The Visitation - What Women Mean to Each Other

Two of my very favorite stories in the Bible, just happen to be about women. The first being the Book of Ruth, which recounts the deeply touching story of love and fidelity that takes place between a younger woman named Ruth and an older woman, Naomi, her mother in law. In the Book of Ruth, Ch. 1:16 we read the most beautiful words ever spoken between two people, man or woman, when Ruth says to her mother in law Naomi, " for wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge: your people shall be my people, and your God my God."

I first heard these words as a small girl, oddly enough not from the Bible, but at a drive-in theater with my parents, watching the movie: "The Book of Ruth". Even as a small child, these words hit a deep cord within my little girl's heart. What a beautiful example of, not only fidelity, as the Church has always taught this story teaches us, but also of the very special bond that only women can share. For though Eve was meant to be Adam's soul-mate, yet God also provided a very special communion meant to be shared only between women.

Today, Catholics especially celebrate another pivotal biblical moment between two women. That moment being the one which occurred between Mary the mother of the Redeemer, and Elizabeth, the mother of St. John the Baptist. Once again, we read a very touching story of a younger woman and her faithful help to an older woman in Luke's gospel. Here is recorded the other well known and deeply touching biblical dialogue beginning with Elizabeth's greeting to Mary in - Luke 1:43, "And who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Followed by Mary's Magnificat" in - Luke 1:46 "My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid." A bit further in Luke 1:56 the story continues, "And Mary abode with Elizabeth about three months and then returned to her own home." Obviously, Mary would have swept, dusted, cooked and washed laundry for her older cousin who was with child, until little John the Baptist popped out his head. We can just imagine the tender attentiveness that the younger Mary, herself with child, showed to her older relative who was about to bear a child in her older more precarious years. Once again, as with the story of Ruth and Naomi, we are touched by the special communion which two women can share.

Again, sharing my own personal experiences, I recall particularly the birth of my 5th and last child. Unlike my parent's generation, when men paced anxiously in waiting rooms, while their wives gave birth surrounded only by doctors and nurses; today's husbands are allowed to be present at the birth of their children, and to be "coaches" to their wives. They can massage their wife's back, and encourage her to "breathe" .. etc. in order to share more intimately the birth of their children, while being a "helpmate" to their wife, as she goes through her ordeal. This, my own husband did, with the birth of each of our own children.

Now with the birth of 5 children, I have many memories of each; but I wish to recount here today, the story of my 5th and last child's birth for the specific reason, that it relates to my two favorite stories in the Bible. Back then, my generation did not use epidurals, as the newer generation now does; so my labors were long, painful and exhausting; the moment of birth itself being a particularly excruciating ordeal. At the moment of my 5th baby's entrance into this world, I cannot even tell you where my husband was. Oh, don't get me wrong. It's not that he was being remiss in his duties ... I know I heard his voice somewhere ... but at that crucial moment, my whole mind, heart and body responded like a radar honing in on a beacon, to the voice and touch of the older female nurse, who stood at my right side and held my hand while gently encouraging me through those last pushes. I remember how I snuggled into her ample middle aged breasts and chubby warm motherly arms, feeling such comfort as only a child feels when being suckled by it's mother. At that decisive instant, when my own child was entering this world, I forgot where my husband even was, and all my brain could react to, was the touch and voice of a woman. I'm sure each of you women has your own memories of a mother, grandmother, aunt, sister or girlfriend, with which you can somehow relate to what I'm saying here.

With the onset of the women's movement, many things that women experience, while in a man's world, were reexamined, and "Women's Lib" was born. And though I have never considered myself a women's libber, nevertheless I am a woman, and as such share in the experiences of all women ... experiences which men will never know. One of the most ludicrous ideas that cropped out of the women's movement, was the idea that we could somehow blur the sexes, and Hollywood hopped on board, with movies like "Mr. Mom" and "Tootsie". This in my opinion was one of the most counter-productive things that ever came out of the woman's movement; 2nd only to the most horrendous of all, being a woman's so called right to kill off her unborn child through legalized abortion.

So what can we women take away today from the story of Ruth and the story of "The Visitation"? Recalling my own experience with the birth of my 5th child, as well as the great void that I experienced as a motherless child myself, I am personally struck today by what these two stories say to all women. That being ... we women need each other. Women provide a support and succor to one another which men cannot .. not because they aren't inclined to ... but because God did not design men by nature, to have the same maternal capacities for compassion and tenderness and motherly affection, with which He endowed women. And the silly idea that we can swap roles with the sexes, has only made things worse for us women.

Now, this may sound like I'm placing blame on men, though I'm not ... but has anyone ever considered that doctors who are abortionists are primarily male? In Abbey Johnson's book, "Unplanned" .. she recounts the horrifying moment when the ultrasound probe was in place, and the doctor callously joked, "Beam me up Scottie", while Abbey herself went into what might only be described as a state of shock. Does this imply that men are more evil than women? No. And there have certainly been women who've performed abortions on other women. But, I would venture to say here today, that abortion is still primarily a male doctor's field. Why? Simply because of the different ways in which God created males and females. He did not give the heart of a mother to a man.

I've often joked about the story of Abraham and Sarah, when God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac, by saying, "It's a good thing he didn't ask Sarah .. God might have gotten a different answer." All kidding aside, we women are given a very special nature by our Creator. It is a nature which is not meant to be the same as the man's ... rather to compliment his. And in order for two things to compliment each another, they cannot be mirror images of each other. I agree with Women's Lib that women must be "empowered". The only thing is, I have a slightly different view of what that empowerment entails. And it does not mean that we need to mimic our male partners. We women have our own empowerments, unique to our own sex; and women today need to rediscover what those powers of womanhood truly are.

If we are ever to overcome the bloodbath of abortion that presently plagues our nation, it must begin with us women. And just as a very great part of the story of Salvation History begins with two women in the "Book of Ruth" ... on down to two other women in the story of "The Visitation" ... we women need to realize that we cannot do it alone. In short ... we need each other ... and both biblical stories highlight this fact. Women have a unique role that compliments the men's role ... but we need each other to fulfill that role. So, where are the Ruths and Naomis and Marys and Elizabeths of today? I might want to say more on this subject later ... so stay tuned.