Jesus wasn't a chick. That's how Fr. Dominic started out one of the best homilies I've ever heard. Women are beautiful and God created them for wonderful things, things that men can't do, but the bottom line is that Jesus was a man. He talked like a man, acted like a man, and looked like a man.
The Gospel passage for yesterday that Fr. Dominic was reflecting on was when Jesus is in the Temple driving out all of the vendors. He throws a fit, turning over tables and yelling at everybody to get out in order to purify the Temple. Many times people in our culture tend to reduce Jesus to a feminized male- they portray Him only as sweet, loving, and gentle and leave out the strong and protective side of Him. This is carried over into our thoughts about men.. men who are religious tend to be thought of as less masculine than those who do more "macho" things than pray and go to church.
In this Gospel passage, Jesus is anything but feminine. And it shows an important point- that it is ok for men to be aggressive in standing up for what is true and good. It is ok for men to have power and be protectors, because that is their vocation as men. Fr. Dominic really called the men on to finding their vocation as males and not being afraid to live it out. This clashes with another trend in our society, the feminist movement. Men shouldn't be fearful of living up to their masculinity in the face of women who will accuse them of being too powerful.
Now, should men abuse this power? No. Should they be 100% aggressive all the time and never have a sensitive or emotional side to them? Of course not. Men should look to Jesus as their model of the perfect man- He was aggressive when He needed to be, and sensitive in other situations. The times He was powerful was when He was defending what was good. And this is the unique gift that God has given to men. To be the protector, to be the leader.
Does this offend me in my femininity at all? Absolutely not. But a few years ago it might have. Since then I have found what it truly means to be a woman, and it is so freeing because I am finally living out who I was meant to be, in the role I was meant to have. To be equal does not mean to be the same. God created man and woman to be compliments to each other, to work with each other to do His work. This means that we each have our own unique roles.
One of my favorite things about mass at Franciscan is when we sing the mass parts. Usually, the musicians play songs that have both a male part and then a female echo. It is so beautiful to see the men taking control of their part and singing strongly, and then hearing the beautiful sound of the women's voices united together. Each gender has their own part, which comes together beautifully to create the whole song. Without one, the song wouldn't be complete.
So guys, remember... Jesus wasn't a chick.
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