Lenten Improvement - Women and Modesty

The following is taken from Improve:Now is the Acceptable Time! distributed by the Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers.

Note: Fr. Lester has kindly permitted me to use these excerpts daily. Please click HERE to learn more about the Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers and to consider joining them as a member.

Thanks to my dear mom, my sisters and I learned always to dress modestly.

"'Father, my mother was with me when I bought it.' The girl was not being impudent. She saw nothing wrong in wearing the low-cut prom gown because her mother had been with her when the dress was bought. Boys and girls will and do find fault with their parents, but the children are quick to justify their own actions if dad and mother approve. An eight, ten or twelve year training in modesty from priests, religious and lay teachers counted little to the girl because mother approved her dress."

Counter-Attack
"The world, the flesh, and the devil have teamed up in an all-out attempt to undermine the virtue of purity by battering down its safeguard which is modesty in dress. Mothers must again become mirrors of modesty if the victory over the devil's scheming is to be won."

Bang!
"Sad to say, the beaches and swimming pools are crowded not only girls but also by many older women who have become exhibitionists. Today a woman can be modern yet modest, or she can just be modern with a bang! So many of the styles at present are daringly extreme with particular stress on evening gowns, mini and micro skirts, plunging necklines, blouses, shorts and slacks without any slack, sun suits and swim suits".

Insist!
"The selection of modest gowns and summer clothing may be meager, but only women who refuses to purchases such styles will change the trend. Demand modest clothing and it will be supplied. The sale-not the virtue of modesty-is uppermost in the minds of business people. A mother who quietly tells a salesgirl that the gown is not immodest will find some such girls agreeing with her, but our ideal is not thereby attained. The salesgirl sells. The buyer of the department or the manager of the store is the person who determines what styles will be displayed and for that reason our suggestions and complaints should be taken to buyers and managers. Buying an immodest gown and building it up at home shows a sense of modesty but such a procedure increases the sales and does nothing to stop the immodest trend at its source."

Shameless!
"When will mothers and girls begin to realize that boys and men must be helped into heaven by the ladies. What a pity that a girl's body- a temple of the Holy Spirit, a tabernacle for Christ's Body and Blood, a shrine for new life-should become, because of lack of modesty, a shameless torch to fire the passions of boys and men".

Imitators
Girls and boys must be taught as tiny tots to love modesty and must be corrected for immodesty. Even though they are too young to sin, they are from infancy old enough to be impressed with the beauty of modesty. However, the trend today is to leave the little ones run around in practically nothing. But what more can we expect when so many fathers and mothers work around the house in all too little clothing!