"Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered" (1Co 11:2-16).The author of the Song of Songs is a God who betroths the woman of history, who decorates her with precious jewels, and with delicate compassion heals her wounds, rebuilds and redeems her, to the point of clothing her with a new dignity and purpose of life. It is God who defines His relationship with the chosen people and with the redeemed people as the relationship of the Beloved with His Beloved, of Yahweh with the Jerusalem of His predilection, of the hen longing to gather her chicks, of the shepherd in constant and absorbing care of his sheep, of the rabbi who sits the children of Galilee on his lap, and finally, of the bridegroom of the Parable who reappears as the King of Kings who unites Himself to His bride, the Church of the Apocalypse.
How many manly accents and how many feminine touches are used to write a love story that continues to be written in the life of each convert or seduced by the Lord! By presenting cases of biblical female figures, albeit from times past, I hope that each woman of today, within her particular idiosyncrasy, will read part of her own present story. And in the style of an embroidered work that intertwines or unravels, I hope that each one will find the common thread, that is, that similar episode in all the stories, the one that characterizes, matches and humanizes us all.
Elizabeth, cousin of Mary and mother of John the Baptist
In the style of several important women of the Old Testament such as Sarah, Rachel and Hannah, Elizabeth represents the barren woman, the one whom life has mysteriously deprived of the graces and generosities that by nature she should have received: the gifts of the fertility of life, of guaranteed motherhood, of a grown or multiplied family, of feeling that life has had purposes and legacies, and pain has begotten fruit. Sterility is cruelly synonymous or figure of impossibility, of sense of failure, abandonment, injustice, desert, defect or deficiency. A barren woman can come to live the feeling of the disadvantaged and neglected by the apparent silence or indifference of the author of life, or the cruelty of nature.
But the infertile woman is not only the one who cannot have children, but also the one who feels that her life is not bearing fruit, that all her efforts are in vain, that her beauty and youth fade away, that her time of happiness has expired. This is how she feels when she nostalgically sees the blessings that others seem to enjoy but that, for some reason, she has not deserved to inherit because life surprised her with emptiness, absence and loneliness.
But both Isabel and many of them, in spite of their discouragement and tiredness, despite the emotional and spiritual wear and tear that long days of unanswered prayers can produce, did not stop believing and continuing to cry out. They believed in the God of the impossible, in the Omnipotent and Unpredictable One who is capable of producing water by letting it fall from the sky or moving the deep wells of the earth. They continued to cry out to the God of Isaiah (Isaiah 43:19, Isaiah 44:3) who willingly offered to transform deserts into meadows and to make rivers flow over arid lands. They cried out to the God who promises reward and values the effort of the sacrificed (Isaiah 49:4). These women who never cease to cry out to the Almighty know that He will always be touched by a humble heart and promise her that she will not leave His presence empty or despised. And because they persevere in faith and do not allow themselves to be intimidated by the circumstances of life, they present their case in the heavenly court before the Judge of the humble and unfortunate until they obtain a ruling in their favor: you will be the mother of few or of many, physically or spiritually because your life will produce abundant fruits.
Shout for joy, O you who were barren, for look at the children of the forsaken one, they will be more numerous than those of the favored one (Isaiah 54:1). With the physically or emotionally barren woman who cries out to God for healing and life transformation, God signs a covenant of love, provision, care, defense, tenderness and fulfillment. Where once loneliness reigned, she will now live constantly under the care and attention of a provider rich in mercy; I will set your walls on precious stones, and your foundations shall be of sapphire, and your gates of crystal. All your children shall be instructed by Yahweh, and great shall be the happiness of your house. (Isaiah 54:11-13).
The longer a response from God takes is because the more elaborate the miracle will be. The angels need more time to assemble it. And the longer the prayer was cried, the greater its purpose. The children of barren women were also those who, in the biblical narratives, were born with great purposes, prophetic anointings, impressive destinies; necessary and indispensable lives for history. If you identify with Elizabeth, believe, pray, cry and cry out, and wait like her, and you too will receive the miracle of the fertility of life in its physical or spiritual manifestation. God takes time, but in the realm of eternity, He is still in time to transform realities and at any moment, surprise you with His mercies. If for a moment I hid my face from you, with immense pity and with love that has no end, I have pity on you. (Isaiah 54:8).
