J.M.J. In our contemporary era, there are many competing images of women and womanhood.
Who is a woman and with what is she to be involved?
This question, although its answer may seem obvious,
has received widely varying responses from diverse sources: Playboy
Magazine, Planned Parenthood of America, the National Organization for
Women and Saint John Paul II, to name a few.
Playboy Magazine considers physically "attractive" women (in its estimation) to be akin to goddesses to be coveted for
their ability to provide sexual pleasure.
Planned Parenthood of America declares that the "abortion decision" is to be made by women alone, ignoring the facts
that men are responsible for conception and that abortion unfailingly
takes the lives of a third party--innocent preborn children.
The National Organization for Women contends that
women have been traditionally oppressed, especially because of their
role as child-bearer. Therefore, they should now be aggressive in
reasserting their "rights" to "reproductive freedom," among other
equality issues.
Finally, Saint John Paul II, in harmony with Sacred
Scripture and the Apostolic Tradition, believed women to be holy
daughters of the Creator who possess an intrinsic beauty and value
because they, like men, have been fashioned in the imago Dei--"the image
of God."
In the midst of these opposing viewpoints, we would
do well to remember one simple but profound truth: the Almighty Lord, in
the words of our Holy Father in his Letter to Women (June 29, 1995),
has a "mysterious plan regarding the vocation and mission of women in
the world." Each and every woman--regardless of her role as mother, wife,
daughter, sister, religious, consecrated person, consecrated virgin--is
remarkable and special in God's eyes. Saint John Paul II, in pondering
the dignity of each woman, wrote: "Through the insight which is so much a
part of your womanhood you enrich the world's understanding and help to
make human relations more honest and authentic" (number 2).
Where would we be without women? The astounding
realization--but perhaps not too astonishing, upon prayerful
reflection--is that we owe women our very physical lives. Our mothers and
fathers conceived us and brought us forth. We did not exist until they
provided the physical matter (the seed and the egg) and God furnished
the spiritual matter (the rational, immortal soul).
The Ever-Virgin Mother of God is the only woman
hailed as both Virgin and Mother. She, more than any other person,
cooperated freely in the inscrutable design of the Maker by yielding to
the promptings of the Holy Spirit, thereby living with a zest to do good
that is at once amazing and inspirational. Our Blessed Lady teaches us
how to put aside our projects so that Christ can work in us His
inimitable plan of salvation.
As the Church praises God for Our Lady, we also offer
our gratitude for women and womanhood. As the Holy Father expressed in
his August 15, 1988 Apostolic Letter Mulieris dignitatem ("The Dignity of
Women"), the Church "desires to give thanks to the Most Holy Trinity for
the 'mystery of woman' and for every woman 'for all that constitutes the
eternal measure' of her feminine dignity, for 'the great works of God,' which throughout human history have been accomplished in and through
her" (number 31).
The Madonna is, in the words of the Second Vatican
Ecumenical Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen
Gentium), the stellar example of "obedience, faith, hope and burning
charity" (number 61) for all women, no matter their state in life. She
reflects Christ and instructs all her daughters to do the same. Mary is
the model for all peoples, but especially for women.
When we recite the Holy Rosary, let us pray for women
everywhere, that they may imitate Mary in her countless virtues.
Where would we be without women? No Mary . . . no
mothers . . . no wives . . . no sisters . . . no daughters . . . no
women religious . . . no consecrated women . . . no consecrated virgins .
. . how impoverished our world--and depleted Heaven--would be!
(From The Catholic Servant, May 1998, page five. Used with permission.)
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