Roberta Matuson, writing for Forbes asks a rhetorical question: Will Women Ever Shatter the Glass Ceiling?
Matuson then proceeds to advice women on how to shatter that proverbial glass ceiling based on the book she's peddling.
When people like Matuson talk about breaking the glass ceiling, they usually means overcoming the barriers set to prevent access to advancement. Breaking the glass ceiling also includes removing barriers for others experiencing the same struggles.
But we are reminded that "Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God. Corint 1:1
Clearly Matuson and others like her are not talking about a glass ceiling on the Church: after all, Blessed Mother Mary was chosen to be the Mother of God! The early Christians were persecuted, throughout the Roman Empire, yet seven women saints stand out and are often venerated during Mass. For centuries, in societies where women were looked down upon, Catholic priests have been mentioning specific women right after the Consecration!
Let's kick it up a notch. Forget the glass ceiling. How about a staircase to heaven? It is said that Saint Joseph built the Miraculous Stair in the Loretto Chapel a former Roman Catholic church in Santa Fe, New Mexico, now used as a museum and a wedding chapel and known for its unusual helix-shaped spiral staircase.
Take for instance Saint Jerome. He was above all a Scripture scholar, translating most of the Old Testament from the Hebrew. Jerome also wrote commentaries which are a great source of scriptural inspiration for us today. He was an avid student, a thorough scholar, a prodigious letter-writer and a consultant to monk, bishop, and pope. Saint Augustine said of him, “What Jerome is ignorant of, no mortal has ever known.”
On the other side of the spectrum is Catherine of Siena. Catherine of Siena was of low social status, uneducated, illiterate, from an ordinary family who in the course of a very short life, became an object of fascination to thousands and a counselor to kings, queen and popes. Though she never studied theology and never learned formally to read and write, she came to be recognized as Doctor of the Church and a master of the spiritual life.
The 23rd child of Jacopo and Lapa Benincasa Catherine grew up as an intensely religious person. Catherine disappointed her mother by cutting off her hair as a protest against being overly encouraged to improve her appearance in order to attract a husband. Her father ordered her to be left in peace, and she was given a room of her own for prayer and meditation. She entered the Dominican Third Order at 18 and spent the next three years in seclusion, prayer, and austerity. Gradually, a group of followers gathered around her—men and women, priests and religious. An active public apostolate grew out of her contemplative life. Her letters, mostly for spiritual instruction and encouragement of her followers, began to take more and more note of public affairs. Opposition and slander resulted from her mixing fearlessly with the world and speaking with the candor and authority of one completely committed to Christ. She was cleared of all charges at the Dominican General Chapter of 1374.
St. Catherine is a true pro-life theologian as evidenced in Pope St. Paul VI declaring her a Doctor of the Church in 1970 - although her theology is not of the usual scholastic or academic type, it unfolds through a series of images and metaphors, some staples of the mystical tradition, others remarkably original and unusual. For individuals like Carherine, this enables them to interpret Scripture aright. This is how Catherine understood the extraordinary capacities of Jerome, Augustine and Thomas Aquinas: they were not simply learned, for many learned people know how to read the Bible. But this intimacy with God always flow over into active service. This is the Christian difference that separates Catherine from pagans like Plato or Plotinus. The highest ascent is always accompanied by most humble descent into love of one's neighbor. "The glory of God is a human being fully alive" - St. Irenaeus
We also recall the Apostles Peter and John: "Observing the boldness of Peter and John and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men, the leaders, elders, and scribes were amazed, and they recognized them as the companions of Jesus.
Then when they saw the man who had been cured standing there with them,they could say nothing in reply.
Acts 4-13
Saint Catherine's mystical connections to the heavenly world - a Catherine of Siena Transform of sorts, if you will - analogous to the Laplace transform in mathematics. The Laplace transform is useful for converting differentiation and integration in the time domain into much easier multiplication and division in the Laplace domain. On the Catherine of Siena Transform, she can go from the time-space domain, to the heavenly domain: she spoke to Christ, Mary and other saints as casually as one friend talks to another. She also witnesses to the deeply biblical truth that the heavenly world and this world are not separated by a terrible gulf but rather interact and interpenetrate. Jesus' great prayer Includes the petition: "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" Matt 6:10 Catherine knew that in her bones. Bishop Robert Barron,The Pivotal Players
When people like Matuson talk about breaking the glass ceiling, they usually means overcoming the barriers set to prevent access to advancement. Breaking the glass ceiling also includes removing barriers for others experiencing the same struggles.
But we are reminded that "Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God. Corint 1:1
Clearly Matuson and others like her are not talking about a glass ceiling on the Church: after all, Blessed Mother Mary was chosen to be the Mother of God! The early Christians were persecuted, throughout the Roman Empire, yet seven women saints stand out and are often venerated during Mass. For centuries, in societies where women were looked down upon, Catholic priests have been mentioning specific women right after the Consecration!
Let's kick it up a notch. Forget the glass ceiling. How about a staircase to heaven? It is said that Saint Joseph built the Miraculous Stair in the Loretto Chapel a former Roman Catholic church in Santa Fe, New Mexico, now used as a museum and a wedding chapel and known for its unusual helix-shaped spiral staircase.
Take for instance Saint Jerome. He was above all a Scripture scholar, translating most of the Old Testament from the Hebrew. Jerome also wrote commentaries which are a great source of scriptural inspiration for us today. He was an avid student, a thorough scholar, a prodigious letter-writer and a consultant to monk, bishop, and pope. Saint Augustine said of him, “What Jerome is ignorant of, no mortal has ever known.”
On the other side of the spectrum is Catherine of Siena. Catherine of Siena was of low social status, uneducated, illiterate, from an ordinary family who in the course of a very short life, became an object of fascination to thousands and a counselor to kings, queen and popes. Though she never studied theology and never learned formally to read and write, she came to be recognized as Doctor of the Church and a master of the spiritual life.
The 23rd child of Jacopo and Lapa Benincasa Catherine grew up as an intensely religious person. Catherine disappointed her mother by cutting off her hair as a protest against being overly encouraged to improve her appearance in order to attract a husband. Her father ordered her to be left in peace, and she was given a room of her own for prayer and meditation. She entered the Dominican Third Order at 18 and spent the next three years in seclusion, prayer, and austerity. Gradually, a group of followers gathered around her—men and women, priests and religious. An active public apostolate grew out of her contemplative life. Her letters, mostly for spiritual instruction and encouragement of her followers, began to take more and more note of public affairs. Opposition and slander resulted from her mixing fearlessly with the world and speaking with the candor and authority of one completely committed to Christ. She was cleared of all charges at the Dominican General Chapter of 1374.
St. Catherine is a true pro-life theologian as evidenced in Pope St. Paul VI declaring her a Doctor of the Church in 1970 - although her theology is not of the usual scholastic or academic type, it unfolds through a series of images and metaphors, some staples of the mystical tradition, others remarkably original and unusual. For individuals like Carherine, this enables them to interpret Scripture aright. This is how Catherine understood the extraordinary capacities of Jerome, Augustine and Thomas Aquinas: they were not simply learned, for many learned people know how to read the Bible. But this intimacy with God always flow over into active service. This is the Christian difference that separates Catherine from pagans like Plato or Plotinus. The highest ascent is always accompanied by most humble descent into love of one's neighbor. "The glory of God is a human being fully alive" - St. Irenaeus
We also recall the Apostles Peter and John: "Observing the boldness of Peter and John and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men, the leaders, elders, and scribes were amazed, and they recognized them as the companions of Jesus.
Then when they saw the man who had been cured standing there with them,they could say nothing in reply.
Acts 4-13
Saint Catherine's mystical connections to the heavenly world - a Catherine of Siena Transform of sorts, if you will - analogous to the Laplace transform in mathematics. The Laplace transform is useful for converting differentiation and integration in the time domain into much easier multiplication and division in the Laplace domain. On the Catherine of Siena Transform, she can go from the time-space domain, to the heavenly domain: she spoke to Christ, Mary and other saints as casually as one friend talks to another. She also witnesses to the deeply biblical truth that the heavenly world and this world are not separated by a terrible gulf but rather interact and interpenetrate. Jesus' great prayer Includes the petition: "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" Matt 6:10 Catherine knew that in her bones. Bishop Robert Barron,The Pivotal Players
To be clear, Saint Catherine did not build the bridge between the earthly kingdom and the heavenly one. Jesus did that.
Jesus said: "In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.” Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father.* From now on you do know him and have seen him" John Chapter 14.
While we know Christ is the way, the truth and the life, perhaps we can learn from Saint Catherine her Transform so we can travel from the earthly kingdom to the heavenly kingdom.
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