God Established a Hierarchy in the Family

Flesh of his Flesh

Our Blessed Lord Jesus spoke to the disciples and by the Holy Spirit the living Word of God continues to speak to us , “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew: 28:19-20). Our Lord gives us the command to preach the gospel, but one of the difficulties with preaching is the hard sayings which are difficult for ears formed by the world. The problem of the current times is the lack of obedience to God. St. Augustine explains the proper order of our will aligned with the will of God in his magnum opus The City of God, “Two loves, therefore, have made two cities. There is an earthly city made by the love of self even to the point of contempt for God, and a heavenly city made by the love of God even to the point of contempt for self.”1

And so, many have become envious of God’s created order which has bestowed gifts and talents to men and women uniquely given for the love and glory of God fulfilling their roles as he made them male and female. It’s easy to see that the contemporary Western world has rejected the city of God, simply look at films depicting women as physically superior to men are simply an illusion and lie. At the same time, gender ideological totalitarian movements seek to corrupt what God clearly stands against. These groups and movements embody the spirit of Lucifer, who was also not satisfied with the role God had given, and so they desire like him to seek more power. For the people are not "united in the same mind and the same judgment" (1 Corinthians 1:10). The modern world is not of the same mind, but we do not need to be led astray by the devil's lies. 

Prayerfully Read:

Eph. 5:22-24 – "Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of his wife, as Christ is the head of the church, His Body, and is himself its savior. As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands."

Nowadays, our contemporary sensitivity is certainly different.2 The lack of Biblical understanding and lukewarmness that is found in the 21st-century man and woman might find some difficulty with the Ephesians passage. But what needs to be emphasized to a modern reader is that both the man and woman are equal yet different members of the marital covenant. Yes, scripture says that the husband is his wife's head, but this is not any kind of superiority or imbalance. Colossians 3:19 reminds us that Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them." This spiritual order or hierarchy instead is a unique gift that God has given to us. Holy Scripture affirms man and woman were created for one another: The woman, "flesh of his flesh," his equal, his nearest in all things, is given to him by God as a "helpmate"; she thus represents God from whom comes our help." Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh."3 

Christ is the center of creation, Christ is the center of his people, and Christ is the center of history.4 Christ must always be at the center of our lives, and the Catholic husband and wife share and complement each other with the gifts bestowed onto them from God. "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God." (1 Cor. 11:3) When we turn to 1 Corinthians, we are reminded how the woman compliments the man and vice versa, and the emphasis, of course, shows us that Christ is at the center of the marriage union. John Paul II writes, the mutual relations of husband and wife should flow from their common relationship with Christ.5  


1 St. Augustine, “City of God,” W. A. Jurgens, tran., The Faith of the Early Fathers, vol. pg. 98.
2 John Paul II, The Theology of the Body, Pauline Books and Media, pg. 311. 
3 Liguori Publications. (1994). Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1605

4 Pope Francis’s Reflection for Sunday November 22nd 2020
5 John Paul II, The Theology of the Body, Pauline Books and Media, pg. 309.