Are Woman Human?

I've just finished a series of essays written by Dorothy L. Sayers. It was a fantastic look at the role of women in society. The book ended with this (which I loved):

"They (women) had never known a man like this Man-there never has been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronized; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as "The women, God help us!" or "The ladies, God bless them!"; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unselfconscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything "funny" about woman's nature.
But we might easily deduce it from His contemporaries, and from His prophets before Him, and from His Church to this day. Women are not human; nobody shall persuade that they are human; let them say what they like, we will not believe it, though One rose from the dead."

A Little TV Reality

A few weeks ago I was channel surfing and came across a great show, The Monastery. Since then I've made a point of watching or taping it. The show takes place at a monastery in northern New Mexico which has opened its doors to five men "searching for God." I can't get enough of this show. It is well done and there's so much that can be learned from these Benedictine monks. I could not resist including a few quotes from the show.

The most recent episode deals with confession and obedience:

Confession brings people closer to God and other people
The rule of St. Benedict

"All of us have deceptions the question is how do I keep working against that so that I become more and more transparent and that is what confession is about, transparent before God and transparent before sisters and brothers."

"A value in confession is that I'm admitting before God that even my intentions weren't always good."

"Confession is a recognition that my personal sinfulness destroys my relationships."

"Sin offends God not because you can hurt [damage] God. God can't be hurt [damaged]. God is God, but you can hurt His creation and I'm part of His creation-we can offend Him by not honoring the mystery of that humanity within us and that destroys me as a human being."

"Obedience is learning how to surrender ones life - to not be in control."

[Community is at the heart of monastic life. Everything belongs to the community even clothing-new monks must relinquish all outward signs of pride by giving up all possessions to become one with the brothers.]

Obedience must be given gladly for God loves a cheerful giver
The rule of St. Benedict

The brothers should each try to be the first to show respect to the other, supporting with the greatest patience one another's weaknesses
The rule of St. Benedict