Christ reveals himself as the bridegroom

by Anne Maloney

courtesy of the Catholic Spirit

Our Holy Father points out in "On the Original Unity of Man and Woman" that men and women are absolutely equal. Equality, however, is not sameness. Man alone does not image God, and woman alone does not image God. Man and woman together image God: "Male and female He created them," it says in Genesis. It is in the act of self-giving love between male and female that humans image the Trinity.

Women and men are different in both profound and trivial ways. Our bodily differences are profound. Embodiment reveals who we are in our deepest selves. A woman, whether she exercises it or not, is naturally able to conceive, bear and nurture infants. A man is capable of impregnating a woman through an act that is an active outpouring of himself. These physical realities reveal something important about who we are as persons.

As psychologists and philosophers such as Nancy Chodorow and Sara Ruddick point out, women tend to be relational and nurturing. Even a woman who has never had children has a "maternal" way of being in the world. Conversely, men tend to be more objective and distancing. Men, however, are not "off the hook" when it comes to being relational; nor are women "off the hook" when it comes to being objective. We are disposed to different virtues, but we are responsible for developing all the virtues. We teach and learn from each other. That is one reason that we need each other so much.

What does this have to do with the question of ordination? Plenty. Christ chose 12 men to be his apostles. Oftentimes, people point out that he also chose 12 bearded Jews, and so perhaps only bearded Jews should be eligible for priesthood. Unlike beardedness and Jewishness, however, maleness is the matter of the sacrament of orders. Why? Because maleness is neither physical nor incidental, and the sacraments are not merely symbols. Each sacrament causes the reality it symbolizes, in and through symbolizing it. That is why the correct matter is so important.

Christ reveals himself as bridegroom and the church is his bride. This is not just quaint talk. He means it. When he instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist, he poured himself out for us. He loved us as a husband loves his wife. He laid down his life and actively gave himself on our behalf.

Only a male can stand in persona Christi because only a man can image that kind of love. The Church, when she ordains priests, is doing more than commissioning ministers. Ministry can be done by women, often far better than men. But ministry is secular, not sacramental. Ministers do not cause what they symbolize in and through symbolizing it. Just as I cannot say to my husband, "Tonight in the marital act, I want to be the male," the church cannot say, "Today in the eucharistic act Sally is going to be the image of Christ." The Mass reveals to us Christ’s love as marital. This is not an injustice - it is the heart of Catholic sacramental realism.

To see this realism as a diminishment of women’s role is to view the church as essentially a political institution. She is not. Christ promised Peter that his Church would not teach error and would not perish form the face of the earth. The Church cannot teach the ordination of women because her authority comes from Christ himself. A hallmark of our age is to confuse authority, which is received and to which all are subject, with power, which is taken and which is wielded over others. Properly understood, the priesthood is a sacrament of self-gift, self-emptying. It is at the furthest reach from power.

Our daughters are absolutely equal in the eyes of Christ and his church. They are women, and husbandly love cannot stream forth from a woman’s heart. By striving for feminine holiness, our daughters can do things far more amazing than trying to be pseudo-priests. They can become saints, doctors of the church and role models for our priests to emulate. The church teaches that women and men are called to sainthood. Because we are different, our path to sainthood is different. In the end, becoming saints is what matters. The church is there to help us to the finish line.