St. Paul’s teaching that wives are to be subject to their husbands can only be understood by looking at the command St. Paul gives to husbands: to love their wives as Christ loved the Church.  The word St. Paul uses is agape which is the selfless kind of love that seeks only the good of the other.  It is the kind of love with which God loves us.  The command to the husband is to love his wife; being under this command, a woman must allow herself to be loved.  

Human persons are the overflow of the love of the three Persons of the Trinity.  Because married couples have the dignity of participating in the work of creation, human persons are also the overflow of the love of the married couple.  When God looks at us, He should see His love mirrored back to Him in a human form.  When parents look at their children, they should see their love for one another being mirrored back to them.  The beautiful face of a child is the living expression of the love of the married couple.