Dear Parishioners,

Whenever we read scripture, we have to remember that it is the Word of God. It is not for us to judge scripture but to really humble ourselves and try to understand it on its own terms. We have many aids to understand scripture and there are more than ever great Catholic programs to help us understand it like the upcoming Bible Study on Romans. It is important that all Catholics have a deep understanding of scripture because it is God’s message for us and reveals to us everything we need to know for salvation.

I bring this up because many people too quickly dismiss the teaching found in today’s second reading. It quotes St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians saying, “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.” When people read that they can immediately jump to the conclusion that the Church is anti-women or that women are less important than men. This interpretation is explicitly condemned in Pius XI’s encyclical Castii Conubii where he says:

The Apostle commends in these words: “Let women be subject to their husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ is the head of the Church.” This subjection, however, does not deny or take away the liberty which fully belongs to the woman both in view of her dignity as a human person, and in view of her most noble office as wife and mother and companion; nor does it bid her obey her husband’s every request if not in harmony with right reason or with the dignity due to wife; nor, in fine, does it imply that the wife should be put on a level with those persons who in law are called minors, to whom it is not customary to allow free exercise of their rights on account of their lack of mature judgment, or of their ignorance of human affairs. (CC 26-28)

The truth that St. Paul is teaching here is that there is an order in the family and that order should resemble the order we find in the Church and God. That’s why he begins by saying husbands and wives should be subordinate to each other. Then, he goes on to explain how they are subordinate. The wife is subordinate to her husband and the husband literally has to cherish his wife and sacrifice his life for hers. I believe St. John Chrysostom stated this teaching most clearly:

Have you noted the measure of obedience? Pay attention to love’s high standard. If you take the premise that your wife should submit to you, as the church submits to Christ, then you should also take the same kind of careful, sacrificial thought for her that Christ takes for the church. Even if you must offer your own life for her, you must not refuse. Even if you must undergo countless struggles on her behalf and have all kinds of things to endure and suffer, you must not refuse. Even if you suffer all this, you have still not done as much as Christ has for the church. For you are already married when you act this way, whereas Christ is acting for one who has rejected and hated him. (St. John Chrysostom, Homily on Ephesians 20:5:25).

God Bless!

Fr. Carter