Powołanie kobiety do macierzyństwa w świetle Listu apostolskiego „Mulieris dignitatem” Ojca Świętego Jana Pawła II

Abstract

John Paul II’s teaching on women deserves particular attention. The Pope uses the term “genius” to express his admiration. For him, waiting for the revelation of this “genius” of a woman, which should make us more sensitive towards one another, is a sign of the times. The Holy Father took up the challenge in the most thorough manner in his apostolic letter “Mulieris Dignitatem”, devoted to the dignity and vocation of a woman. Unique in her motherhood, she resembles the Creator himself. This vocation allows a woman to realize herself as a disinterested gift. Created out of love, she wants to live for love. This positive ability, a feature of the female nature, is incarnated in motherhood. The woman in her maternity becomes immeasurably closer to her conceived child than the father who learns from her how to be a father. John Paul II draws a conclusion that the mother – herself a gift – teaches her child how to become a gift. Actually, it can be said that the truth about ourselves, other people and the world is revealed to us by our mothers. ith regard to this dimension of her vocation, the woman exceeds the man and manifests the truth of a human being created out of Trinitarian love. Thus for John Paul II motherhood is the crowning expression of this personalistic and common attitude. A child is first and foremost a gift from the loving God, but it is also conceived thanks to its parents’ love. Therefore a child is not only a task to be fulfilled with love but also a gift for its parents that helps them grow in their humanity. The Holy Father does not forget about the consequences of motherhood. One of those is suffering at delivery, which Jesus Christ compares to an hour of dying. This evangelical reflection leads to a comparison of a mother’s joy at the birth of her child to resurrection. Thus maternity “belongs” to the Paschal Mystery. John Paul II compiles a kind of catalogue of pains in a woman’s life and perceives them as participation in Christ’s sufferings reminiscent of Mary’s grief. Consequently, in the context of resurrection he stresses the enormous role of women as witnesses of a new life. The Pope looks at motherhood in a spiritual dimension and invites us to consider women in the aspect of alliance between God and people. A mother also enters into a relationship with her child, for whom she is ready to sacrifice her life.