The family has its own radiant sun, the wife. Hear how scripture puts it:
The grace of a wife will charm her husband,
her accomplishments will make him the stronger.
A silent wife is a gift from the Lord,
no price can be put on a well-trained character.
A modest wife is a boon twice over,
a chaste character cannot be weighed on scales.
Like the sun rising over the mountains of the Lord
is the beauty of a good wife in a well-kept house.[Sirach 26:13-16]
Yes, the wife and the mother is the radiant sun of the family. She is this sun by her generosity and gift of self, by her unfailing readiness, by her watchful and prudent delicacy and all matters which can add joy to the lives of her husband and her children. She spreads around her light and warmth. And if you can say that a marriage augurs well, when both partners seek the happiness of the other rather than their own, this noble feeling and intention is more especially the quality of the wife, althought it concerns both husband and wife. It is born of the very pulse of her mother's heart and its wisdom; that wisdom which if it receives bitterness, gives only joy; if it receives belittlement, returns only dignity and respect. It is like the sun which brightens the cloudy morning with its dawning ray and in its setting gilds the evening shower.
The wife is the radiant sun of the family with the brightness of her glance and the ardour of her word; a glance and a word which gently enter the soul, bending it and making it softer and lifting it out of the tumult of passion, and recalling her husband to joy in the good and familiar conversation, after a long day of uninterrupted and often painful work whether professional or agricultural, in commerce or in industry. The wife is the radiant sun of the family by her natural candour, by her simple dignity and by her Christian and decent behaviour, as much as her collectedness of mind and uprightness of heart, as in the subtle harmony of her bearing and her dress, in her becomingness and in her behaviour at once reserved and affectionate. Little signs of feeling, shades of facial expression, ingenuous silences and smiles, an approving movement of the head, give to her the grace of some choice and yet simple flower which opens its petals to receive and reflect the colours of the sun.
If you could only know what deep feelings of affection and gratitude such an ideal wife and mother arouses and imprints in the hearts of her husband and sons!
[from a talk of Pope Pius XII to newly-married couples; from the Breviary, Vol III p.80-81]
The grace of a wife will charm her husband,
her accomplishments will make him the stronger.
A silent wife is a gift from the Lord,
no price can be put on a well-trained character.
A modest wife is a boon twice over,
a chaste character cannot be weighed on scales.
Like the sun rising over the mountains of the Lord
is the beauty of a good wife in a well-kept house.[Sirach 26:13-16]
Yes, the wife and the mother is the radiant sun of the family. She is this sun by her generosity and gift of self, by her unfailing readiness, by her watchful and prudent delicacy and all matters which can add joy to the lives of her husband and her children. She spreads around her light and warmth. And if you can say that a marriage augurs well, when both partners seek the happiness of the other rather than their own, this noble feeling and intention is more especially the quality of the wife, althought it concerns both husband and wife. It is born of the very pulse of her mother's heart and its wisdom; that wisdom which if it receives bitterness, gives only joy; if it receives belittlement, returns only dignity and respect. It is like the sun which brightens the cloudy morning with its dawning ray and in its setting gilds the evening shower.
The wife is the radiant sun of the family with the brightness of her glance and the ardour of her word; a glance and a word which gently enter the soul, bending it and making it softer and lifting it out of the tumult of passion, and recalling her husband to joy in the good and familiar conversation, after a long day of uninterrupted and often painful work whether professional or agricultural, in commerce or in industry. The wife is the radiant sun of the family by her natural candour, by her simple dignity and by her Christian and decent behaviour, as much as her collectedness of mind and uprightness of heart, as in the subtle harmony of her bearing and her dress, in her becomingness and in her behaviour at once reserved and affectionate. Little signs of feeling, shades of facial expression, ingenuous silences and smiles, an approving movement of the head, give to her the grace of some choice and yet simple flower which opens its petals to receive and reflect the colours of the sun.
If you could only know what deep feelings of affection and gratitude such an ideal wife and mother arouses and imprints in the hearts of her husband and sons!
[from a talk of Pope Pius XII to newly-married couples; from the Breviary, Vol III p.80-81]
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