As outlined in CCSP, Precis of Official Catholic Teaching on Marriage, Family and Sexuality, pages 153-192.
Mulieris Dignitatem Summary
Encyclical of Pope John Paul II on the Dignity and Vocation of Women
I. Introduction
A Sign of the Times
1.The dignity and the vocation of women have gained exceptional prominence in recent years (n. 1).
+ This can be seen in the statements of the Church's Magisterium in various documents of the Second Vatican Council, which declares in its closing message: (n. 1).
+ "The hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why... women imbued with a spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling" (The Council's Message to Women (Dec. 8, 1965): AAS 58 (1966)13-14) (n. 1).
+ This message sums up the Council's teaching in the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes (cf. nn. 8;9;60) and in the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity Apostolicam Actuositatem (cf. n. 9) (n. 1).
+ Similar teaching had been expressed in a number of Pope Pius XlI's Discourses and in Pope John XXIII's Encyclical Pacem in Terris (n. 1).
+ Pope Paul VI showed the relevance of this "sign of the times" when he conferred the title "Doctor of the Church" upon Saint Teresa of Jesus and Saint Catherine of Siena and when he set up a special Commission to study the "effective promotion of the dignity and responsibility of women" (n. 1).
+ The Fathers of the Synod of Bishops on "The Vocation and Mission of the Laity in the Church" (October 1987) dealt with the dignity and vocation of women, recommending further study of the anthropological and theological bases that are needed to solve the problems connected with the meaning and dignity of being a woman or a man (n. 1).
+ It is only by beginning from these bases, which make it possible to understand the greatness of the dignity and vocation of women, that one is able to speak of their active presence in the Church and in Society (n. 1).
+ This is what I intend to deal with in this document (n. 1).
The Marian Year
2. The last Synod took place within the Marian Year, giving special thrust to this theme, as the Encyclical Redemptoris Mater (n. 46) points out (n. 2).
+ This Encyclical develops and updates the Second Vatican Council's teaching contained in Chapter VIII of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, significantly entitled "The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, in the Mystery of Christ and of the Church" (n. 2).
+ Mary- the "woman" of the Bible (cf. Gen. 3:15; Jn. 2:4; 19:16) - intimately belongs to the salvific mystery of Christ and is therefore also present in a special way in the mystery of the Church (n. 2).
+ Since "the Church is in Christ as a sacrament...of intimate union with God and of the unity of the whole human race" (Lumen Gentium, 1), the special presence of the Mother of God in the mystery of the Church makes us think of the exceptional link between this "woman" and the whole human family (n. 2).
+ It is a question here of every man and woman of the human race in whom is realized a fundamental inheritance, one linked with the mystery of the biblical "beginning": "God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (Gen 1:27) (n. 2).
+ This eternal truth about the human being, man and woman - a truth immutably fixed in human experience - at the same time constitutes the mystery which only in "the Incarnate Word takes on light. . . (since) Christ fully reveals man to himself and makes his supreme calling clear" (Gaudium et Spes, 22).
+ In this "revealing of man to himself," do we not need to find a special place for that "woman" who was the Mother of Christ? (n. 2).
II. Woman-Mother of God (Theotokos)
Union with God
3. "When the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman" (Gal. 4:4) (n. 3).
+ With these words, Apostle Paul links together the principal moments essentially determining the fulfillment of the mystery "predetermined in God" (cf. Eph 1:9) (n. 3).
+ The Incarnation leads to the turning point of man's history on earth, understood as salvation history (n. 3).
+ St. Paul does not call the Mother of Christ "Mary," but calls her "woman", as in the words of the Proto-Evangelium in the Book of Genesis (cf. 3:15) (n. 3).
+ Thus, there begins the central event, the key event in the history of salvation: the Lord's Paschal Mystery (n. 3).
+ As the Second Vatican Council reminds us: "People look to the various religions for answers to those most profound mysteries of the human condition which today, even as in olden times, deeply stir the human heart: What is a human being? What is the meaning and purpose of life? What is goodness and what is sin? What gives rise to our Sorrows and to what intent? Where lies the path to true happiness? What is the truth about death, judgment and retribution beyond the grave? What, finally, is that ultimate and unutterable mystery which engulfs our being and from which we take our origin and towards which we move?" (Nostra Aetate, 1) (n. 3).
+ The "fullness of time" spoken of in Paul's Letter emphasizes the response to these questions of God Himself, "in whom we live, move and have our being" (cf. Acts 17:28)(n. 3).
+ The sending of this Son, one in substance with the Father, as a man "born of woman," constitutes the culminating and definitive point of God's self-revelation to humanity (n. 3).
+ This self-revelation is salvific in character (n. 3).
+ A woman is to be found at the center of this salvific event (n.3).
+ The self-revelation of God, who is the inscrutable unity of the Trinity, is outlined in the annunciation of Nazareth: "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son... .The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God.. for with God nothing will be impossible" (cf. Lk 1:31-37) (n. 3).
+ The annunciation at Nazareth is the beginning of that definitive answer by which God Himself "attempts to calm people's hearts" (cf. Nostra Aetate, 2) (n. 3).
+ In this response "the Word is truly made flesh" (cf. Jn 1:14) (n. 3).
+ Hence, Mary attains a union with God that exceeds all expectations of the human spirit (n. 3).
+ Only by the power of the Holy Spirit, who "overshadowed" her, was Mary able to accept what is impossible with men, but not with God" (cf. Mk 10:27) (n. 3).
Theotokos
4. Thus, the "fullness of time" manifests the extraordinary dignity of the "woman" (n. 4).
+ On one hand, this dignity consists in the supernatural elevation to union with God in Jesus Christ, which determines the ultimate finality of the existence of every person both on earth and in eternity (n. 3).
+ From this point of view, the "woman" is the representative and archetype of the whole human race (n. 4).
+ She represents the humanity which belongs to all human beings, both men and women (n. 4).
+ On the other hand, the event at Nazareth highlights a form of union with the living God which can only belong to the "woman," Mary: the union between Mother and Son (n. 4).
+ The Virgin of Nazareth truly becomes the Mother of God, a truth which Christian faith has accepted from the beginning and that was solemnly defined at the Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.) (Denzinger-Schoenmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, 251) (n. 4).
+ By responding with her"fiat," Mary conceived aman who was the Son of God, of one substance with the Father (n. 4).
+ Therefore, she is truly the Mother of God because motherhood concerns the whole person, not just the body, nor even just human "nature" (n. 4).
+ In this way the name "Theotokos" - Mother of God - became the name proper to the union with God granted to the Virgin Mary (n. 4).
+ This particular union is a pure grace and, as such, a gift of the Spirit (n.4).
+ But at the same time, through her response of faith, Mary exercises her free will and thus fully shares with her personal and feminine "I" in the event of the Incarnation (n. 4).
+ All of God's action in human history at all times respects the free will "I" (n. 4).
5. This event is clearly interpersonal in character; it is a dialogue (n. 5).
+ The whole annunciation dialogue reveals the essential dimension of the event, namely, its supernatural dimension (n. 5).
+ Grace never casts nature aside or cancels it out, but rather perfects and ennobles it (n. 5).
+ Therefore, the "fullness of grace" granted to the Virgin of Nazareth signifies the fullness of perfection of "what is characteristic of woman," of "what is feminine" (n. 5).
+ This is the culminating point, the archetype of the personal dignity of women (n. 5).
+ When Mary responds: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord" (Lk 1:38), she shows her complete awareness of being a creature of God (n. 5).
+ The word "handmaid" is inscribed throughout the whole history of the Mother and the Son, who says of Himself that He came "not to be served, but to serve" (Mk. 10:45) (n. 5).
+ Thus, from the first moment of her divine motherhood, Mary takes her place within Christ's messianic service, which constitutes the very foundation of that kingdom in which "to serve.. .means to reign" (Lumen Gentium, 36) (n. 5).
+ The reality "Woman-Mother of God" determines the essential horizon of reflection on the dignity and the vocation of woman (n. 5).
+ In anything we think, say, or do concerning the dignity and the vocation of women, our thoughts, hearts, and actions must not become detached from this horizon (n. 5).
+ The dignity of every human being, and the vocation corresponding to that dignity, find their definitive measure in union with God (n. 5).
+ Mary, the woman of the Bible, is the most complete expression of this dignity and vocation (n. 5).
III. The Image and Likeness of God in The Book of Genesis
6. In the revealed truth concerning man as "the image and likeness" (Gen. 1:27) of God constitutes the immutable basis of all Christian anthropology (cf. St. Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., V, 6, 1; V, 16,2-3; St. Gregory of Nyssa, De Hom. Op., 16: PG 44.180; In Cant. Cant. Horn. 2: PG 44.805-808; St. Augustine, In Ps. 4, 8) (n. 6).
+ Both man and woman are human beings to an equal degree; both are created in God's image (n. 6).
+ This image and likeness of God, essential for the human being, is passed on by the man and woman, as spouses and parents, to their descendants (n. 6).
+ What makes man like God is the fact that man is a rational being and, thanks to this property, able to "dominate" the other creatures of the visible world (cf. Gen. 1:28) (n. 6).
+ The text of Genesis 2:18-25 helps us to understand better what we find in Genesis 1:27-28 and, if read together with the latter, helps us to understand even more profoundly the fundamental truth which it contains concerning man created as man and woman in the image and likeness of God (n. 6).
+ In Genesis 2:18-25, the woman is created as the companion ofthe man, who is alone in the surrounding world of living creatures, and who finds in none of them a "helper" suitable for himself (n. 6).
+ Called into existence in this way, the woman is immediately recognized by the man as "flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones" (cf. Gen. 2:23), and for this very reason she is called "woman," a name in biblical language indicating her essential identity with regard to man (n. 6).
+ The biblical text provides sufficient bases for recognizing the essential equality of man and woman from the point of view of their humanity (n. 6).
+ The woman is another "I" in a common humanity (n. 6).
+ In the same context as the creation of man and woman, the biblical account speaks of God's instituting marriage as an indispensable condition for the transmission of life to new generations, the transmission of life to which marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordered (n. 6).
+ "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it" (Gen. 1:28) (n. 6).
Person-Communion-Gift
7. By reflecting on the whole account found in Gen 2:18-25, and by interpreting it in the light of the truth about the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26-27), we can understand even more fully what constitutes the personal character of the human being, thanks to which both man and woman are like God (n. 7).
+ We read that man cannot exist "alone" (cf. Gen 2:18); he can exist only as a "unity of the two," and therefore in relation to another human person (n. 6).
+ Being a person in the unique image and likeness of God also involves existing in a relationship, in relation to the other "I" (n. 7).
+ This is a prelude to the definitive self-revelation of the Triune God: a living unity in the communion of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (n. 7).
+ God, who allows Himself to be known by human beings through Christ, is the unity of the Trinity: unity in communion (n. 7).
+ This throws new light on man's image and likeness to God (n. 7).
+ The fact that man, "created as man and woman", is the image of God means not only that each of them is like God, but that man and woman, created as a "unity of the two" in their common humanity, are called to live in a communion of love, mirroring the love that is in God, through which the three Persons love each other in the intimate mystery of the one divine life (n. 7).
+ The image and likeness of God in man thus expresses the "unity of the two" in a common humanity (n. 7).
+ This "unity of the two" shows that the creation of man is also marked by a certain likeness to the divine communion (n. 7).
+ The foundation of the whole human "ethos" is rooted in the image and likeness of God which the human bears within himself from the beginning (n. 7).
+ That "ethos" reaches its apex in the commandment of love (n. 7).
+ In the "unity of the two", man and woman are called to exist mutually "one for the other" (n. 7).
+ This explains the meaning of"help" spoken ofin Genesis 2:18-25: "I will make him a helper fit for him" (n. 7).
+ We can easily understand that it is a question of a "help" on the part of both, and at the same time a mutual "help" (n. 7).
+ To be human means to be called to interpersonal communion (n. 7).
+ Genesis 2:18-25 shows that marriage is the first and, in a sense, the fundamental dimension of this call, but it is not the only one (n. 7).
+ The whole of human history unfolds within the context of this call (n. 7).
+ In this history there develops in humanity itself, in accordance with God's will, the integration of what is "masculine" and what is "feminine" (n. 7).
+ The biblical texts from Genesis onward constantly enable Us to discover the ground in which the truth about man is rooted (n. 7).
+ This truth has to do with the history of salvation, as evident in the following passage from Vatican Council II: "The Lord Jesus, when He prayed to the Father 'that all may be one - as we are one' (Jn 17:2122), opened up vistas closed to human reason. For He implied a certain likeness between the union of the Divine Persons and the union of God's children in truth and charity. This likeness reveals that man cannot fully find himselfexcept through a sincere gift of sell" (Gaudium et Spes, 24) (n. 7).
+ Man - whether man or woman - is the only being among the creatures of the visible world that God the Creator "has willed for its own sake"; that creature is thus a person (n. 7).
+ To say that man is created in the image and likeness of God means that man is called to exist "for" others, to become a gift (n. 7).
+ This applies to every human being, whether woman or man, who live it out in accordance with the special qualities proper to each (n. 7).
+ In the Book of Genesis we can already discern the spousal character of the relationship between persons which will serve as the basis for the subsequent development of the truth about motherhood and about virginity as two particular dimensions of the vocation of women in the light of divine Revelation (n. 7).
+ These two dimensions will find their loftiest expression at the "fullness of time" (cf. Gal 4:4) in the "woman" of Nazareth: the virgin Mother (n. 7).
The Anthropomorphism of Biblical Language
8. The presentation of man as "the image and likeness of God" is the key for understanding biblical Revelation as God's Word about Himself (n. 8).
+ God speaks in human language, using human concepts and images (n. 8).
+ Man is "like" God, but God, too, is in some measure "like" man, and precisely because of this likeness, He can be humanly known (n. 8).
+ But there are limits to this analogy (n. 8).
+ While man's "likeness" to God is true, the "non-likeness" which separates the whole of creation from the Creator is still more essentially true (n. 8).
+ God does not cease to be for man the one "who dwells in unapproachable light" (I Tim 6:16): He is the "Different One" by
essence, the "totally other" (n. 8).
+ The limits to the analogy between man and God must be kept in mind when we find in Scripture comparisons attributing to God masculine" and "feminine" qualities (n. 8).
+ If there is a likeness between Creator and creatures, it is understandable that the Bible would refer to God using expressions that attribute to Him both "masculine" and "feminine" qualities (for feminine qualities cf. Is. 49:14-15; 66:13; Ps 121:2-3; Is 42:14; 46:3-4; for masculine cf. Hos 11:1-4; Jer. 3:4-19).
+ This characteristic of biblical language points indirectly to the mystery of the eternal "generating" which belongs to the inner life of God (n. 8).
+ Nevertheless, in itself, this generating has neither masculine nor feminine qualities (n. 8).
+ It is spiritual in the most perfect way, since "God is spirit" (Jn 4:24) and possesses no property typical of the body, neither "feminine" nor "masculine" (n. 8).
+ Even "fatherhood" in God is completely divine and free of the masculine" bodily characteristics proper to human fatherhood (n. 8).
+ In this sense, the Old Testament spoke of God as a Father. Jesus Christ, who called God "Abba-Father" (Mk. 14:36), and who as the only-begotten and consubstantial Son placed this truth at the very center of His Gospel, thus establishing the norm of Christian prayer-referred to fatherhood in this ultracorporeal, superhuman, and completely divine sense (n. 8).
+ Although it is not possible to attribute human qualities to the eternal generation of the Word of God and although the divine fatherhood does not possess "masculine" characteristics in a physical sense, we must nevertheless seek in God the absolute model of all "generations" among human beings (n. 8).
+ This would seem to be the sense of the Letter to the Ephesians: "I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named" (3:14-15) (n. 8).
+ All "generating" among creatures finds its primary model in that generating which in God is completely divine, that is, spiritual (n. 8).
+ Every element of human generation proper to man, and every element proper to woman, namely, human "fatherhood" and human "motherhood," bears within itself a likeness to or analogy with the divine "generating" and with that "fatherhood" which in God is "totally different," that is, completely spiritual and divine in essence" (n. 8).
+ In the human order, generation is proper to the "unity of the two:" both are "parents," the man and woman alike (n. 8).
IV. Eve-Mary
The "Beginning" and the Sin
9. "Although he was made by God in a state ofjustice, from the dawn of history man abused his liberty at the urging of the Evil One. Man set himself against God and sought to find fulfillment apart from God" (Gaudium et Spes, 13) (n. 9).
+ With these words, the teaching of the last Council recalls the revealed doctrine of "original" sin (n. 9).
+ While expressed in the form of symbolic narrative, what is written in the Book of Genesis reveals what should be called "the mystery of sin" and even more fully, "the mystery of evil," which exists in the world created by God (n. 9).
+ It is not possible to read "the mystery of sin" without making reference to the whole truth about the "image and likeness of God" (n. 9).
+ This truth presents the creation of man as a special gift from the Creator, the foundation and source of the essential dignity of the human being - man and woman - and also the beginning of the call to both of them to share in the intimate life of God Himself (n. 9).
+ In the light of Revelation, creation likewise means the beginning of salvation history (n. 9).
+ It is precisely in this beginning that sin is situated and manifests itself as opposition and negation (n. 9).
+ Paradoxically, the sin presented in Genesis 3 confirms the truth about the image and likeness of God in man, since the truth means freedom which includes man's abuse of it by choosing evil against the will of God (n. 9).
+ In its essence, sin is a negation of God as creator (n. 9).
+ Creating man and woman in His own image and likeness God wills for them the fullness of good, or supernatural happiness which flows from sharing His own life (n 9)
+ By committing sin, man rejects this gift and wills to become 'as God, knowing good and evil' (Gen 3:5) deciding what is good and what is evil independently of God his Creator (n 9)
+ Sin brings about a break in the original unity which man enjoyed in the state of originaljustice: union with God as the source of the unity of his own "I" (n. 9).
+ The biblical description of original sin, in a certain way "distin guishes the roles" which the woman and man had in it (n. 9).
+ There is no doubt that, independent of this "distinction of roles" the first sin is the sin of man, created by God as male and female (n. 9).
+ It is also the sin of the "first parents," to which is connected its hereditary character (n. 9).
+ In this sense, we call it "original sin" (n. 9).
+ Sin cannot be understood without reference to the mystery of the creation of the human being in the image and likeness of God (n. 9).
+ By means of this reference one can understand the mystery of that non-likeness" to God in which sin consists (n. 9).
+ Similarly, one can understand the mystery of that "non-likeness" to God, who "alone is good" (cf. Mt 19:17) and the fullness of good (n. 9).
+ If sin's "non-likeness" to God, who is Holiness itself, presupposes "likeness" in the sphere of freedom and free will, it can be said that for this very reason the "non-likeness" contained in sin is all the more tragic and sad (n. 9).
+ God, as Creator and Father, is wounded, "offended," in the very heart of that gift which belongs to His eternal plan for man (n. 9).
+ As the author of the evil of sin, the human being -- man and woman - is affected by it (n. 9).
+ Genesis clearly describes the new situation of man in the created world (n. 9).
+ "Toil" by man to earn a living (cf. Gen 3:17-19) (n. 9).
+ Great "pain" for the woman in giving childbirth (cf. Gen 3:16) (n 9).
+ The end of human life on earth is marked by the necessity of death (cf. Gen 3:19)(n. 9).
+ These words do not mean that the image and likeness of God in the human being is destroyed by sin, but rather, that it has been "obscured" or "diminished" (n. 9).
+ Sin in fact "diminishes" man (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 13) (n. 9).
+ Man's greatness and dignity are achieved in the covenant with God, in union with Him, in striving towards that fundamental unity which belongs to the internal "logic" of the very mystery of creation (n. 9).
+ God "chose us in (Christ) before the foundation of the world... He destined us in love to be His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will" (Eph 1:46) (n. 9).
"He Shall Rule Over You"
10. The Book of Genesis outlines the truth about the consequences of man's sin, as is shown by the disturbance of that original relationship between man and woman which corresponds to their individual dignity as persons (n. 10).
+ A human being, male or female, is a person and "the only creature on earth which God willed for His own sake;" and at the same time this unique and unrepeatable creature "cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of sell" (Gaudium et Spes, 24) (n. 10).
+ Here begins the relationship of"communion" in which the "unity of two" and the personal dignity of both man and woman find expression (n. 10).
+ Therefore, where we read: "Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you" (Gen. 3:16), we find a break and a constant threat precisely in regard to this "unity of two" corresponding to the dignity of the image and likeness of God in both of them (n. 10).
+ This threat is more serious for the woman, since domination takes the place of "being a sincere gift" and therefore living "for" the other: "he shall rule over you" (n. 10).
+ This "domination" indicates the disturbance and loss of stability of that fundamental equality which the man and woman possess in the "unity of two" and especially to the disadvantage to the woman (n. 10).
+ Only the equality resulting from their dignity as persons can giYC to their mutual relationship the character of an authentic "communio personarum" (n. 10).
+ This statement in Genesis 3:16 implies reference to the mutual relationship of man and woman in marriage (n. 10).
+ Only on the basis of the "sincere gift of self" can both man and woman, and in particular the woman, discover themselves as a true "unity of two" according to the dignity of the person (n. 10).
+ The matrimonial union requires respect for and a perfecting of the true personal subjectivity of both of them (n. 10).
+ The woman cannot become the "object" of "domination" and male "possession" (n. 10).
+ The biblical text directly concerns original sin and its consequences, whereby man and woman bear within themselves the "inclination to sin," a tendency expressed in a threefold concupiscence which St. John defines as the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life (cf. 1 Jn. 2:16) (n. 10).
+ These words of Genesis refer directly to marriage, but indirectly they concern the different spheres of social life: the situations in which the woman remains disadvantaged or discriminated against (n. 10).
+ Revealed truth about the creation of the human being as male and female is the principal argument against all objectively injurious and unjust situations (n. 10).
+ Sacred Scripture confirms the actual existence of such situations and proclaims the need for conversion, for liberation from what offends and "diminishes" man, not only the one who is offended but also the one who causes the offense (n. 10).
+ The biblical and evangelical message sheds light on "women's rights" by safeguarding the truth about the "unity" of the "two," that is to say, the truth about that dignity and vocation that result from the specific diversity and personal originality of man and woman (n. 10).
+ Even the rightful opposition of women to the biblical words: "He shall rule over you" (Gen 3:16) must not lead to the masculinization of women and a loss of their own "originality" (n. 10).
+ The personal resources of femininity are certainly no less than the resources of masculinity: they are merely different (n. 10).
+ A woman, as well as a man, must understand her "fulfillment" as a person, her dignity and vocation, on the basis of these resources, according to the richness of the femininity which she received on the day of creation and which she inherits as an expression of the "image and likeness of God" that is specifically hers (n. 10).
+ The inheritance of sin suggested by the words of the Bible: "You shall desire your husband and he shall rule over you" -- can be conquered only by following this path (n. 10).
Proto-evangelium
11. The Book of Genesis shows that sin is the evil at man's "beginning" and its consequences weigh upon the whole human race (n. 11).
+ At the same time, it foretells of the victory over evil, over sin (n. 11).
+ This is proved by the words in Genesis 3:15, usually called the "Proto-evangelium": "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (n. 11).
+ Significantly, the foretelling of the Redeemer contained in these words refers to the "woman" (n. 11).
+ She is assigned the first place in the Proto-evangelium as the progenitrix of Him who will be the Redeemer of man (n. 11).
+ Since the redemption is to be accomplished through a struggle against evil - through "enmity" between the offspring of the woman and the offspring of him who, as "the father of lies" (Jn. 8:44), is the first author of sin in human history - it is also an enmity between him and the woman (n. 11).
+ These words give us a comprehensive view of the whole of Revelation, first as a preparation for the Gospel and later as the Gospel itself (n. 11).
+ From this vantage point, the two female figures Eve and Mary, are joined under the name of woman (n. 11).
+ The words of the Proto-evangelium, re-read in the light of the New Testament, express well the mission of woman in the Redeemer's salvific struggle against the author of evil in human history (n. 11).
+ The comparison of Eve-Mary constantly recurs in the course of reflection on the deposit of faith received from divine Revelation (n. 11).
+ As a rule, from this comparison there emerges a contrast (n. 11).
+ Eve, as "the mother of all the living" (Gen 3:20), is the witness to the biblical "beginning," which contains the truth about the creation of man made in the image and likeness of God and the truth about original sin (n. 11).
+ Mary is the witness of the new "beginning" and the "new creation" (cf. 2 Cor 5:17), since she, herself, as the first of the redeemed In salvation history, is "a new creation": she is "full of grace"
+ The words of the Proto-evangelium place such strong emphasis on the "woman" because in her the new and definitive Covenant of God with humanity has its beginning, the Covenant in the redeeming blood of Christ (n. 11).
+ The Covenant begins with a woman, the "woman" of the Annunciation at Nazareth (n. 11).
+ Herein lies the absolute originality of the Gospel (n. 11).
+ In the Old Testament, to intervene in the history of His people, God addressed Himself to women, but, in order to make His Covenant with humanity, He addressed only men: Noah, Moses, Abraham (n. 11).
+ At the beginning of the new and eternal and irrevocable Covenant there is a woman: the Virgin of Nazareth (n. 11).
+ It is a sign that points to the fact that "in Jesus Christ" "there is neither male nor female" (Gal. 3:28) (n. 11).
+ In Christ, the mutual opposition between man and woman which is the inheritance of original sin -- is essentially overcome (n. 11).
+ These words concern that original "unity of the two" which is linked with the creation of the human being as male and female, made in the image and likeness of God and based on the model of that most perfect communion of persons which is God himself (n. 11).
+ St. Paul writes that the mystery of man's redemption in Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, resumes and renews that which in the mystery of creation corresponded to the eternal design of God the Creator (n. 11).
+ The "woman" of the Proto-evangelium fits into the perspective of the Redemption (n. 11).
+ The comparison of Eve-Mary can be understood in the sense that Mary assumes in herself, and embraces, the mystery of the "woman" whose beginning is Eve, "the mother of all the living" (Gen. 3:20) (n. 11).
+ She assumes and embraces it within the mystery of Christ, "the new and the last Adam" (cf. 1 Cor. 15:45), who assumed in His own person the nature of the first Adam (n. 11).
+ The mystery of the world's Redemption presupposes that God the Son assumed humanity as the inheritance ofAdam, becoming like him and every man in all things, except sin (Heb. 4:15) (n. 11).
+ He fully reveals man to himself and makes man's supreme calling clear (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22), and in a certain sense helps man to discover "who he is" (cf. Ps. 8:5) (n. 11).
+ The coupling Adam-Christ is linked with that of Eve-Mary (n. 11).
+ As the new Eve, Mary is the full revelation of all that is included in the biblical word "woman": a revelation commensurate with the mystery of the Redemption (n. 11).
+ Mary is "the new beginning" of the dignity and vocation of women, of each and every woman (cf. St. Ambrose, De Inst. Virg. V, 33: PL 16:313) (n. 11).
+ Mary's words to Elizabeth: "He who is mighty has done great things for me" (Lk. 1:49) refer to the conception of her son, but can also signify the discovery of her own feminine humanity, the discovery of the richness and personal resources of femininity (n. 11).
+ This discovery is connected with aclear awareness of God's gift, of His generosity (n. 11).
+ From the "beginning", sin had obscured this awareness, as shown in the words of the first temptation by the "father of lies" (cf. Gen 3:15), but with the advent of the "fullness of time" (Gal. 4:4), this awareness bursts forth in all its power in the words of the biblical "woman" of Nazareth (n. 11).
+ In Mary, Eve discovers the nature of the true dignity of woman, of feminine humanity, a discovery that must reach the heart of every woman and shape her vocation and her life (n. 11).
V. Jesus Christ
"They Marvelled That He Was Talking with a Woman"
12. Man's redemption, foretold in Genesis, now becomes a reality in the person of Jesus Christ, in which we also recognize what the Redemption means for the dignity and vocation of women (n. 12).
+ In the eyes of His contemporaries Christ became a promoter of women's true dignity and of the vocation corresponding to this dignity (n. 12).
+ "They marvelled that He was talking with a woman" (Jn. 4:27), because this behavior differed from that of His contemporaries (n. 12).
+ By speaking and acting this way, Jesus made it clear that "the mysteries of the Kingdom" were known to Him in every detail (n. 12).
+ He was a witness of God's eternal plan for the human being created in His own image and likeness as man and woman (n. 12).
+ He was perfectly aware of the consequences of sin, of that "mystery of iniquity" working in human hearts as the bitter fruit of the obscuring of the divine image (n. 12).
+ In His important discussion about marriage and its indissolubility in response to the Scribes question about a man's right "to divorce one's wife for any cause" (Matt. 19:3), Jesus makes reference to the "beginning" (n. 12).
+ Jesus answers, "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so" (Matt. 19:8).
+ Jesus appeals to the "beginning," to the creation of man as male and female and their ordering by God Himself, which is based on the fact that both were created "in his image and likeness" (n. 12).
+ There remains in force the law which comes from God Himself: "what therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder" (Matt. 19:6) (n. 12).
+ The principle of this "ethos," which from the beginning marks the reality of creation, is now confirmed by Christ in opposition to that tradition which discriminated against women (n. 12).
Women in the Gospel
13. As we scan the pages of the Gospel, many women of different ages and conditions pass before our eyes (n. 13).
+ Sometimes the women whom Jesus met and who received so many graces from Him also accompanied Him as He journeyed with His Apostles (n. 13).
+ Sometimes women appear in the parables which Jesus used to illustrate truths about the Kingdom of God (cf. Lk. 15:8-20; Matt. 13:33; 25:1-13; Lk. 21:1-4) (n. 13).
+ In all Jesus' teaching and in His behavior, one can find nothing which reflects the discrimination against women prevalent in His day (n. 13).
+ His words and works always express the respect and honor due to women (n. 13).
+ This is eloquently expressed in His forgiveness of an adultress (cf. Jn. 8:3-11) (n. 13).
+ Christ"knows what is in man (cf. Jn. 2.25)- in man and woman; and He knows the dignity of man, his worth in God's eyes (n. 13).
+ Jesus' attitude to the women whom He meets reflects the eternal plan of God, who is creating each one of them, chooses her and loves her in Christ (cf. Eph. 1:l-5)(n. 13).
+ Each woman is therefore "the only creature on earth which God willed for its own sake" (n. 13).
+ Each of them from the "beginning" inherits as a woman the dignity of personhood (n. 13).
+ Jesus confirms this dignity, recalls it, renews it, and makes it a part of the Gospel and of the Redemption for which He is sent into the world (n. 13).
The Woman Caught in Adultery
14. Jesus enters into the concrete and historical situation of women, a situation which is weighed down by the inheritance of sin (n. 14).
+ One of the ways in which inheritance is expressed is habitual discrimination against women in favor of men (n. 14).
+ This inheritance is rooted within women, too (n. 14).
+ Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery: "Do not sin again," but first He evokes an awareness of sin in the men who accuse her (n. 14).
+ To her accusers, Jesus seems to say: Is not this woman, for all her sins, above all a confirmation of your own transgressions, of your "male" injustice, your misdeeds? (n. 14).
+ This truth is valid for the whole human race (n. 14).
+ This episode in John's Gospel is repeated in countless situations in every period of history: woman is left alone, exposed to public opinion with "her sin," while behind "her" sin there lurks a man - a sinner, guilty "of the other's sin," indeed, equally responsible for it (n. 14).
+ How often the woman pays for her own sin all alone (n. 14).
+ How often she is abandoned with her pregnancy; how often some women, as aresult of pressures even on the part of the guilty man, "get rid of" the child before it is born (n. 14).
+ Normally, a woman's conscience does not let her forget that she has taken the life of her own child, for she cannot destroy that readiness to accept life which marks her "ethos" from the "beginning" (n. 14).
+ Jesus' attitude in John 8:3-11 manifests His power--the power of truth-with regard to human consciences (n. 14).
+ Jesus is aware of the mystery of the "beginning," when man was created male and female and the woman was entrusted to the man with her feminine distinctiveness and her potential for motherhood (n. 14).
+ The man also was entrusted by the Creator to the woman - they were entrusted to each other as persons made in the image and likeness of God (n. 14).
+ This entrusting is the test of love, spousal love (n. 14).
+ In order to become a "sincere gift" to one another, each of them has to feel responsible for the gift (n. 14).
+ On the basis ofthe eternal "unity ofthe two," the dignity of woman depends on woman herself, as a subject responsible for herself, and at the same time it is "given to man as a task" (n. 14).
+ Jesus' words about adultery in the heart (cf. Matt. 5:28), addressed directly to man, show the fundamental truth of his responsibility vis-a-vis woman: her dignity, her motherhood, her vocation (n. 14).
+ Christ logically appeals to man's responsibility (n. 14).
+ The dignity and the vocation of women-as well as those of men--find their eternal source in the heart of God (n. 14).
+ In the temporal conditions of human existence, they are closely connected with the "unity of the two" (n. 14).
+ Each man must look within himself to see whether she who was entrusted to him as a sister in humanity, as a spouse, has not become in his heart an object of adultery, an object of pleasure, of exploitation (n. 14).
Guardians of the Gospel Message
15. Christ's way of acting, the Gospel of His words and deeds, is a consistent protest against whatever offends the dignity of women (n. 15).
+ The women close to Christ discover themselves in the truth which He "teaches" and "does," even when this truth concerns their sinfulness (n. 15).
+ They feel "liberated" by this truth, restored to themselves: they feel loved with "eternal love," a love which finds direct expression in Christ Himself (n. 15).
+ Jesus, speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar (cf. Jn. 4), was an event without precedent, that a woman, and a sinful woman at that, becomes a disciple of Christ (n. 15).
+ This is an unprecedented event, if one remembers the usual way women were treated by the teachers in Israel (n. 15).
+ The sisters of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, were friends whom He loved deeply, and His conversation with Martha after the death of Lazarus, wherein she professes "I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God" (Jn. 11:27), is one of the most important in the Gospel (n. 15).
+ Christ speaks to women about the things of God and they understand them; there is a true resonance of mind and heart, a response of faith (n. 15).
+ He teaches, therefore, taking as His starting point this feminine response of mind and heart (n. 15).
+ The Gospels describe the anointing of Jesus by the woman in the house of Simon the Leper, who, Jesus said, did "a beautiful thing to me" so that, "wherever this Gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her" (Matt. 26:6-13). They also highlight the fact that women were at the foot of the Cross at the decisive moment in Jesus' whole messianic mission (n. 15).
+ As we see in this most arduous test of faith and fidelity, the women proved stronger than the Apostles who all, with the exception of John, abandoned Him (n. 15).
First Witness of the Resurrection
16. From the beginning of Christ's mission, women show to Him and to His mystery a special sensitivity which is characteristic of their femininity (n. 16).
+ This is especially confirmed in the Paschal Mystery, not only at the Cross, but also at the dawn of the Resurrection (n. 16).
+ "Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, 'I have seen the Lord'; and she told them He had said these things to her" (Jn 20:16-18) (n. 16).
+ She came to be called "the apostle of the Apostles" (n. 16).
+ Everything that has been said about Christ's attitude to women confirms and clarifies in the Holy Spirit the truth about the equality of man and woman (n. 16).
+ Both of them are equally capable of receiving the outpouring of divine truth and love in the Holy Spirit (n. 16).
+ Both receive His salvific and sanctifying "visits" (n. 16).
+ Being a man or woman involves no limitation here, just as the salvific and sanctifying action of the Spirit in man is in no way limited by the fact that one is a Jew or Greek, free or slave, according to St. Paul: "For you are all one in Jesus Christ" (Gal. 3:28) (n. 16).
+ This unity does not cancel our diversity (n. 16).
+ Gospel "equality," the "equality" of women and men in regard to the "mighty works of God," constitutes the most obvious basis for the dignity and vocation of women in the Church and in the world (n. 16).
+ Every vocation has a profoundly personal and prophetic meaning (n. 16).
+ In "vocation", understood in this way, what is personally feminine reaches a new dimension: the dimension of the "mighty works of God" of which the woman becomes the living subject and an irreplaceable witness (n. 16).
VI. Motherhood-Virginity
Two Dimensions of Women's Vocation
17. We must now focus our meditation on virginity and motherhood as two particular dimensions of the fulfillment of the female personality which acquire their full meaning and value in Mary, who as a virgin became the mother of the Son of God (n. 17).
+ These two dimensions of female vocation were united in her in such a way that one did not exclude the other but wonderfully complemented it (n. 17).
+ In the usual order of things, motherhood is the result of mutual "knowledge" between man and woman in the marriage union (n. 17).
+ Mary puts this question to the divine messenger and obtains from him the explanation: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you" - the power of the Most High" will "overshadow" the mystery of the Son's conception and birth (n. 17).
+ Mary maintained her virginal "I know no husband" (cf. Lk. 1:34) and at the same time became a mother (n. 17).
+ Virginity and motherhood co-exist in her (n. 17).
+ Indeed, the person of the Mother ofGod helps everyone to see how these two paths in the vocation of women as persons, explain and complete each other (n. 17).
Motherhood
18. In order to share in this "vision," we must once again seek a deeper understanding of the truth about the human person recalled by the Second Vatican Council (n. 18).
+ The human being - both male and female - is the only being in the world which God willed for its own sake: a person, a subject who decides for himself (n. 18).
+ At the same time, man "cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of self" (Gaudiurn et Spes, 24) (n. 18).
+ This is not a theoretical interpretation, nor an abstract definition for it gives an essential indication of what it means to be human, while emphasizing the gift of self, the gift of the person (n. 18).
+ This truth about the person also opens up the path to a full understanding of women's motherhood (n. 18).
+ Motherhood is the fruit of the marriage union of a man and woman, of that biblical "knowledge" which corresponds to the "union of two in one flesh" (cf. Gen. 2:24)(n. 18).
+ This brings about - on the woman's part - a special "gift of self," as an expression of that spousal love whereby two are united to each other so closely they become "one flesh" (n. 18).
+ This mutual gift of the person in marriage opens to the gift of new life, a new human being, who is also a person in the likeness of his parents (n. 18).
+ Motherhood implies from the beginning a special openness to the new person: and this is precisely the woman's "part" (n. 18).
+ In this openness, in conceiving and giving birth to a child, the woman "discovers herself through a sincere gift of self" (n. 18).
+ Eve' sexclamation, "I have brought a man into being with the help of the Lord" (Gen. 4:1), is repeated every time a new human being comes into the world and expresses the woman's joy and awareness that she is sharing in the great mystery of eternal generation (n. 18).
+ Scientific analysis fully confirms that the very physical condition of women is naturally disposed to motherhood, which is the consequence of the marriage union with the man (n. 18).
+ Motherhood as a human fact and phenomenon is explained on the basis of the truth about the person: Motherhood is linked to the personal structure of the woman and to the personal dimension of the gift (n. 18).
+ Mary's words, "Let it be done to me according to your word," signify the woman's readiness for the gift of self and her readiness to accept a new life (n. 18).
+ The eternal mystery of generation, which is in God Himself, is reflected in the woman's motherhood and in the man's fatherhood (n. 18).
+ Human parenthood, though it belongs to both man and woman, is realized much more fully in the woman, especially in the prenatal period (n. 18).
+ It is the woman who "pays" directly for this shared generation, which literally absorbs the energies of her body and soul (n. 18).
+ It is necessary that the man be fully aware that in the shared parenthood he owes a special debt to the woman (n. 18).
+ Motherhood involves a special communion with the mystery of life as it develops in the mother's womb; in the light of the "beginning," the mother accepts and loves as a person the child she is carrying in her womb (n. 18).
+ It is commonly thought that women are more capable than men of paying attention to another person, and that motherhood develops this predisposition even more (n. 18).
+ The man remains "outside" the process of pregnancy and the baby's birth; in many ways has to learn his own "fatherhood" from the mother (n. 18).
+ The child's upbringing should include the contribution of both parents, but the mother's contribution is decisive in laying the foundation for a new human personality (n. 18).
Motherhood in Relation to the Covenant
19. Our reflection turns to the biblical exemplar of the "woman" in the Proto-evangelium (n. 19).
+ The "woman," as mother and first teacher of the human being, has a specific precedence over the man (n. 19).
+ Motherhood in the bio-physical sense appears passive: the formation process of a new life "takes place" in her body (n. 19).
+ Motherhood in its personal-ethical sense expresses a very important creativity on the part of the woman, upon whom the very humanity of the new human being mainly depends (n. 19).
+ The biblical exemplar of the "woman" finds its culmination in the motherhood of the Mother of God (n. 19).
+ Through Mary's maternal fiat, God begins a New Covenant with humanity (n. 19).
+ This is the eternal and definitive Covenant in Christ, in His body and blood, in His Cross and Resurrection (n. 19).
+ Because this Covenant is to be fulfilled "in flesh and blood," its be ginning is in the Mother (n. 19).
+ Motherhood has been introduced into the order of the Covenant that God made with humanity in Jesus Christ (n. 19).
+ Each and every time that motherhood is repeated in human history, it is always related to the Covenant which God established with the human race through the motherhood of the Mother of God (n. 19).
+ Jesus confirms the meaning of motherhood in reference to the body and indicates an even deeper meaning, which is connected with the order of the spirit: it is a sign of the Covenant with God who "is Spirit" (Jn. 4:24) (n. 19).
+ The motherhood of every woman, understood in the light of the Gospel, is similarly not only "of flesh and blood": it expresses a profound "listening to the word of the living God" and a readiness to "safeguard" this word, which is "the word of eternal life" (cf. Jn. 6:68) (n. 19).
+ The history of every human being passes through the threshold of a woman's motherhood; crossing it conditions "the revelation of the children of God" (cf. Rom. 8:9) (n. 19).
+ "When a woman is in travail she has sorrow because her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for the joy that a child is born into the world" (Jn. 16:21) (n. 19).
+ The first part of Christ's words refers to the "pangs of childbirth" which belong to the heritage of original sin and at the same time His words indicate the link that exists between the woman's motherhood and the Paschal Mystery (n. 19).
+ For this mystery also includes the Mother's sorrow at the foot of the Cross - the Mother who through faith shares in the amazing mystery of her Son's "self-emptying" (n. 19).
+ "This is perhaps the deepest 'kenosis' of faith in human history" (John Paul II, Encyclical Redemptoris Mater, 18) (n. 19).
+ As we contemplate this Mother, whose heart "a sword has pierced" (cf. Lk 2:35), our thoughts go to all the suffering women in the world, suffering either physically or morally (n. 19).
+ With these sufferings we must place ourselves at the foot of the Cross (n. 19).
+ The joy that a child is born into the world is referred to the Paschal Mystery, to the joy communicated to the Apostles on the day of Christ's Resurrection (n. 19).
Virginity for the Sake of the Kingdom
20. In the teaching of Christ, motherhood is connected with virginity, but also distinct from it (n. 20).
+ Christ distinguishes celibacy which results from natural defects from "celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19:12) (n. 20).
+ Celibacy for the kingdom of heaven results not only from a free choice on the part of the man, but also from a special grace on the part of God, who calls a particular person to live celibacy (n. 20).
+ Jesus' words have value both for men and women (n. 20).
+ In this context it indicates the evangelical ideal of virginity, an ideal which constitutes a clear "innovation" with respect to the tradition of the Old Testament (n. 20).
+ The ideal of celibacy and virginity for the sake of greater closeness to God was not entirely foreign to certain Jewish circles; nevertheless, celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom, or, rather, virginity, is undeniably an innovation connected with the Incarnation of God (n. 20).
+ From the moment of Christ's coming, the expectation of the People of God has to be directed to the eschatological Kingdom which is coming and to which He must lead the "New Israel" (n. 20).
+ A new awareness of faith is essential for such a turn-about and change of values (n. 20).
+ Christ emphasizes this twice: "He who is able to receive this, let him receive it" (n. 20).
+ "Only those to whom it is given" understand it (Mt 19:11) (n. 20).
+ Mary is the first person in whom this new awareness is manifested, for she asks the Angel: "How can this be, since I have no husband?" (Lk. 1:34) (n. 20).
+ Even though "betrothed to a man named Joseph" (cf. Lk 1:27), she is firm in her resolve to remain a virgin (n. 20).
+ Her motherhood comes exclusively from the "power of the Most [igh," and is the result of the Holy Spirit's coming down upon her (cf. 1:35) (n. 20).
+ This gift is the beginning and the prototype of a new expectation on the part of all (n. 20).
+ It measures up to the Eternal Covenant, to God's new and definitive promise: it is a sign of eschatological hope (n. 20).
[note to readers - I am continuing to complete this page, check back soon for more!]