The Supreme Vocation of Women

by Melissa Maleski

As the world marks the closing of the centennial anniversary of St. John Paul II’s birth, and the emergence of the first generation of people with no living memory of the Polish Pope, it is fitting to pause and reflect on his legacy. Taking a step back to consider his corpus of writings and work as a whole, John Paul II’s pontificate may well be summed up by the word communio. His was a papacy dedicated to the pursuit and understanding of authentic and balanced relationships rooted in Truth—whether it was the relationship between God and man (Veritatis Splendor), between faith and the natural gift of human reason (Fides et Ratio), between the Church and other ecclesial communities (Ut Unum Sint), or between the sexes (Theology of the Body). John Paul II was unafraid to engage in what Pope Paul VI called the “dialogue of salvation” (Ecclesiam Suam, 70), approaching every person as Jesus did the Samaritan woman at the well.

The broad desire for communio that connected John Paul II’s various pastoral endeavors was an outward expression of his theological and philosophical rootedness in personalism, and man’s ontological dimension as a communio personarum in the image and likeness of God. Even before his election to the Chair of Peter, the man christened as Karol Wojtyla devoted much of his thought and energy to the nature and purpose of man as a relational being; Love and Responsibility and The Jeweler’s Shop are notable and profound meditations on the evangelical character of human connection and intimacy. As pope, John Paul II continued to develop a theological anthropology that harmonized the eternal truths

Jesus talks with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.

of the Catholic faith concerning the human person with reason and science, providing a clear pastoral path toward principled unity within the human family that authentically reflected the divine mystery of God’s own triune nature. Works such as Evangelium Vitae, the Theology of the Body lectures, Christifidelis Laici, Familiaris Consortio, and Mulieris Dignitatem consider the

“As Adam could not recognize himself fully until Woman stood before him, John Paul II inculcated the idea that modern man would never fully realize his own humanity until the humanity of woman was recognized in its fullness.”

various implications of the fundamental reality that the Holy Father would never tire of contemplating: “Man becomes the image of God not so much in the moment of solitude as in the moment of communion” (General Audience, 14 Nov 1979). This contemplation naturally gravitated toward the subject of woman, of which John Paul II became notoriously famous. Like his predecessors Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI, John Paul II understood the urgent need to address the nature of womanhood and its role in the Church and in the world, especially in light of the rapid social changes caused by second-wave feminism. Over the course of his 26-year pontificate, the Holy Father made women a priority. He spoke of women, and to them, often. In Evangelium Vitae, he underscored the particular necessity of feminine influence in the world: “In transforming culture so that it supports life, women occupy a place, in thought and action, which is unique and decisive. It depends on them to promote a ‘new feminism’ which rejects the temptation of imitating models of ‘male domination,’ in order to acknowledge and affirm the true genius of women in every aspect of the life of society, and overcome all discrimination, violence, and exploitation” (99). In Redemptoris Mater, he emphasized the Blessed Virgin Mary as the exemplar of discipleship, and of womanhood. In Mulieris Dignitatem, he further explored the unique dignity of womanhood, and the complementary dimensions of the feminine vocation that gives form to a woman’s dignity—motherhood and virginity. And in Letter to Women, the Holy Father thanked women for the simple fact of their existence, and addressed the many ways in which women were marginalized by society.

John Paul II made it clear throughout his pontificate that an authentic understanding of womanhood was intrinsic to an authentic and complete understanding of the communio personarum. Every time he wrote about women, the Genesis account of man’s creation as male and female made an appearance as either a contextual precursor to the topic, or as a reinforcement of it. As Adam could not recognize himself fully until Woman stood before him, John Paul II inculcated the idea that modern man would never fully realize his own humanity until the humanity of woman was recognized in its fullness. This is what distinguished his vision of a “new feminism” from the sallow cultural feminism spreading throughout the world. The Holy Father wanted men and women to see—to know, in the depths of their soul—that the dignity and worth of human activity was an extension of the inviolable dignity and worth of human existence, not the other way around. He wanted women especially to understand that there was no need to sacrifice their particular “feminine genius” in order to achieve equal status as powerful co-operators in the world. That status was inscribed on womanhood from the very beginning, and not even sin could erase its presence.

When it comes to John Paul II’s systematic exploration of womanhood, Mulieris Dignitatem and Letter to Women are the most-frequently cited documents, but they are not the last words he shared on the matter. Shortly before his death, the Holy Father went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes. Near the conclusion of his homily, John Paul II addressed all women, saying, “To you, women, falls the task of being sentinels of the Invisible!”

Despite going almost completely unnoticed at the time, the exhortation and its uniqueness was significant. Early in his pontificate, the Holy Father made a name for himself by creating a new lexicon to explain Divine Revelation with greater clarity and efficacy, particularly in regards to his theology of the body. But once the precedent was set, he used the lexicon consistently throughout his entire corpus of writings. Introducing a new phrase like “sentinel of the Invisible” in the twilight of his papacy seemed to invite one of two conclusions: some fresh thought had occurred to John Paul II, or he had come to a terminal point in his consideration of womanhood. While it is possible that John Paul II intended the former, the latter is more likely. The Holy Father had settled on a definitive way to express the fundamentally “unique and decisive” role women occupied in the communio personarum.

John Paul II concluded Mulieris Dignitatem with an expression of gratitude and a prayer for women:

The Church gives thanks for all the manifestations of the feminine ‘genius’ which have appeared in the course of history, in the midst of all peoples and nations; she gives thanks for all the charisms which the Holy Spirit distributes to women in the history of the People of God, for all the victories which she owes to their faith, hope and charity: she gives thanks for all the fruits of feminine holiness. The Church asks at the same time that these invaluable ‘manifestations of the Spirit’ (cf. 1 Cor 12:4ff.), which with great generosity are poured forth upon the ‘daughters’ of the eternal Jerusalem, may be attentively recognized and appreciated so that they may return for the common good of the Church and of humanity, especially in our times. Meditating on the biblical mystery of the ‘woman’, the Church prays that in this mystery all women may discover themselves and their ‘supreme vocation’. (31) What more supreme vocation exists for women than to be a “sentinel of the Invisible”, in the tradition of the holy women of the Old and New Testament, of the Most Holy Mother of God, of the treasury of female saints who followed the lifetime of Christ? That is left to us and future generations—to pick up where John Paul II concluded and continue the divine commission to seek communio in, and with, Christ.

Maleski’s book, The Supreme Vocation of Women, was published this year by Sophia Institute Press.

Melissa Maleski is the author of The Supreme Vocation of Women According to St. John Paul II (Sophia Institute Press), and the Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Lake Ridge, VA. She is a graduate of Christendom College’s Notre Dame Graduate School.