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<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s the advice coming from a best-selling new book<\/a> by Italian author Costanza Miriano.<\/p>\nAnd while the book\u2014which was published in Spain with the support of Francisco Javier Martinez, the Catholic Archbishop of the Spanish city of Granada\u2014has hit the top of the Amazon charts, the just-released Spanish-language edition C\u00e1sate y se sumisa<\/a> Spain\u2019s <\/strong>health minister Ana Mato<\/strong>, according to a report in\u00a0The Telegraph<\/a>, said: \u201cI think it is inappropriate and disrespectful to women.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Mato has called for the book to be withdrawn.<\/p>\n Activists from the group Anonymous<\/strong> have also weighed in on the book, labeling it \u201cmisogynistic and oppressive.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n In particular, opponents of the book cite one passage which reads, \u201cWe [women] like humiliation because it is for a greater good.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/em><\/p>\n No matter that the book is based on the teaching of St. Paul,<\/strong> who writes in his Letter to the Colossians, which is the Second Reading in today\u2019s liturgy for the Feast of the Holy Family:<\/p>\n Wives, be subordinate to your husbands,\u00a0<\/em> And no matter that the next line, directed toward husbands, challenges the menfolk to an even greater responsibity,<\/strong> that of loving their wives:<\/p>\n Husbands, love your wives,\u00a0<\/em> Indeed, St. Paul\u2019s directive for a successful and happy<\/strong> marriage<\/strong> is sometimes criticized in today\u2019s egalitarian society.\u00a0 But only if both partners in marriage commit themselves to the ideal of self-sacrificing love will their union reflect God\u2019s abiding love for each of us.<\/p>\n The strong sales of the book suggest that not all women oppose Miriano\u2019s plan for a successful marriage.<\/strong>\u00a0 And Granada\u2019s Archbishop Martinez has called the book \u201cvery interesting from a Christian point of view.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n The book\u2019s author Costanza Miriano,<\/strong> a 43-year-old married woman and a devout Catholic, defended her position\u2014explaining that when she speaks of women being submissive in her book, she is not advocating submission in a marriage as something negative.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know the coloring the word has in English,\u201d<\/em> Miriano said in a BBC interview, <\/em><\/p>\n \u201c\u2026but I don\u2019t use it in a negative way. \u00a0It\u2019s a word taken from the Letter to the Ephesians. It doesn\u2019t mean in any way being like a doormat for the husband. \u00a0I use it in the etymological sense of being beneath or underneath, providing the support like a column supports a roof, because we as women we are stronger.\u201d <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Miriano went on to reference<\/strong> the encyclical of Pope John Paul II Mulieris Dignitatum<\/em> on the \u201cfeminine genius\u201d:<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe are able to put persons in relation[ship]. \u00a0John Paul II wrote that the woman has the genius, the talent of the relation[ship] so we are able to be the heart of the family. \u00a0Submission is something very, very good for a woman.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Asked why the Spanish health minister<\/strong> has called for the book to be withdrawn, Miriano speculates that perhaps the health minister has a problem with the use of the word \u201cmarry.\u201d\u00a0 According to the Christian Post<\/a>\u2019s report of the BBC interview, Miriano said:<\/p>\n \u201cI really don\u2019t know. I thought it was because of the word \u2018sumisa [submissive]\u2019 but I found that there are many books with the word \u2018sumisa\u2019 in the title sold in the Spanish shops like \u2018Diario de una sumisa<\/a>\u2018\u2026 so, I think the problem is with the word \u2018c\u00e1sate [marry]\u2019 because I think that being submitted to a husband is felt like something terrible. I don\u2019t know why,\u201d she said before explaining that she also wrote a book for men with a title that translates to\u00a0Marry Her and Die for Her<\/span>.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Why are some women so angry about the book?<\/strong> \u00a0Miriano has an idea:<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe we are not free from the need to be recognized. When a woman is completely at peace with herself, is completely fulfilled, she doesn\u2019t need to be recognized and she can take a step back, not in the sense of being a doormat but of being completely able to be the column.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Asked whether she believes that feminism has damaged marriage,<\/strong> Miriano explained:<\/p>\n \u201cI am a worker. I work as a journalist during the day and I write books during the night. I have four children. I think that women who ask the same rights of the men are lacking in imagination and ambition because we are so different from men.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n St. Paul\u2019s recipe for successful family life,<\/strong> as delineated in today\u2019s reading from Colossians 3:12-21, is outlined in greater detail in Ephesians 5:22-33:<\/p>\n Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. \u00a0<\/strong><\/span>As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/148\/2013\/12\/Submissive-300x159.jpg\" "\\"Submissive\\"")
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\nas is proper in the Lord.<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
\nand avoid any bitterness toward them.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/148\/2013\/12\/Costanza-300x155.jpg\" "\\"Costanza\\"")
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