On the spiritual authority of men

Those of you who know me personaly probably know my opinion on the necessary complementarity of the roles of men and women in a couple. These roles are not only practical (working vs. staying at home for example), they are mostly spiritual: the apostle Paul is clear on the fact that men are to be spiritual leaders.

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to experience not only the leadership of men in a couple, but also the authority associated with it.

Since our daughter Dinah was born, Jimena and I are more and more able to identify her various ways of crying. There's two main ways of crying I can identify so far: crying for food, and crying because she is cold.

When Dinah is hungry, it is quite easy to tell. She does cry, but she also opens her mouth, sticks her tongue between her lips, and tries to suck her hand, or anything that passes close to her mouth.

When we change her, she often gets cold and cries. This is a very loud cry of anger, associated with trembling, and it stops as soon as she has her pyjamas on.

Yesterday evening, as I entered our bedroom, Dinah was crying. She was in her crib, had just been breastfed, and had no apparent reason to cry. It was obvious that she wasn't crying for food, and she wasn't cold either. It was more of an awkward kind of crying. I got to her crib and rocked it for a few minutes. She stopped crying. I went to the other side of the bed, and she began to cry again. I went back to her crib, but this time, I felt called to pray, so I suggested to Jimena that we all prayed together before sleeping. As soon as I began to pray, Dinah stopped crying and peace settled in the room. We had possibly the most quiet and peaceful night since Dinah was born.

Just before we slept, Jimena told me she had been praying with Dinah before I entered the room. Each time she prayed, Dinah stopped crying, but each time she stopped praying, Dinah would cry again. It was only when I prayed with Jimena and Dinah that she stopped crying for the rest of the night.

A lot of women in Christian couples have an active prayer life, and it is often harder for men to spend time in prayer for their family. I have been blessed a lot in the past by the time Jimena spends in prayer for our couple, but yesterday was a lesson on the spiritual authority of the head of the family. This authority doesn't have to do with the personality of the man, it has to do with his spiritual position, as the representant of Christ in his household. The man is set as the head of his house, just like Christ is the head of the Church, and as such, he receives spiritual authority from Christ.

Jimena confirmed this from past experiences. For example, she witnessed of a great peace in the house after I decided to attend the men's group at Church in the morning.

I was touched yesterday when I read from 2 Kings 2 about Elishah asking Elijah to let him have a double part of his spirit. Elishah received part of Elijah's spirit when Elijah was taken up, and all the prophets could witness of it because Elishah could open the Jordan with Elijah's coat.

There is a reality in the delegation of spiritual authority. We can also see it in the Gospel as Jesus sends His disciples to chase demons and heal in His name.

Even though it is tempting to rely on the prayer life of our wives, it is the responsibility of a man to practice this spiritual authority in his family. Doing so makes a great difference.