Because most philosophies that frown on reproduction don't survive.

Friday, September 17, 2010

And now we're done

Simcha has written. If this isn't the last word in the pants debate (did I just say "pants debate"?), it ought to be.

A few women in various comment boxes said that we must wear skirts because Mary did — that even if Mary were on earth today, she would never wear pants. They KNOW this.

Okay, you ladies who know what Mary would do. If you can’t imagine Mary wearing pants, then try this: imagine Mary wiping her nose, or yawning, or having heartburn. Imagine her giving birth. Or heck, imagine her having to go to the bathroom, but not being able to get up yet because she didn’t want to wake up the baby, who was nursing and allllmost asleep. . . and then He bit her! He always does that just as He’s falling asleep. Oh, and now He’s poopy again, and she still has to go to the bathroom.

Weird, eh? Not used to it, are you? But there’s nothing immoral about these images. If they bother you, because it’s not what you’re used to. It’s not what you’re surrounded with. Just like you’re surrounded with earnest, hard-working, kind, sincere women who have chosen to wear skirts, and so it seems utterly natural and obvious that Mary, too, would wear skirts.

...So would Mary wear pants? I don’t know, and neither do you — she was a strange and unpredictable woman, like no other. But she was a real woman. If you think that Mary actually always wore blue, always had a look of fond melancholy on her face, and always held her arms at a 45-degree angle from her sides, then you are paying homage to a statue, and not to God’s real-life Mama. And if there’s anything worse than a woman in pants, it’s an idolator. That’s in the Old and the New Testament.

O real life Mama of God, intercede for us. Help us to understand each other. And if I ever sit down to write another post about pants, please make the roof fall in on me before I hit “publish.”

6 comments:

lissla lissar said...

If God wants me to wear only skirts, He'll send a midget in a Japanese admiral's uniform to my door in 1 1/2 minutes precisely.

A miracle! No one came! God has spoken!

Christopher Blosser said...

"If you think that Mary actually always wore blue, always had a look of fond melancholy on her face, and always held her arms at a 45-degree angle from her sides, then you are paying homage to a statue, and not to God’s real-life Mama."

I love this . . . the miracle of the incarnation hit home with me when my first son was born. Perhaps St. Joseph had to get up in the middle of the night to change Jesus' messy diaper (or whatever the had in those days).

CMinor said...

Amen!!!

Catholic Bibliophagist said...

Yeah, I've been following this whole pants thing over at Simcha's blog and I was amazed that there are Catholics who are really into that whole "skirts only" thing. It sounds so Protestant!

Barefoot Momma said...

I'm wondering if these women also have their husbands wear dresses, just like Jesus ya know ;-)

Anthony said...

I visited one of my local museums the other day, and in their collection of late-renaissance paintings is one my wife and I nicknames the "Jesus is a real baby" painting. In the painting, Jesus is tugging on Mary's collar and has a look on his face that is *very* familiar to anyone who has a breastfeeding baby. You can almost hear the giggle.