From the Editors March 18, 2013 Issue

Virtue's persistent power

The Editors

Thousands of years ago, a wise man asked, “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies” (Proverbs 31:10). Among the qualities assigned to this woman are trustworthiness, skill, discernment, wisdom, strength, compassion, fearlessness, kindness, and energy.

Through the centuries, many women have exhibited those qualities: Mary, Jesus’ mother, whose courageous love enabled her to stand at the foot of the Master’s cross; the woman who had suffered for years with an issue of blood and risked touching Jesus’ clothes in order to regain her health (she took a huge risk by going against religious norms since her condition rendered her ceremonially unclean and quite literally an “untouchable”); the mother whose persistent pleas led Jesus to heal her daughter. These women were proactive in their desire for healing.

Today, women—even in repressive cultures—are striving to exhibit the virtuous woman's qualities.