Modesty and Virtue

http://www.totally-catholic.com/

I was shopping online for some Catholic t-shirts for my 17 year old son.  I have bought him several over the years and always like to see him make the choice to wear one out in public.  I think it makes a statement that he is proud of his faith and is not afraid or ashamed to broadcast it.  They have come a long way in the styles of these T-shirts and I found a great site which has a good variety.  http://www.totally-catholic.com/

While shopping on their site, I clicked on the link Girlie T-shirts and went to a sister site that I thought had a wonderful message to the young Catholic women of today.  http://catholicgirlapparel.com/
Females today are being bombarded with messages from society that they have to dress "sexy", revealing their body in order to be thought of as beautiful.  This in fact is quite the opposite.  A women's body is her temple and a gift from God, not to be put on public display but to be kept modest. 

This doesn't mean you have to dress from neck to wrist, completely covered.  However, girls today need to have virtue and represent themselves in a respectful way, thus commanding respect back.  I loved this quote from the site, "The goal of dressing modestly is to emphasize your unique beauty to glorify God, not glorify yourself as an object of someone else's desires." 
Wow, what a perfect statement!  Glorify God, not yourself.

From TV shows, movies, magazines, and peer pressure, girls have a false sense of what is beautiful.  They are being shown images of what a beautiful woman is and unless we monitor what they are seeing and believing, they will feel they must conform in order to be beautiful and fit in.  If you doubt that, watch a Victoria Secret commercial.  I cringe when those come on and can't change the channel fast enough.     

As my little Princess gets older, I am sure we will be having numerous conversations about proper dress and having virtue.  I see the stores in the Mall and the girls that shop there and shudder to think of what society is turning our ladies in to.  We as parents have the responsibility to instill these virtues into our daughters.  They must know they are beautiful in the eyes of God and should not forgo that for earthly desires of men. We also must teach our boys that they are not to covet females but respect them.  

We must protect our children.   

whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, THINK ABOUT these things."
  - Philippians 4:8