Between husband and wife. The words of St Paul

Br. MichaelDavide Semeraro

During the Sunday liturgy, the words of St Paul echo: ‘Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands...’ My wife (and perhaps not only she) sighs as she listens, sitting beside me. I joked with my parish priest that certain texts should be updated because times have changed, but he pointed out that this passage actually represents an innovative call for emancipation and that the term ‘submission’ refers to an attitude of docility applicable to everyone, not just women. What do you think?

N.V.

The passage in question always causes discomfort among worshippers: women usually flinch and men are, at best, embarrassed. While Paul’s text reflects the mindset of the time in which it was written, it also represents an evangelical protest against all forms of oppression. Indeed, on closer inspection, the exhortation addressed to wives is less demanding than that addressed to husbands, who are asked to love and care for their wives as they would themselves. If husbands’ love could live up to the demands of the Gospel, women’s submission, understood as ‘harmonious understanding’, would be a walk in the park!