You had made woman the way you did… differently he became
“Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”
From Beauty to prostitution
You had equipped us with soothing gentleness, you had endowed us with attractive figure, so that we could bring joy to our loved ones.
While we were to help them in their earthly vocation, You had given us, as strength and weapon, the fact that they reassured us of the important place we had in their lives, of the love they had for us.
But this need for love, this desire to feel important that we had the right to expect from the one who would agree to make us his wife, we tried to have it satisfied by a "bandit", a man who had chosen to use us without a formal engagement, let alone an official wedding.
We thus surrendered our intimacy to those who hadn't formally engaged, we gave access to our bodies to those who hadn't married us. The worst part was that, tired of waiting, sometimes we were the ones who tried to provoke some of them, as if to challenge them, or even force their hand.
Forgive us for allowing the veil you had placed over our heads to be torn by someone who was not qualified to do so.
From passion to idolatry
Because carrying a child in one's womb is a real challenge; because giving birth is a life-threatening risk, you endowed us with a truly strong desire for motherhood, so that we might bravely accept this noble calling.
Unfortunately, when it turned out that we hadn't found husbands throughout our "marriageable" years, we resigned ourselves to conceiving even outside of marriage.
But how bitter we are today to see the agony of our children, our own flesh and blood, when they are called every name under the sun, accused of not having fathers…
How heartbroken we are not to feel we have the strength or the authority to warn our teenage daughters against early sexual relations, not to mention premarital sex, how powerless we feel in the face of our sons engaging in delinquency that is more than worrying.
O Everlasting God, we confess that we have been carried away by our desire for motherhood and have dishonored You by not being overly concerned with Your will, You who are the Creator, You who give Life in its absoluteness.
Forgive us for this disorder. We consecrate our lives and the lives of our children to You, and beseech You to help us in Your grace; please, You Yourself, transform our own lives, and also the fruit of our womb.
From Distress to rebellion
Everlasting God, how often You have given us the strength to care for our children when we cried out to You.
And while we were abandoned by our spouses who abdicated their royal duty as fathers and, in some cases, left the home, You constantly heard our cries for our children, who were then like orphans.
Unfortunately, instead of continuing to look to You, we have come to see men as potential adversaries, even going so far as to declare that "a woman's first husband is her job." What a tragedy to pledge allegiance to Mammon in this way!
Everlasting God, we reclaim our position of help and renounce this malicious claim of "equality." We choose not confrontation with our husbands, but submission to Your divine Lordship, and, to the extent possible, to submit ourselves also to our lords and husbands, under Your divine guidance.
From a feeling of need to covetousness
Everlasting God, to a certain extent You intended that our relationships with our spouses should be like our heroes, those who would constantly ensure our protection and well-being in every way; our desires being directed towards them. And how masterfully they have devoted themselves to this.
Unfortunately, Everlasting and Most Holy God, we have so often gone beyond our legitimate requests, asking for the moon. Like Eve, we have dreamed of what was not ours, we have given in to covetousness, and in our enthusiasm, many of us have sadly misled our spouses. For this, O Most Holy God, we ask your forgiveness.
Help us, we beseech You, to heed the warnings of our spouses, but above all to keep us from covetousness from now on.
In Christ Jesus!
If you feel a sense of incompleteness after reading this article, then we recommend reading our series of articles, Encounters with Christ.
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