A Homily on Gender Ideology

 (Formerly a Homily for the Sunday of Myrrh-bearing Women: Mark 15:43–16:8)

In the gospel that we heard today, there was a group of women who wanted to anoint the body of our lord with perfumed oils as it was custom. To their surprise the tomb was empty. They were also surprised to meet a man in the tomb who told them about the resurrection. This person also instructed them to proclaim the good news to the apostles.

 

Some of the Fathers of our tradition, when teaching about this gospel, wanted to emphasize that the first people to hear and proclaim the good news about the resurrection were women. They did this because throughout history women were not always treated with the dignity that they deserve. As we know, this continues to be the case in our modern times. The difference now is, we are being told by certain people in our society that being a woman is a subjective experience.  

 

Many Years ago, when he was in this world, St. John Paul II wrote a long series of teachings that are  prophetic for our time. They are prophetic for what women are facing today. These teachings became known as the Theology of the Body and in them, he destroys the idea that being a woman, or a man, is a subjective experience. He does this by demonstrating that our genders are given to us by God. According to him, our gender is the most sacred part about us. It is sacred because it is a gift to us to make God known, not just ourselves known.

 

The Saint wanted to assure us, as scripture teaches, that we are created in the image of God. If you recall, in the book of Genesis, God told Adam and Eve, after they had been made in the image and likeness of God, to be fruitful and multiply. This was not just a call for procreation, it was a call to continue God’s presence in the world. The saint teaches that this is accomplished in us by becoming biological or spiritual mothers and fathers.  When we fail to accomplish this, when there is no longer a difference between a man or a woman, when that truth about us becomes subjective or irrelevant, then the image of God in us is not seen. The presence that God wants to make known through us to the world becomes obscured.

 

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it says that God is beyond gender and is a mystery that our minds cannot comprehend. What St. John Paul II was teaching us is that our gender reveals and makes known the mystery of what God is. Our Byzantine Fathers in reminding us that it was to women that the gospel was first proclaimed hoped that we would see God in women. In doing so, Saint John Paul II said that one of the ways to do this is to get to know the Theotokos, for she is, according to him, the face of the Holy Spirit.

 

Consider for a moment what the saint is saying, the Theotokos is everything, in her gender, that God is but as a created human person, as he said the face of the Holy Spirit, the face of God. As he teaches, she in her gender reveals what God is in the fullest most complete way she can. If this is the case with her, what does that say about what we can do?

 

There was this somewhat famous movie producer who was in prison in the 80s for drug-related crimes. When he was there, He said that he did not think it was possible for him to ever quit his criminal lifestyle. At that time, a future saint, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, came to a liturgy at his prison. When he saw her there, he said that he saw God. This caused him to change his life. He never thought it would be possible to be where he is at today, but this image of God in her altered the course of his life. Like with what Saint Teresa did, God is calling us today to alter lives in the beauty of what we are. For a man this means being like the greatest man that ever was, our Lord Jesus Christ and for a woman it means being like the greatest woman that ever was, the Theotokos. In doing so we will change this world.