On January 1, the eighth day of the octave of Christmas, the Latin rite of the Catholic Church celebrated the solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. It is a celebration of Mary’s motherhood of Jesus, the son of God. Obviously, the feast reminds us that it was through Mary that Jesus got his real body and through which he was able to sacrifice his total self in redemption for the humankind. If it was not through the immaculately conceived Mary, the second person in the trinity would not have had his human nature. Mother Mary thus was a chosen one to become the womb of God. And she truly served the purpose by her humble life. She is a model to everyone.
The umpteen crimes against women like; rape, kidnapping and abduction for specified purposes, homicide for dowry, dowry deaths or their attempts, physical and mental torture, assault on women with the intent to outrage her modesty, girl trafficking, etc. are incidences that tell us that we need to do lots to improve the attitudes towards women that are ingrained in us.
Every woman must believe that she is blessed and although like Eve one can falter there are opportunities given by the grace of God to be holy. When a woman believes in herself and the unique purpose with which God has created her, she then moves to striving everyday to keep that holiness and purity intact. The power within every girl must assist her to defend any turmoil she may undergo. It is then our task, as man and woman, walking hand in hand to rest assure positive vibes towards every gender. ‘Blessed are you’ is a notification to every human being individually sculptured by God.
The moment we start respecting our own mothers and sisters will we see a change, not that all of a sudden there will be a drop in the atrocities against women. It will gradually happen only when we view women not as objects of our gratification, when we create a safe environment for co-existence, when we value the amazing and indistinctive contribution they make to the society and universe at large. Provision of equality has always been a question but when this question loses its relevance is when we would have attained perfect unity. May Mary’s motherhood of Jesus speak to us invariably of the divinity the Lord has blessed every woman with.
