII, Summi Pontificatus 3.
229 Gen 2:7.
230 Cf. Mt 16:25-26; Jn 15:13; Acts 2:41.
231 Cf. Mt 10:28; 26:38; Jn 12:27; 2 Macc 6:30.
232 Cf. 1 Cor 6:19-20; 15:44-45.
233 GS 14 § 1; cf. Dan 3:57-80.
234 Cf. Council of Vienne (1312): DS 902.
235 Cf. Pius XII, Humani Generis: DS 3896; Paul VI, CPG § 8; Lateran Council V (1513): DS 1440.
236 1 Thess 5:23.
237 Cf. Council of Constantinople IV (870): DS 657.
238 Cf. Vatican Council I, Dei Filius: DS 3005; GS 22 § 5; Humani Generis: DS 3891.
239 Cf. Jer 31:33; Deut 6:5; 29:3; Isa 29:13; Ezek 36:26; Mt 6:21; Lk 8:15; Rom 5:5.
240 Cf. Gen 2:7,22.
241 Cf. Isa 49:14-15; 66:13; Ps 131:2-3; Hos 11:1-4; Jer 3:4-19.
242 Gen 2:18.
243 Gen 2:19-20.
244 Gen 2:23.
245 Gen 2:24.
246 Gen 1:28.
247 Cf. GS 50 § 1.
248 Gen 1:28.
249 Wis 11:24.
250 Cf. Council of Trent (1546): DS 1511.
251 Cf. LG 2.
252 Cf. Gen 2:17; 3:16,19.
253 Cf. Gen 2:25.
254 Cf. 1 Jn 2:16.
255 Cf. Gen 2:8.
256 Gen 2:15; cf. 3:17-19
One, the cause began in Peoria and I personally know the monsignor responsible for that beginning. Many patrons have supported financially this cause coming out of Peoria.Two, there are many more practicing Catholics in Illinois and the Midwest who would benefit from going to a shrine, rather than the Church in NYC, which frankly is falling into ruin and disgrace. A shrine is for believers, a shrine does not make believers usually.
Three, the family is the Church not merely the relatives, who may or may not even be Catholic, as far as we know. What should count is the benefit for the Church at large and not private interests.
Four, there are many saints, including Nicholas, whose bodies were fought over. Nothing new here.
Five, as I see Cardinal Dolan as a liberal, he may not support the type of cult of a saint which happens with shrines and relics. Sorry, I do not trust his judgment on traditional things.
As you can see, I am on the Peoria side of this fight. If there is contradiction, it seems to be in NYC.