Family
Women
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Today, whatever my family situation is, how do I live my femininity or masculinity?
If the woman gives birth to a child, she is a creator of humanity and because of this, she offers another way of life, a different view of life. Women put humanity into motion. Humanity is truly clay in the hands of women. It is what she will bring to men and women, that will shape future generations.
Book of IVI: "Yvonne, why do you insist so much on the transformation of women? Does it come from Eve's sin, or just the fact that if women have a great capacity to sin, they also have much to give, as Mary showed us?"
Yvonne: Yes I know, I'll answer you. It's a question I get often. What about women? People think I'm hard on women, that I require much more of women than I do of men. But let's go back to the facts of life. Just look at what was happening in Egypt. Before the fall of Rome, but also well before the fall of Egypt, before the ancient Greeks even existed, women had significant roles and then gradually, mainly after the fall of this great empire, the role of women declined. Why? Simply because all laws were made for men. Just look at what was done in ancient Greece; all the laws were created for men and by men. Look at all the laws that Rome introduced; they were all set up by men. Women had very few responsibilities and were finally pushed entirely back into the kitchen, as we have seen from the 11th century onwards.
And here we are today. We know that the women have a privilege that no man can have and that is to give life. Knowing that a woman gives life, she thereby has the right to many other privileges. If she gives birth to a child, she is a creator of humanity and because of this, she offers another way of life, a different view of life. Women put humanity into motion. Humanity is truly clay in the hands of women. It is what she will bring to men and women that will shape future generations.
And we have forgotten for so many years - and men made sure that we would forget - the importance of what we are. Men had every interest that we forget because, quite simply, all religions are based on the will of men. All religious laws have "eliminated" women. There is not a religion in the world today where women are important or of essential interest. And I'm not talking about social governments, politics, or economics where we try to put a woman here or there to please the people, so that we can get more votes. So, let's not kid ourselves. Women are there only to please a majority of voters. They attract votes, that's all. They are neither thought of as efficient or effective. Women are not given a place for that. Women have a minor role which they must keep. And that is how they made it so that women no longer have a place in life.
Also it is important to realize that when Christ came 2000 years ago, He gave importance to women. He wanted to return legitimacy before the law. He scandalized the Hebrew people by kissing women on the streets and letting himself be kissed by them. He knew women who were prostitutes. He wanted everyone to talk about Him and be scandalised because he wanted to show the world that He was not afraid to be around his fellow sisters.
So 2000 years later, you must realize that unless we begin to put women back on an equal footing, ie back onto the masterful pedestal from which they started, we will create a world filled with the same ways as the one we left. Just look at the world. Don't you think that a Romanian mother or a Chechnyan mother today weeps for the children she gave birth to 20, 30 or 40 years ago? Do you believe she is made of another blood than we are? We very well know that mothers gave birth to sons for thousands of years who were then offered up as carnage, as a holocaust, to religious wars of all kinds.
So you have to realize this, that a mother keeps her dignity, she gives life but she also has the right to interfere in the social system where she lives today, not by going into politics, but by keeping all of her dignity within herself, by being a woman - and we have forgotten how to be women. Women are not only cooking meals but they are also playing the greatest role ever that of raising a child, her children. A woman has the best role ever when she restructures the man who is her husband or who becomes her husband. What role in the world is more beautiful than that? This is not clay that we are molding, but a soul, a body. It is a child of God. Who is capable of that, if not a woman?
You said Mary shows us the way. And yet, if we read the Scriptures, we find almost nothing about Mary. But it is precisely in her silence that she guarded the greatest knowledge. She said nothing. She could not because she knew that whatever she said would be distorted. That's why she said nothing. But at every moment, her example shows us her power. And we cannot deny the power of Mary. We cannot deny her prestige. We cannot deny that she is the master of the Earth, the advocate for the poor and the exiled. She loves humans because she knew them, because she lived near them and no man, save her Son, had the patience and tolerance that she had with all humans.
Even today, as she manifests herself in the world, it is not just to say to go to mass, but to tell people to change, to transform. This is what she asks. This renewal of the world happens through an inner balance, through the peace we talk about. Only a woman can bring about this metamorphosis, this transformation through the tremendous patience she has. It is our greatest gift from God yet we do not know it! There is not a man who would have the patience to endure for 9 months the carrying of a child and then waiting for the changing of diapers and getting up night after night to give milk, to get through a toothache or to calm a colic, a fear, a dream or a nightmare. A woman is capable of that. She is capable of giving herself totally, completely, for the life of her child. If she is able to do this for a newborn and a child, she is able to do it for all of humanity, because she received this gift, which is the greatest gift to man, to humanity. It is this consistency; it is this constant fidelity. The quest of the woman is the other's wellbeing. When a woman creates a family, she will make sure that each person has a place. She will try to shine the best possible light on each person. She will prepare the best dishes. She will try to ensure that life becomes a haven of peace. She has all that in her. She does not need to learn it. There is no school for that. The woman has all that.
The father does not have the same role as we do. Men do not have the same role as we do. How do you want me to ask men to transform something that they do not have to transform? To change what they do not have to change? Men did not receive what we have received. This is why it is important to understand that we must lead by example. It is up to us to set an example for others to change, for our girls who will be future women, and our boys, future men, surely with positions of responsibility, to be women and men worthy of the name, and who will not be ashamed to be women or men. May their masculinity or femininity truly be a lake, for they shall be filled with the love they have received from the father and mother together.
But never forget that no home can achieve this if the woman is not present, at the foundation of everything. This is why I can be demanding with women because I know what women have. I know her powers and I know the links she has with God and the support she has from Mary. This is why we must do everything we can to be better.