Focolare Movement

Igino Giordani: This is the moment for women

Mar 8, 2016

Femicide and exploitation, violences and degradations, surrogated motherhood…What is woman’s role today? Giordani wrote about it in the 1960s but his words are very true today.

20160308-a (2)“We could say that it is the moment for women: not because the media endlessly focus on divorce and VIP trends but because of the fact that more than ever today, coexistence and the fruit of man-woman dialectics call for the presence of those who are, or will be mothers, naturally or spiritually. The social body as never before suffers the lack of full health and normal feminineness: it is as if its flight was done with two wings, one of which was too overwrought, and the other lifeless, which make its progress very disorderly. People are aware that this is the time for woman, but of a womanly woman, and not a contamination or contrast of man: almost like a feminised man. The history of the last centuries in which the strong man – the superman – had been forged in disdain for feminineness, was affected by excessive masculinity, not counterbalanced by feminineness. The same but contrary effect of non-integrated feminineness is imbued by a sense of virility. Women today have voting rights, gained managing roles in offices, and entered into public life. But their impact remains dull, like before or even worse since by entering the political battles they align with the males, taking on their ambitions, and bowing to their methods: they have become reduced-performance males. Their votes, without outstanding discrimination are added to those of men since the latter’s game continues as before, without corrections, integration, or being enlightened by the other, which is an indispensable factor. And so the flight (or plunge) continues with only one wing. Just think of what Mary’s fascination was like, and what it still is today – her name alone signifies the sublimation of woman who was made to become the grafting point of the divine onto the human, and as the ianua coeli, door to Heaven, the rise of the human towards the divine. Societies today call for the presence of the woman, so that she could imbue in society the demands for maternity, life, and therefore, of material and moral nutrition, education, love in peace and work, of the family gathered in pureness and thus, the condemnation of factions and wars. This is because woman by nature stands for generation of life and not production of death, for the good of the offspring which are the State and the Church of the future, the same humanity.” (Igino Giordani, “Fides” publication, 1961)

___

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to Newsletter

Thought of the day

Related post

Don Foresi: the years of work for the incarnation of the charism

Don Foresi: the years of work for the incarnation of the charism

Ten years ago, on 14th June 2015, the theologian Don Pasquale Foresi (1929-2015), whom Chiara Lubich considered a co-founder of the Movement, died. He was the first focolarino priest and the first Co-President of the Focolare. A few months ago, the second volume of Foresi’s biography, written by Michele Zanzucchi, was published. We spoke about it with Prof. Marco Luppi, researcher in Contemporary History at the Sophia University Institute in Loppiano (Italy).

Reborn from the Darkness: A Call to Unity

Reborn from the Darkness: A Call to Unity

During the days of the Pentecost celebration, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is observed in countries of the Southern Hemisphere. Mayara Pazetto, a young Brazilian Pentecostal theologian, shares the story that led her to commit to and promote dialogue among the Christian Churches.