Hmmm. I am a bit at a loss.
"There is a very fine line between the lofty love of the world and its art forms, and the quickening desire for a detached way of life. I would leave the house in a pair of clicking heels and a high-collared jacket to go to Mass and while there I would feel a pull to leave everything behind. My heart is inclined almost equally towards the adornment of the body and the adornment of the heart. Maybe these thoughts are completely common, but to me it seems that my heart will always be a battleground where genuine sanctity tries to find solace amid a restless recognition of gifts I am tempted to call my own".
I found these words I had written a couple of years ago and today they are painfully relevant. Life has a funny way of taking just enough turns to make you blush.
Is the celebration of modesty, immodest? Does purity of intention hold enough ground to waive this paradox for the sake of reclaiming fashion, and as a result, true femininity? I would love your feedback...
1 comment:
Hmm, indeed.
Modesty is not the problem, and is to be celebrated from the highest hilltops (balloons notwithstanding).
Celebrating the parts rather than the sum is the problem. Not unlike other stimuli appealing to the appetites, focusing on the just end in principle and moderation in practice is key.
It's not modesty itself which is being immoderately celebrated, but its constituent accroutements. It's when these things, these mere things cling to our hearts that problems arise. We are to use all goods with the knowledge that we are mere stewards, presently having temporal goods to return the largest dividend possible for the unknown day when we will be forced to cough up.
So by all means, be modest and fashionable as you can be (so as not to cause scandal e.g. by being tacky, for instance), but don't let said fashions dwell within the centre of your heart, for that space is the rightful throne of Another. And if keeping that centre unblemished means scaling back on studiousness in the ongoing fusion of modesty and fashion, act accordingly. (cf. Mt. 5, 30)
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And, I dare say, the photo you've posted is, well, something else. I wonder what the 1000 words are saying...
"Just when you think you know the answers, I change the questions."
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