Veiled Woman: Chapter 1 – The Nature of Woman
GIFT OF SELF
In her dignity, woman is not a distinct species from man. On the contrary, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (2) What is proper to man’s dignity is proper to the dignity of woman. John Paul II, in his pastoral letter Mulieris Dignitatem, says that “only a person can love, and only a person can be loved in return.” (3) Woman, as a human person, is an ‘I’, an entity created for her own sake to be loved and to love in return. John Paul II says that “from the very beginning, both are persons . . . The woman is another “I” in a common humanity” (4). Therefore, as a person, she can only find herself through a sincere gift of herself (5). It is through this gift that she comes to know and understand herself, and thus finds fulfillment and happiness in this life (6).
COMPLEMENTARITY
The woman is created by God ‘from the rib’ of the man and is placed at his side as another ‘I’, as the companion of the man, who is alone in the surrounding world of living creatures and who finds in none of them a ‘helper’ suitable for himself (7).
The purpose and dignity of the person lies in the fact that he/she is created in the image and likeness of God and the woman is in no lesser sense a reflection of this image. She is rational, self-aware, and free to choose to do good; she is just as capable of creativity, management, and intellectual pursuit. All these qualities raise her alongside man above the “living creatures” (8), and bequeath her a station apart. Man, as both male and female, participates in this common human dignity through which he or she exemplifies and portrays God. Each sex is created with a complementary nature toward the other, and it is ultimately in woman’s relation to others, and especially in relation to man, that she realizes her full potential. Edith Stein says that “the complementary relationship of man and woman appears clearly in the original order of nature” (9). Man and woman benefit each other and are mutual helpmates on the road of life. They each have specific emphases regarding the overall nature of mankind: for instance, woman’s nature leans more towards an all-encompassing view of reality, while man’s nature tends more towards a direct and focused approach. The complementarity of their relationship is most clearly seen in marriage.
Man’s primary vocation appears to be that of ruler, and the paternal vocation secondary (not subordinate to his vocation as ruler but an integral part of it), while woman’s primary vocation is maternal: her role as ruler is secondary and included in a certain way in her maternal vocation (10).
Edith Stein goes on to say that “the husband will find that she can give him invaluable advice in guiding the lives of the children as well as of themselves” (11). Thus men and women are mutual helpmates, mirroring in their relationship the sacramental nature of God to his Creation; both are called to give of themselves, but in a manner unique to his or her own sex. Woman’s dignity and vocation as a self-aware person lies in making of herself a “sincere gift of self” (12) through the filter of her own unique and separate nature. We will presently discuss this unique nature of woman more fully, but first, it is important to fully understand the concept of exaltation.
EXALTATION
Exaltation is the raising of an individual above the other creatures of the cosmos and a recognition, thereby, of the great nature of the elevated individual. In a way that will be seen more clearly in a moment (when we discuss the unique nature of woman), it is a perversion of woman’s nature for her to exalt herself. Self-exaltation in a woman cannot lead to fulfillment, since it reflects back only into the self: the self desires intrinsically to move outward, to find meaning in ‘other’, in the recognition of the dignity of the human person. Self-exaltation cannot reveal that dignity. Woman’s dignity finds true exaltation when she gives of herself to God, and He elevates her on account of her gift to Him.
WOMAN’S UNIQUE NATURE - RECEPTIVITY
Woman’s nature is two-fold, and the second aspect of this nature, which is unique to her sex, is separate from the common dignity she shares with man. Woman, qua female, is separate from man qua male. Man, in respect to the cosmos, represents the Creator as the active lover: he who offers love first and anticipates the reception in his beloved of the love he offers. As creation awaits with joyous expectation the love that is poured forth upon it from God, so woman stands in relation to man, to actively receive the love that he gives and then offer it back again. Thus woman’s unique dignity lies in her active receptivity to love. This receptivity is her fiat: her openness to Love, and her willingness to receive and respond to it (13). Gertrude von le Fort, a woman with deep insight into woman’s dignity, says that “for his redemption, man [as mankind, who stands in relation to the creator] has nothing to contribute to God other than the readiness of unconditional surrender. The passive acceptance inherent in woman . . . appears in the Christian order of grace as the positively decisive factor” (14). Le Fort emphasizes that woman represents the receptive nature of creation: she is a symbol of creation’s cosmic openness to God’s life-giving love.
SYMBOL
Symbol is also a key-concept to this discussion. Symbols highlight invisible realities represented by visible signs, as Gertrude von le Fort says: “Symbols are… the language of an invisible reality becoming articulate in the realm of the visible” (15). Without symbols the invisible reality would disappear in favor of the corporeal, physical reality that mankind participates in on a day-to-day basis. But a knowledge of the invisible reality remains in the visible world because “this concept of the symbol springs from the conviction that in all beings and things there is an intelligent order that, through these very beings and things, reveals itself as a divine order by means of the language of its symbols” (16). Even when visible realities deny their symbolic relationship with the divine order, the relationship remains. The relationship may not be perceived as clearly as when it is acknowledged, but it remains nonetheless. Le Fort stresses this:
The individual carrier… has an obligation toward his symbols, which remain above and beyond him, inviolate and inviolable, even when he no longer recognizes their meaning, or when he has gone so far as to reject or deny them. As a result, the symbol does not disclose the empiric character or condition of the one who for the time being is its bearer; but it expresses his metaphysical significance. The bearer may fall away from his symbol, but the symbol remains (17).
When mankind recognizes his symbols, and maintains an attitude in accord with them, then he is most fully living in participation with his full human dignity.
MARY
Mother Mary is the most excellent example of a woman who lived in full recognition and acceptance of her vocation. It is she who best demonstrates woman’s active receptivity to love, and the way in which this receptivity affects woman’s call to give of herself.
In her Fiat to the Holy Spirit at the Annunciation, Mary accepted the love of God at the same time as she gave herself to the Christ Child. John Paul II says that “the Bride is loved: it is she who receives love, in order to love in return” (18). Mary understood this, and when Love was offered to her, she accepted it humbly and with a sincere return of devotion. This relationship between the Lover and Beloved, demonstrated by Mary and the Holy Spirit, is a symbol of God’s relationship with the cosmos. It demonstrates the fruitful nature of self-gift that springs from the love between the Lover and the Beloved. In this role as both Bride and Mother of God, Mary receives her ultimate fulfillment. Mary abases herself, always pointing toward God and leading others who love her to the love of Christ, just as creation continually points toward the Creator. Mary, while finding happiness on this earth, is ultimately exalted in heaven above all creatures in heaven and on earth; for, being “full of grace” (19), she was able above all women (or any creature) on earth, to abase and humble herself before the Lord, and for this reason, she is and always will be, paradoxically, the most gloriously exalted woman of all mankind. “The motherhood that is accomplished in her comes exclusively from the ‘power of the Most High’, and is the result of the Holy Spirit's coming down upon her (cf. Lk 1:35)” (20). Her only participation is her wondrously active receptivity: her ‘yes’ to the request of the Holy Spirit. Thus Mary displays the ultimate example of self-effacement before God, and so receives the ultimate glorification at his hands: being honored by all Heaven and earth as the Theotokos.
As Mother and Bride in relation to Jesus and Joseph, we can imagine that Mary found intimate joy and satisfaction in her private life, where we can easily envision that great love and happiness overflowed on account of the holiness of each member of the Holy Family. Mary offered a continual gift of self to her family, for whom she would have poured out her energies. Despite the many trials of her life, such as giving birth in a stable, fleeing to Egypt for the safety of her son, and finally, watching her God and son die on a cross, she continued to accept the will of God in her life: “He who does the will of my father is my mother” (21). Christ appreciated the loving care of his mother to such an extent that he entrusted to her the care of his beloved disciple, whom he desired should benefit from the same maternal love that he himself experienced: “Behold your mother” (22). Mary is the best example of how mothers that live holy and sacrificial lives can find a degree of that eternal fulfillment and glorification here on earth that awaits the faithful in heaven.
Mary was humble in spirit, in soul, in body, and in mind, and the inner beauty and grace of her soul overflowed into her outward actions and lifestyle. It is a paradox that when the woman abases herself, she is exalted by the Lord. It is Christ who, more than anyone, recognizes his mother’s great and hidden dignity, and who thereby exalts her above every other person in heaven or on earth. We have already discussed how she lived this humility in the concealment of the home, but after her son ascended into heaven her presence in the world (although she still retained her unique feminine attitude) became more manifest: she poured out her maternal energies into the community of the Church. We find her, in the Acts of the Apostles, sitting among the disciples, in prayer to her son: “All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren”(23). Mary, once Joseph and Jesus no longer needed her, did not remain hidden away in her home in her later life. She embraced her vocation to extend her motherly love to all the world, and enrich it through her unique gifts and charisms. It was the inward humility of her soul that allowed her to live in the world but still retain the attitude of her womanly nature: she neither exalted herself nor sought to set herself up as a queen among men, but lived to serve and to continually efface herself, so that the glory of Christ her Son might be all the more visible. She sought out the company of others so that her gaze, that was so continually oriented toward Christ, might direct their eyes also to His splendid radiance. The call of woman in the world is that she utilize those qualities which are present in motherhood for the care and nurture of the world and society.
Woman’s two-fold nature - to give of herself, and to actively receive love - is most manifest in the life of Mary. Woman’s self-gift must be acted on in accordance with her receptive nature, as Mary demonstrated at the Annunciation. When a woman maintains an attitude in accord with her two-fold nature, she beautifully and comfortably participates in the symbolic nature of her sex, and lives out her unique dignity to its most perfect extent.
Footnotes from Chapter 1:
2 Genesis 1:27
3 Pope John Paul II, On the Dignity and Vocation of Woman (Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 2013), part 29
4 Ibid, part 6
5 Gaudium et Spes, http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/ documents/vat-
ii_cons_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html, access date 3/31/16, part 24
6 By fulfillment and happiness, I mean that degree of beatitude that mankind, when living in accordance with God’s will, can attain on earth in anticipation of Heavenly Happiness.
7 Pope John Paul II, part 23
8 Ibid, part 23
9 Edith Stein, Essays on Woman (Washington D.C.: ICS Publications, 1996) pg. 74
10 Ibid pg. 74
11 Ibid pg. 78
12 Gaudium et Spes, part 24
13 This is not to say that man is incapable of practicing ‘womanly’ virtues, or that he ought not to do so. For our current purposes, let it suffice to say that woman is a ‘symbol’ of her particular charisms, and has a duty to manifest those charisms specific to her nature, and self-abnegation is a particularly feminine virtue. This does not mean that woman is not called to participate in manly virtues, or that men are not called to embrace womanly virtues.
14 Le Fort, pg. 9
15 Ibid, pg. 3
16 Ibid, pg. 3
17 Ibid, pg. 3
18 Pope John Paul II, part 29
19 Luke 1:28
20 Pope John Paul II, part 20
21 Matthew 12:50
22 John 19:27
23 Acts 1:14