Ladies, Embrace Submission
Submission is a uniquely feminine disposition. From the dawn of creation, women were created to aid men—to complete what masculinity lacks. We see this in the second account of creation (Gen. 2:18-25), and further after the Fall when God assigns humanity’s first punishment (Gen. 3:16).
Yes, submission is part of Eve’s punishment after the Fall. There’s a substantial sacrifice in submission, and it’s something all women must mourn.
We see submission most clearly in marriage, with the man being the head of the household and his wife—while acting as the heart and advocate for the home—submitting to his leadership. But submission is engrained into every vocation a woman can have.
In religious life, submission comes through being a bride of Christ: living in community, denying oneself to serve the Church, and obeying the assignments and charisms of the order.
In dating life, submission is found in being pursued by a man who wants to lead you to Heaven: letting him take the lead, opening your heart to new beginnings, and trusting the timing of your relationship.
In single life, submission is found in a complete dependence on the Lord’s plan for your life: serving those He’s put around you, working for the Glory of His Kingdom, and trusting He has you exactly where He wants you.
No matter which role we find ourselves in, submission is there. But these acts are small compared to the ultimate sacrifice we’re called to: submitting our wills to God’s.
The reason submission is a part of God’s punishment for Eve is because it contains significant sacrifice. There’s real pain in having an idea of what you want your life to look like—where you live, what job you have, who you’ll marry—and surrendering it to what the Lord wills for you. The majority of our dreams, expectations, and hopes may not be fulfilled in the way we planned, and it’s heartbreaking.
But this submission is not all loss. We submit and sacrifice our own desires trusting the Father knows what we need more than we do. He knows the deepest desires of our hearts and how to fill them with the graces necessary for our salvation. And if He’s going to lead us on the path to eternity with Him—a life of never-ending peace, freedom, and joy with hearts that never long for anything ever again—then we should run into a life of submitting everything we have to Him.
This submission includes your journey toward healing. Maybe it’s taking longer than you had hoped.
Maybe you’re tired of the little victories.
Maybe you wish you could wake up tomorrow and never be tempted again.
But maybe what the Lord wants for you today is to just lean on Him. Fall into His loving embrace; Meditate on how much He loves you; Unite your cross to His and ask Him to help you carry it to Heaven. Your healing journey may not be what you wanted it to be, but He’s there in the midst of it, waiting for you to submit to His Will so He can turn your suffering into sanctifying grace.
Submission in your healing journey is accepting the suffering you’ve endured, and thanking God for suffering with you along the way.
Yes, there’s significant sacrifice in submission. Yes, it was a part of God’s first punishment for Adam and Eve. But just as God makes all things new—just as He brings the greatest graces out of the greatest sins—submission is a gift to be cherished. Not just because it helps us to depend more on the Lord, but because it’s in submission that we can love more fully and unite more wholly with what Pope St. John Paul II called the Feminine Genius.
The sacrifice of submission allows us to love God and those around us more than we could if we didn’t submit to the Father’s Will—more than we could if we weren’t daughters, wives, and sisters of a merciful and loving Savior.
Submission is hard, it requires sacrifice. But when God assigned that first submission to Eve, He did it knowing her heart, just as He knows ours. We were made for submission, and it’s in submitting that we will spend eternity with Our Father, who gave us the gift to find true freedom for the rest of our lives.