We have come to the moment in our nation's history when we need women to rise up and valiantly regain lost ground. It is time for us to be the Judith-of-today. Standing on the solid ground of our Faith, let us raise the standard for life, liberty, and love of Christ. -Denise Bossert, Catholic by Grace
I was a typical evangelical
preacher’s kid. I loved God very much,
but I was also a bit spiritually condescending, even as a child.
I don’t remember this incident, but
I’m told that my Sunday school teacher had finally had it with me and sought
out my mother for an informal conference.
“Every Sunday when I introduce the Bible story, your daughter rolls her
eyes and begins complaining that she already knows that one. And can’t I come up with any new stories?”
While I don’t remember doing this, I
do remember loving Bible stories and hungering to hear more of them. This particular desire has been completely
sated now that I’m Catholic. There seems
to be no end of inspirational and edifying stories of the Saints. In addition, I recovered a few Protestant
omissions from the Old Testament canon when I bought my first Catholic Bible. (See, I knew there were more stories out
there and my Protestant Sunday school teachers were holding out.)
Okay, so I’m kidding about that, but
I really do wish that the Protestant Reformers had retained all canonized
Sacred Scripture. How much we missed
without even realizing it! If you
haven’t settled the question on who is right about the canon of Sacred Scripture,
I suggest you read a book by Gary Michuta entitled Why Catholic Bibles Are Bigger.
Then I urge you to read the book of Judith.
Now she was one amazing woman!
After I converted to the Catholic
Church, I sat down and read what I’d been missing. About the third book into my search, I
discovered Judith. We see a widow in
mourning. Her beloved husband is gone,
and she has wrapped herself in the clothing of grief. She does not despair. She bows her will to the Father’s will, and
accepts the loss in the manner and custom of the People of God. Sackcloth and
fasting.
She is content to live like this for
as long as God wills it, even if the season of mourning should last the rest of
her life. But then King Nebuchadnezzar goes
on a rampage. He’s mad at the whole
world. There are scores to settle. One by one, Holofernes, Nebuchadnezzar’s
general of military forces, descends on his king’s enemies and destroys
them. One nation panics and tries a new
approach. They receive Holofernes with
garlands and tambourines. Basically,
they decide to kiss up to him. Without batting
an eye, Holofernes cuts them down. Now,
he turns his attention to the House of Israel.
The military general decides to shut off their water supply. Israel
Judith scolds Israel
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now give us some water. Well, that isn’t what they say, but it might
as well be. Sounds like Moses and the
Israelites, doesn’t it? Only Judith
doesn’t strike a rock and command it to bring forth water. She simply prays, “O God, my God, hear me
also, a widow.” She goes on to pray, “Crush
their pride by the hand of a woman. Your strength is not in numbers, nor does
your power depend upon stalwart men.”
Very humbly, Judith puts aside her
garments of mourning, and she dresses in festive clothing. Anklets, bracelets, rings, earrings and other
jewelry and perfume. Talk about a
radical make-over. My Bible tells me
that the men who saw her that day were very much astounded at her beauty. What did this woman of beauty do next? She didn’t look at herself in a mirror or
parade herself before the Israelites.
She bowed down to God.
She had her maid pack a satchel, and
they headed off for enemy territory. The
guards were so smitten with her beauty that every closed door was thrown open
for her, and she was admitted into the inner chamber of the enemy himself. Holfernes is completely besotted, and he’s
about to be outwitted.
Now, I must point out one thing. Judith never sees this as her personal
victory. There is a marked difference
between praying for personal wealth and prosperity as a sign of God’s blessing
(a modern heresy we hear televangelists propagating) and praying for God to
triumph over His enemies. Judith was not
there for her own personal victory. She
was there to do God’s will.
Sounds a little like David and
Goliath, doesn’t it? An absurd imbalance of power – unless you factor in
Almighty God?
At this point in the story, I was
actually a bit angry that I had been deprived of such a profound ancient
witness. The story has all the marks of
an Old Testament woman of valor. Queen
Esther. Ruth and Naomi. Hannah.
Deborah.
Now, Judith.
She walked right into the enemy’s
inner chamber. And when it was all said
and done, the enemy was slain. She
handed his head to her maidservant, who put it in a satchel. The two women
walked out of the enemy’s lair without a guard’s second glance. They returned to the House of Israel and pulled
the decapitated head from the bag.
Judith did not gloat. She took everything in stride. She had not done anything spectacular. But God had.
She had simply refused to bow to defeat.
Of course, Israel
Many men wanted her hand in marriage
after that. With the grace and peace of
a woman of God, with the serenity of a woman who knows who she is in the eyes
of God, she graciously declined the offers.
After the story ended and I put down
my Bible, I realized that this woman of ancient times was so like the other
women of the Old Testament. She, too, is
a prefigurement of Our Lady.
Judith and Mary were both preceded in
death by their husbands. Our Lady buried
a husband, and then faced the greatest battle of all. She would stand in the gap for her people,
let her own heart be pierced, and watch her Son die, while His disciples
scattered in fear.
Her resolve to be God’s handmaid
would not falter even then. She would
embrace this ultimate battle for the enemy’s territory. Satan would soon lose his stranglehold on the
human race. Victory belonged to Our
Lord.
While Judith decapitated the enemy’s
head, Mary was about to crush it with her heel.
It kind of makes you want to rise up
and take our world by storm, doesn’t it?
What a legacy! The battle belongs
to Our God, and He seems to enlist the help of women when things get really
tough.
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