nurture that truth in those around her. Alice von Hildebrand states, “God has indeed created women to
be beautiful. Their charm and beauty exercise a powerful attraction on the male sex, and it should be
so.”51
Alice von Hildebrand points out the way in which even the seeming weaknesses of women are
used by God in her mission to engender holiness in others: “The very frailty of women can turn out to
be their strength. Their weakness appeals to pity. It can touch men's hearts, and appeal to what is best in
them, namely their chivalrous instinct to help those weaker than themselves.”52 This is God's way,
choosing the weak: “for the weakness of God is stronger than human strength”(1 Cor 1:25). She
writes that “women are more geared toward piety because they have a keener awareness of their
weakness. This is their true strength.”53
This mission to humanize demands that she practice kenosis in directing her motives. Alice von
Hildebrand explains, “a woman's way to holiness is clearly to purify her God-given sensitivity and to
direct it into the proper channels. She should fight against maudlin tears and pray for holy tears - te ars
of love, of gratitude, of contrition.”54 A woman must be faithful and seek holiness herself in order to
fulfill her high mission, and those in her care, whether children or nations, would do well to hear her
gentle instruction. The gifts of vision which women possess to further this mission are totality,
receptivity, and maternal instincts.
Both St. Edith Stein and Alice von Hildebrand taught that women are more interested in wholes
51
52
53
54
Ibid., 50.
Ibid,, 43.
Ibid., 66.
Ibid., 45.
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