Skirts

Recently, I have become a skirt-wearer on a daily basis. In fact, as I sit here thinking right now, I realize that it has been over a week since I’ve worn a pair of pants—and you know, I don’t miss them! I always thought that the women who did wear skirts or dresses every day were overly romanticizing how easy it was to live your life in a skirt, but I must say that I have become a convert. I like how feminine I feel when I am wearing a skirt and being that I am in the South in the summer, a skirt is much cooler than the jeans I used to wear all summer long, since I am not a fan of shorts.

I know that for many women, the choice to wear skirts and dresses rather than pants is a religious one; they feel that that is God’s command to women. While I’m not disputing that, I will say that for my part, it is not a religious concern. Catholicism only requires that women dress modestly and does not mandate how that is to be done. For many years, I have worn pants and feel completely comfortable in them, but I have found that when I am wearing a skirt, I feel more graceful and feminine. I am a fan of long skirts, again not because I am concerned about the modesty aspect, but because they allow me to function more easily. I can sit on the floor to play with my youngest brother, climb up on a chair to reach a bowl or pot that is inaccessible, and lie on my bed to read without having to reach for a blanket first.

The latest book that I have finished is The Gift of Femininity, edited by Christine Muggeridge. This book tells the stories of twelve women who have worked in and for the Church for many years. All of them link back to Mary, the ultimate example of femininity. Each author points out that, like Mary, the way they discovered true femininity was by staying close to the Church and her sacraments, especially Jesus in the Eucharist. Without Him, all the rest is just frills—it doesn’t matter how graceful and flowing my clothes are or how well I keep a house—if I don’t have a close relationship to Jesus and frequently receive the Blessed Sacrament, I’m not truly fulfilling my role as a woman. It is through the Eucharist that we draw the strength and the graces to live out our vocations in the world; I know that mine is to be (someday) a wife and mother, so while I outwardly learn to clean, cook and sew, I also need to be developing my inner life through prayer, reception of the sacraments, and spiritual reading.

My summer apprenticeship is teaching me that there is so much more to domestic life than appears to the outward eye; this adventure is exciting, but challenging in so many ways. I wonder how I will be able to keep all this up when I return to school in two months. What will I have to adapt to stay on track with all of my school assignments as well as what will need to be done in our apartment? But I do know this: my prayer life cannot be neglected for any of the other thousand important things that need doing. For without prayer, without Jesus in the Eucharist, all this is and will be nothing.