Praying for the Beauties!

I was channel-grazing with the remote when I stopped to watch Howard Stern interview Pamela Anderson. My conscience flashed the red light: "Do not watch! Occasion of sin!" But flesh prevailed over spirit, so voluptuous was she, of face and figure, in her tight-fitting top. Little did I know that this would soon become an occasion of grace, a specific, concrete and precious actual grace. He was asking provocative, indecent questions as she responded in a kittenish, coquettish, sexy manner. Then the irreverent, degenerate shock jock crossed the line into the dark, mortal abyss of violation and abuse: "Tell us about the first time you had sex!" he said. Pamela froze; her face became ashen white; and a look of deep sadness came over her. She did not speak. The buffoon filled the silence with his idiotic nonsense. In her flawless face I saw the innocence, the fragility, the delicacy and the indescribable pain of a 12-year-old maiden who is violated. Involuntarily, she had dropped her erotic, provocative mask and unveiled herself as precious, lovely and deeply harmed. Later I heard that when she arrived for her first photo-shoot for Playboy she wept uncontrollably for an hour before she could do her make-up and preparation. I would never be able to further collaborate with the original molester, with Hefner, Stern and the millions of Baywatch voyeurs in re-enacting that primal violation. I can only consider her with care and reverence, prayerfully. And so, I have learned to pray for our sex goddesses, iconic figures who are used and abused by our media and culture, who are not treated the way they deserve: Angelina Jolie, Hally Berry, Gweneth Paltrow and even Paris Hilton. In offering these short prayers, I am confident that I please the hearts of Jesus and Mary, that I help these women who need God's grace, and I am myself healed of the restlessness of lust and covetousness and restored in serene, Christ-like, virile generosity. And may Marilyn Monroe, on this fiftieth anniversary of her death, be held close to the hearts of Jesus and his Mother...and the same for all such women who are much more than goddesses of masculine fantasy; they are precious, delicate hearts that long to be revered, cherished, loved.