Twenty-fifth Day.
Having considered the husband's duties, we must now look at the duty of a wife. The Scriptures say of the wife: “A good wife is a good portion; she shall be given in the portion of them that fear God, to a man for his good deeds.”—Eccles. xxvi. 3. There is nothing in the whole world more precious than a good wife. “A wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish will pull down with her hands that also which is built.”—Prov. xiv. 1. A wife must love her husband, and she owes him the most scrupulous fidelity; if the first duty of the husband is to love his wife, so also is there a corresponding duty to return that love. She must be patient with him when he comes home murmuring against his fate; she must make the home agreeable to him by cleanliness and cheerfulness. She must bear the burdens of this life with her husband, and encourage him, that he may not be despondent. The wife must be sober, not given to scolding and fault-finding. “Let women be subject to their husbands, as to the Lord; because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the Church.”—Ephes. v. 22.
Prayer.
O most loving Jesus, etc., etc.
Twenty-sixth Day.
The conscientious observance of the marriage vows is to be a supreme law to the wife. Purity must be the virtue principally looked to in marriage, according to the laws of the Sacrament of Matrimony; the wife's motto must be that of Susanna of old, who said: “I will rather die than sin before God.” The wife owes her husband a compliance at least to his wishes; not exactly an abject obedience, but that the husband and wife consult with each other, and that she comply in all lawful and sensible things. This subjection is founded on the Scriptures. God Himself said to Eve, “Thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee” (Gen. iii. 16), and St. Paul declares, “Let women be subject to their husbands as to the Lord.”—Ephes. v. 22. The loving, true, and obedient wife exerts an unbounded influence for good over her husband. She will make him great in the eyes of men, she will make him respectable and presentable in society; in short, she will make the married life a truly happy one from beginning to end.
Prayer.
O most loving Jesus, etc., etc.