Judith's weapons by which to deliver her people were prayer and penance. "She made herself a private chamber in the upper part of her house ... and she wore haircloth ... and fasted ... and she was exceedingly beautiful, and her husband left her great riches . . ."
Many a modern woman is violently attracted away from her own home; she is inclined to regard her husband merely as a provider of the money needed for a good time. Certainly she has her social duties; it would be much to ask that, like Judith, she should remain at home all the time. But this can be confidently asserted, that in her own home she will surely find more deep contentment (if she but train herself from the start to look for it there) than in gadding about and living a superficial life, never contented , incapable of the restfulness of mind and heart that are essential to lasting happiness.
That may sound quaint and oldfashioned. There were probably some who thought Judith, a beautiful young widow, was a fool to lock herself in. But in that retirement she discovered a new freedom, an emancipation from the tyranny of a thousand conventions, that left her soul at liberty to soar into the love of the Godhead. What blessings that mother draws down on her home and children who has acquired a deep spirit of prayer! They need so many helps nowadays, young people facing life and its complexities. The example of a mother who knows how to pray will hearten them and inspire them.
And Judith had learned the power and the need of penance. In other places at my priedieu Our Lord has time and time again insisted on this same need and has shown us how to reduce to practice His teaching on the cross and suffering. It is clear He preached no new doctrine; the story of Judith is there to prove that when God's enemies seem strongest His friends must react by arming themselves not with prayer only but with penance too.
The whole thrilling story of Judith's victory over Holofernes must be read in full to be appreciated. The only point that Our Lord shows me here is that this woman used her extraordinary beauty as He meant it to be used. She made her way to the camp of Holofernes "and when she was come into his presence, forthwith Holofernes was caught by his eyes ... and the heart of Holofernes was smitten and he was burning with the desire of her."
But Judith never lost sight of the mission entrusted to her by God, never allowed the flattering speeches of this powerful soldier to beguile her heart. When she returned to the camp of the Israelites, she brought with her the head of Holofernes which she had cut off his body while he lay in a drunken sleep. "The Lord hath not suffered me, His handmaid, to be defiled, but hath brought me back to you without pollution of sin." Thus she spoke to her people. . . . Give all of you glory to God because He is good ... And Judith was made great in Bethulia and she was most renowned in all the land of Israel. And chastity was joined to her virtue so that she knew no man all the days of her life, after the death of Manasses her husband."
What a gigantic power every good woman wields! Since the days of Judith, Mary, whom she prefigured, has walked the earth. What Judith was able to accomplish without Mary's shining example, I, a Catholic woman, can confidently aim at doing with this perfect woman to show me how.