Our world has forgotten what it means to be human. We are lost amidst machines–cars, computers, televisions. We spend our days largely alone, surrounded by the humming of electric wires, and we begin to think that this is life. We are terrible fooled.
Our Lord has created us for so much more. If we look at the lives of our ancestors, we see a glimpse of it; yes, they died younger, with no antibiotics (we use them only for emergencies in our family) and hygienic surgery. But, oh, how they lived. They spent their days amidst the Love Letter From God that is the outdoors. Their bodies adapted to the changing seasons, and they detoxed through sweating. Imagine that, actually sweating when it is hot. They made their own music and delighted in their homemade entertainment, with riddles and games and reading aloud. Anyone who still reads aloud knows the delight of hearing Bilbo’s words spoken with special accents and how perfectly pipe smoke and a little whiskey add to that delight.
And, food. Oh, good food. Homemade bread and cheese and ale and chicken stock. Homegrown vegetables that actually tasted good, rather than simply looking like a vegetable (as do tomatoes, etc from the grocery). They roasted suckling pigs on New Years and ate peacock on Christmas. They scoured the woods for chestnuts and mushrooms and greens. They grew their wheat and grapes and brought it to the altar, where it became the very Body and Blood of Our Lord. They understood that, because Jesus took on corruptible flesh, every corruptible aspect of the created world was elevated and purified and transformed by Him, if they simply united all things with His salvific work; so they blessed everything with Holy Water–seeds, fire, soil, water, houses, salt, and so forth.
My, how they lived.
What is wonderfully hopeful is that our culture is increasingly filled with desire for abundant life. The Paleo diet’s popularity, as well as the local food fad and the increase in pedestrian friendly neighborhoods, point to widespread interest in human living, in contrast to life powered and regulated by machines. Our generation is starving, quite literally, for good nutrition and community.
And, that, my dear daughters, is our feminine forte. We are just the ones to evangelize society through these human means. Before we can explain why marriage is between one man and one woman or truly transform our culture into a place where abortion is unthinkable, we need to remind man what it means to be human. We Catholics are often accused of being narrow-minded and out of touch with the real world. What our interlocutors don’t know is that we hold the Catechism which is the very recipe for life incredibly rich, abundant, and healthy. We have to show that to them. Before our neighbors will trust us enough to come with us to Mass or actually believe us when we talk about the negative effects of contraception, we have to show them that we understand their desire to be healthy, to lose weight, and to be happy. We can’t talk about theology until we’ve covered the essentials of life, and we can’t become saints until we are fully human.
If grace builds on nature, as says St. Thomas Aquinas, nature has to be firm and healthy first.
That is our task, my dear ones. And, that is the mission of Its Fun To Be A Girl, to offer to every woman a rich banquet of femininity. This spring, I will present the first IFTBAG weekend workshop at an Austin parish, God willing; in addition, the FOCUS missionaries at UT hope to organize a workshop there as well. Please pray for the mission of this little apostolate and know that I pray for each of you, young women, as you form yourselves into missionaries of human-ness.
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