Happy International Women's Day to all of the amazing women in our lives! Although in many countries of the world, including ours, there are still unfair obstacles and prejudice against women in certain aspects of life, for more than 100 years, the world has started to recognize the amazing, loving, and irreplaceable role that women have in our lives. I wanted to take the time today to celebrate them and also to focus on the importance of women in our faith history, including when we consider the disciples of Jesus.

In the scripture Proverbs 31: 25 - 26, we can clearly see that women are very powerful in living and leading lives of faith:

"She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.  She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue."

This passage describes a woman who is inspirational, wise, faithful to God, and I would add, loving. If you read further into the chapter, others in the woman's family - her husband and children - talk about these truly amazing qualities of her and do not focus on the superficial objectification of women as "only being important based on outward appearance," something that our society unfortunately does many times, still to this day. However, if we want to follow and live up to Jesus' call, we can clearly see the importance that women played in his ministry, and our lives today!

Consider these questions:

In the Old Testament:

- Who put her own life in danger to protect her people - the Jews - from a genocide? Queen Esther 

- Who saved the life of Moses, who went on to receive the Ten Commandments from God and teach them to his people? The daughter of Pharaoh

In the New Testament:

- Who were the first people to see that Jesus had risen? His disciple Mary Magdalene and other women, including Mary the mother of James, Joanna, and Salome

- And, finally, who was the only other human being other than Jesus without sin? His mother, Mary. In my mind, she is the most important person other than Jesus to have ever lived because she faithfully and without question accepted God's call to birth and raise Jesus.

We could go on and on describing the importance of women in our faith history. We could also talk about the importance of so many women in our more recent history, including Joan of Arc (amazing example of strength and faith), Mother Teresa of Calcutta (advocate for those who have little among us), Dorothy Day (social justice), Corrie ten Boom (a Dutch Christian woman who would save the lives of many Jews during the Holocaust), and so many others. 

Let's face it, and I am talking mostly to my "fellow men" here. We do not honor, respect, or show love to the women in our lives enough. As a society, we still have a long way to go before we can say that we have achieved gender equality. We have made strides. We need to keep moving. And we need to recognize all of the important women in our lives, for their faith, hope, and love. I would like to take a moment to shout out some of the women that are so important in my life: 

- my mom, Tina Capuano

- my mother - in - law, Sandra White

- my sisters - in - law, Alexa White and Cassidy Capuano

- and, most importantly, my best friend, wife, and the mother of soon-to-be - arriving Baby Cap, Andréa Capuano.

I love you all dearly!

God bless,  Joey