In his Letter to Woman, addressed in 1995 to the United Nations Conference on Women in Bejing, the Holy Father made known a great desire he had always held in his heart:

"It is my hope, dear sisters, that you will reflect carefully on what it means to speak of the "genius of women," not only in order to be able to see in this phrase a specific part of God's plan, –which needs to be accepted and appreciated–, but also in order to let this genius be more fully expressed in the life of society as a whole as well as in the life of the church."

Living in a world as we do today, in which the value and understanding of the human person has suffered such distortion, in which roles have been disoriented and principles lost, it is of great importance for each one of us to have a sound understanding

of who we are,
of who we have been called to be
and of how to obtain that realization.

The world and each one of us is need of finding light in a world of such darkness, a darkness that is not only present but which influences all of us in so many ways. How fortunate we are therefore, to have had this light shown to us with such clarity and force by our Holy Father John Paul II.

His teachings on the dignity of the woman are a reflection of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. Even then, in 1965, when the effects of the liberation and revolution movements were first being felt, just 8 years before the fatal decision of Roe vs Wade, the Fathers of the Council wrote:

"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, at this moment when the human race is undergoing so deep a transformation, women imbued with a spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling."

How different our world would be today if these words would have been listened and responded to with reverence. How much pain and suffering would have been avoided.

Certainly the second half of the twentieth century was meant to have a drastic affect on all of society. To think that if man would have had an ear open to the words of the Church, that affect would have been one of greater love, life and truth. But just as the world, unfortunately shut its ears to the voice of the Council which spoke in truth, and then, to one Holy Father after another, so too, did the world close its doors to life, to love and to happiness. And today, we live the result of such a rejection.

The world, in fact, has succeeded to a significant extent, to rob the woman from a true understanding and clarity of who she is as a person. In a misguided or even mal-intentioned attempt to "liberate" her from her "supposed oppressors", modern society, far from edifying her has belittled her immensely. And we cannot be so naive to think that these attempts are not maliciously directed. Even now there exist organizations which seek to promote a movement which attempts to impart the idea of a single genus, proposing forcefully the idea that masculinity and femininity is the effect of environmental factors instilled in the person. Thus, according to them, one is and should be capable of choosing one's own sexual identity because we are not really created male and female, but becoming male or female in accordance to our environment and choices.

How far has the human mind and heart gone since it collectively separated itself from God! And it has been the woman who has been to a great extent, deeply effected in all of this movement.

Let see some of the statistics.

Historical Facts of the Changes in Society

Abortion:

Since abortion was formally legalized in the United States, there have been over 40, million babies who have been aborted world-wide... more than 6 times the amount of people who died in the holocaust

54 countries no allow for legal abortions world-wide, which is about 61% of the population

More than half of the woman having abortions are under the age of 25 and more than 20% are teenagers.

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers. But most significantly, among teen girls and young woman, the suicide rate has tripled over the past 25 years, thus manifesting a correlation with abortion.

Despite the claims of safe-sex through contraception, there are, in the United States alone, over 850,000 unwanted pregnancies among teenagers.

Each year, about 3 million teenagers contract a sexually transmitted disease that can harm them, prevent them from ever having children, or even kill them.

Divorce:

In 1998, of the 2.2 million people were married, and 1.1 million people sought divorce or 50%;

In 2000, there were over 21 million divorces

In 1996, the average female age for re-marriage was 30 years old; and the average female age for divorce was 37 years old;

Today, more people are part of a second marriage home, than of first marriage and over one million children are affected by a divorce each year.

Battery

1,247 woman were killed by their spouses in 2000.

There is an average of 360,000 annual reports of rape in the United States alone

This is only a few of the statistics, without mentioning so many other situations which woman today are facing.

The instability we live in our society at the present moment, more than anything else, lays witness to the greatness and the significance of the role of the Christian woman. But, unfortunately, many woman don't as yet see this. Most have lost sight of their value, significance and true orientation. And this interior sense of loss, pain and disorientation has not just affected her. Because of the importance which the woman plays in the life of humanity, her loss is a loss for all.

This is not to say that the cause of today's ills lies on the woman alone, because in many ways, she herself has been the victim of a distortion. But it does reveal to us the importance of who she is within the framework of the dignity and upholding of humanity. We realize what capacity we have as woman to affect our society, to edify the Church, to truly partake in the establishment of the Reign of the Heart of Christ. Is it not a woman, Mary, who stands in the middle of all of human history? Would not our whole history be completely different if not for the life, virtues, strength and obedience of one woman?

We are now invited to also participate. Remember the words of the Council:

"That is why, at this moment, when the human race is undergoing so deep a transformation, women imbued with the spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling."

What powerful words: the Council places before each one of us, the woman of God, the opportunity to see this moment for what it is and to offer to our generation and the generations to come an answer that will enable them to abide in the will of God. The terminology used is purposefully reminiscent of that moment which was placed in the hands of our First Mother, Eve, when, in the Garden of Eden, she had in her hand, the destiny of the entire human race through her ability to influence Adam.

In this new millennium, we are now being called to grasp a deeper understanding of who we are. We are called to become aware of the ways in which we can make of our lives, instruments of life and goodness for all of humanity. The world today waits upon the response of woman, who, possessing a true understanding of the role that they play, and living this role fully and faithfully, for the good of those entrusted to her, will and can bring a new "era" to man. It is a most special moment that we live in because, never like today has the woman had a better opportunity to come to know the greatness that lies within her.

Our Mother Foundress, Mother Adela, has often taught us that the "woman is the voice of the world's conscience." What the woman perceives, what the woman lives, what the woman holds as dear will have a profound and lasting effect not only on her, but on all those who come into contact with her.

The Teaching of John Paul II

Our Holy Father has fearlessly entered into every area of human life without hesitating to bring light upon the meaning and role of the human person. John Paul II was a lover of man. He had always seen his pontificate as a ministry at the service of the person. His philosophy or outlook on life is personalistic, or centered on the human person. The Holy Father understood profoundly that the way of the Church is the human person. That the human person, is valued in and of himself, in both his body and his soul, because he is the image of God, image which finds its greatest and most perfect expression in Christ.

In his remarkable letter, On the Dignity and Vocation of Women, he laid before each one of us, a compelling revelation of the woman in the plan of God. To do so, he begins at the beginning, at the moment of the creation of man and woman, seeking to uncover the reason for man's existence, his nature and his vocation. We can not know own on our own. We need to understand who we are as persons in the light and actions of God who created us and gave us a purpose and reason for being. Thus, we must properly reflect on both of the narrations of creations.

In Scripture there are, two distinct narrations of the creation of man. This is not a contradiction, but rather, each one of the narrations serves a distinct but equally important purpose. In each of the narrations, God desired to reveal to us a necessary truth, which, taking into consideration our manner of learning, could only be best served if approached separately.

The first narration reads:

"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground." God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth."

Of the first narration, in Genesis 1:27, the Holy Father wrote:

"Let us enter into the setting of the biblical "beginning". In it the revealed truth concerning man as "the image and likeness" of God constitutes the immutable basis of all Christian anthropology. "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."n6

What the Holy Father wanted to point out by making reference to this verse is that this "biblical account puts forth the truth about the personal character of the human being. Man is a person, man and woman equally so, since both were created in the image and likeness of the personal God."

In other words, this first narration puts forth the most fundamental truths about the human person:

the human person is created in the image of God...

from the beginning the it is revealed to us the destiny of the human person: we are created "in the image of God". To be in the image does not mean to reflect God. Because a reflection is an exterior representation of something else, and in our exterior we do not reflect God directly, for God is a spiritual being. To be in the image of God must therefore be something much more profound, something that proceeds from the interior of man, from his spiritual nature. To be "in the image of God" is to be like God in his interior life: and what is God in his interior life: God is love, he is a communion of persons; And from this we see the second fundamental truth:

the human person is created in a communion of persons: man and woman he created them: equal in dignity, equal in destiny, equal in the love which God has had for them.

In fact, the greatest truth of the human person, of man and of woman, is that the human person is the only creature which God has love for itself and not as a means for something else. God delights in man and in a woman in manner which he delights in no other.

So the first narration on the creation of woman is that she was created equal to man in dignity, capable of love and communion.

The second narration is found in Genesis chapter 2:

And the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper fit for him." So the LORD God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man. So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called 'woman,' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken."

Of this narration, our Holy Father wrote:

"...we read in this passage, that man cannot exist "alone"; he can exist only as a "unity of the two", and therefore in relation to another human person. It is a question here of a mutual relationship: man to woman and woman to man. Being a person in the image and likeness of God thus also involves existing in a relationship, in relation to the other "I". 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 8."

No longer having to establish the equal dignity between man and woman as human persons, this narration establishes a second fundamental truth about the human person: although equal in dignity and in their nature, nonetheless man and woman are distinct in roles, in their persons, a condition necessary in order to have communion. Seen this way, whom do we begin to see reflected in the human person? The Blessed Trinity. Three distinct Persons who are equal in dignity and in nature, but distinct in persons.

The Holy Father pointed out in this passage, a most significant word which gives us a definition. "It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper fit for him." Woman becomes the help fit for him, because it is only when there is a union of the two that each can realize their most fundamental purpose: reflecting the inner life of the Trinity. It is not just that the woman helps the man, it is also the man who helps the woman, their help is mutual because only when they are "two" will they, --in fact and reality and not only in desire--, become a communion of love, similar to the love found in the Blessed Trinity.

Thus it is made clear that the woman is not made to be like the man, nor is the man to be like the woman. Thus, the idea sold so strongly today, which states that for a women to be "realized" as a person, she must take the place and do exactly the same as what the man does and be as he is, --this is a lie. A woman does not become fulfilled as a person by becoming a man. A woman becomes fulfilled by being a "helper" to communion, and at the same time "helping" make communion possible. And the same is true for a man.

What is therefore the role of the woman? Which is her unique and unrepeatable gift which she must know so that she can foster? How are we to understand ourselves in the light of this Scripture verse. To answer these questions we must clarify one final and fundamental truth of the human person, created in the image of God...

Let us look again briefly at the fundamental truths we have established thus far:

1. Man and woman are created in the image of God: equal in dignity, equal in destiny, equal in the love which God has had for them;

2. To be human means to be called to interpersonal relationship, to communion. Adam is in need of help, so as not to be alone; in response to this Eve is taken from the side of man, close to his heart...

But there is a third fundamental truth about the human person. Quoting the Second Vatican Council, the Holy Father's writes:

"In Gaudium et Spes, we read: "The Lord Jesus, when he prayed to the Father 'that all may be one ... as we are one' (Jn 17: 21-22). This 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, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for its own sake, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of self".

With these words, the Council text presents a summary of the whole truth about man and woman.

"Being a person" [a person, that is, capable of being, of becoming through their active participation] means striving towards self-realization, which can only be achieved "through a sincere gift of self". The model for this interpretation of the person is God himself as Trinity, as a communion of Persons. 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

The third fundamental truth about the human person is that we were created "for" the other, for the sincere giving of ourselves to others, in love and through love.

It is here that the specific role of the woman is highlighted. It is with her presence, her haven been, that communion, that interpersonal relationship was made possible... "it is not good for man to be alone." Without the woman, love in the created order would not have been possible. It is the woman, the mother of the living, to whom the gift of love and communion is given to in a special manner. The woman is the heart of communion, just as the Holy Spirit is the communion of love among the Blessed Trinity. What a sublime vocation, what a sublime gift.

The Holy Father saw, in fact, a communion of roles between the Holy Spirit and the woman:

Of the Holy Spirit, he wrote:

"The order of love belongs to the intimate life of God himself, the life of the Trinity. In the intimate life of God, the Holy Spirit is the personal hypostasis of love. Through the Spirit, Uncreated Gift, love becomes a gift for created persons. Love, which is of God, communicates itself to creatures: "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Rom 5:5)."

Of woman he wrote:

"In God's eternal plan, woman is the one in whom the order of love in the created world of persons takes first root." And in reference to their vocation and dignity he states: "the dignity of women is measured by the order of love, which is essentially the order of justice and charity."

"The deepest feminine yearning is to achieve a loving union which, in its development, brings a sense of maturity and completion to the soul. This yearning also stimulates and furthers the desire for perfection in others. It is an essential aspect of the eternal destiny of woman. It is not simply a human longing but is specifically feminine and opposed to the specifically masculine nature."

As woman we have been given the gift of being persons for others, for people. This means that, interiorly we are orientated into the development of the person. We do this in a physical manner, in a relational manner, in an deep and interior manner. This gift of the woman is imbedded into her very self, it comes from the center of her very existence.

This is why woman cannot find their joy in trying to be like men, no matter how much the mass media portrays that the characteristics of men are greater. And this is a most important point. Woman today suffer within themselves because they are told that to be happy you must reveal yourself in the manner of men..., in actions, works and objective achievements as men do and therefore be less concerned with her own being and the manner of others. So she is told to seek to be on top, the boss, the corporate professional, the independent one, the one who's main concern does not lie in commitments or relationships, but in personal gain and achievements.

Yet, how far this is from the heart of the woman. All of these, before anything else, are movements of our fleshy desires. Their motivation comes from pride and self-love. Thus, in and of themselves, they are desires that must be properly purified for the good of others. But in addition, in one way or another, they somehow reflect the role of man who has received from God the command to "work and subdue the land" and who is, therefore, orientated to objective work and achievements.

The woman, on the other hand, is orientated towards the human person, towards development of the human person. This is her unique gift and great dignity. The Holy Father wrote:

"The moral and spiritual strength of a woman is joined to her awareness that God entrusts the human being to her in a special way. Of course, God entrusts every human being to each and every other human being. But this entrusting concerns women in a special way– precisely by reason of their femininity– and this in a particular way determines their vocation."

And that is why everything in the woman is directed towards the fulfillment of this task of entrustment. Our sensitivity, our capacity towards compassion, even our strength in suffering for another... all these are necessary in order to honor, protect and nourish life. This is the fundamental attitude of Mary, our Most Blessed Mother, whom is "Blessed among all women."

To Her we consecrate and entrust the hearts of all women today.

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