He who, at present, is Saint John Paul II, considers central, in his writings, the role of God’s Word as an anthropological foundation of the woman dignity. In order to have a clear and coherent vision of what, in his time, the Pope said about women, it is necessary to refer to his writings and, among others, to Mulieris Dignitatem, Redemptoris Mater and the Letter to the Women.
This interest in the women is related to his predilection for Mary, the perfect woman, the mother woman, the virgin woman, the woman of anytime. For him, the women are part of the living structure of Christianity and he affirms that femininity belongs to the constitutive patrimony of the humanity and the Church itself.
He highlights that the set of feminine gifts: understanding, compassion, intuition, capacity for suffering… are manifestations of the Spirit. They are not extraordinary gifts embodied in extraordinary women, but gifts lived by simple women incarnating them in their everyday life experience.
The peasant woman, the business woman, the political woman, the mother woman, the teacher woman, the consecrated woman, the woman… has conquered in the world an influence, a weight and a power never achieved until now. Because of that, at the present time, when humanity is undergoing such a profound transformation, the women filled by the spirit of the Gospel, provide their invaluable contribution.
The decadence of values, permissiveness, relativism and generalized violence, have dimmed the horizon and indeed it is the woman that is called to turn on the lights of hope and to be a lamp in the heart of her home, whether it be family, conventual, or social.
Throughout the centuries we come across women of faith, hope and deep love for their people, Ruth, Rebecca, Esther, Martha, Mary, Magdalena, the woman that had the privilege to receive the first embrace of the Resurrection; but the list is long, because there is also the nowadays woman who dares to raise her voice against violence, the woman that lovingly carries the burden of her home, the woman that cries before the corpse of her son vilely murdered by a violence whose background is the sin of the easy money, the abusive power of persons that have ceased to be human and have become beasts fiercer than the ravenous wolf that one day domesticated, through his prayer and humility, the meek and humble Francis of Assis.
“A woman is to be found at the center of this salvific event. The self-revelation of God, who is the inscrutable unity of the Trinity, is outlined in the Annunciation at Nazareth. «Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High» – «How shall this be, since I have no husband?» – «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. MD 3).
The greatest recognition to the woman was made by Christ on the cross when he said: “Woman, this man is now your son” (Jn 19,26). What a greatness, what a message to the woman, the person able to devote herself without expecting anything in return. Mary, you are the prototype of a woman mother, virgin, consecrated, humble, faithful and of a deep faith.
Today, March the 8th, is the recognition day for the human being that, paradoxically, seems so fragile but is the rock upon which everyone leans and is to withstand the ferocious blows of humanity without mercy that is exploiting, enslaving and violating the sacredness of her dignity.
The woman from the east and the west, from the north and the south; the woman who, regardless of her skin color, always has a white soul, pure intentions and holding her heart in her hands offers it through the tenderness of her words and, the understanding of a gaze raised to heaven praying “Your will be done”, according to the example of Mary, the always virgin mother.
Congratulations to all the women of the world, having peace in their soul and prayer in their heart!
Hna. MARTHA GALVIS MARTÍNEZ, TC