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document: Mulieris dignitatem
Motherhood
18 . In
order to share in this “vision,” we must once again seek a deeper
understanding of the truth about the human person recalled by
the Second Vatican Council. The human being―both male and female―is
the only being in the world which God willed for its own sake. The
human being is a person, a subject who decides for himself. At the
same time, man “cannot fully find himself except through a sincere
gift of self.” It has already been said that this description,
indeed this definition of the person, corresponds to the fundamental
biblical truth about the creation of the human being―man and
woman―in the image and likeness of God. This is not a purely
theoretical interpretation, nor an abstract definition, for it
gives an essential indication of what it means to be human,
while emphasizing the value of the gift of self, the gift of the
person. In this vision of the person we also find the essence of
that “ethos” which, together with the truth of creation, will be
fully developed by the books of Revelation, particularly the
Gospels.
This
truth about the person also opens up the path to a full
understanding of women’s motherhood. Motherhood is the
fruit of the marriage union of a man and woman, of that biblical
“knowledge” which corresponds to the “union of the two in one flesh”
(cf. Gen 2:24). This brings about―on the woman's part―a
special “gift of self,” as an expression of that spousal love
whereby the two are united to each other so closely that they become
“one flesh.” Biblical “knowledge” is achieved in accordance with the
truth of the person only when the mutual self-giving is not
distorted either by the desire of the man to become the “master” of
his wife (“he shall rule over you”) or by the woman remaining closed
within her own instincts (“your desire shall be for your husband” [Gen
3:16]).
This
mutual gift of the person in marriage opens to the gift of a new
life, a new human being, who is also a person in the likeness
of his parents. Motherhood implies from the beginning a special
openness to the new person: and this is precisely the woman’s
“part.” In this openness, in conceiving and giving birth to a child,
the woman “discovers herself through a sincere gift of self.” The
gift of interior readiness to accept the child and bring it into the
world is linked to the marriage union, which―as mentioned
earlier―should constitute a special moment in the mutual self-giving
both by the woman and the man. According to the Bible, the
conception and birth of a new human being are accompanied by the
following words of the woman: “I have brought a man into being
with the help of the Lord” (Gen 4:1).This exclamation of
Eve, the “mother of all the living” is repeated every time a new
human being comes into the world. It expresses the woman’s joy and
awareness that she is sharing in the great mystery of eternal
generation. The spouses share in the creative power of God!
The
woman’s motherhood in the period between the baby’s conception and
birth is a bio-physiological and psychological process which is
better understood in our days than in the past, and is the subject
of many detailed studies. Scientific analysis fully confirms that
the very physical constitution of women is naturally disposed to
motherhood―conception, pregnancy and giving birth―which is a
consequence of the marriage union with the man. At the same time,
this also corresponds to the psycho-physical structure of women.
What the different branches of science have to say on this subject
is important and useful, provided that it is not limited to an
exclusively bio-physiological interpretation of women and of
motherhood. Such a “restricted” picture would go hand in hand
with a materialistic concept of the human being and of the world. In
such a case, what is truly essential would unfortunately be lost.
Motherhood as a human fact and phenomenon, is fully explained
on the basis of the truth about the person. Motherhood is linked
to the personal structure of the woman and to the personal dimension
of the gift: “I have brought a man into being with the help of
the Lord” (Gen 4:1). The Creator grants the parents the gift
of a child. On the woman's part, this fact is linked in a special
way to “a sincere gift of self.” Mary’s words at the
Annunciation―“Let it be to me according to your word”―signify the
woman’s readiness for the gift of self and her readiness to accept a
new life.
The
eternal mystery of generation, which is in God himself, the one and
Triune God (cf. Eph 3:14-15), is reflected in the woman’s
motherhood and in the man’s fatherhood. Human parenthood is
something shared by both the man and the woman. Even if the woman,
out of love for her husband, says: “I have given you a child,” her
words also mean: “This is our child.” Although both of them together
are parents of their child, the woman’s motherhood
constitutes a special “part” in this shared
parenthood, and the most demanding part. Parenthood―even though
it belongs to both―is realized much more fully in the woman,
especially in the prenatal period. It is the woman who “pays”
directly for this shared generation, which literally absorbs the
energies of her body and soul. It is therefore necessary that the
man be fully aware that in their shared parenthood he owes a
special debt to the woman. No programme of “equal rights”
between women and men is valid unless it takes this fact fully into
account.
Motherhood involves a special communion with the mystery of life, as
it develops in the woman's womb. The mother is filled with wonder at
this mystery of life, and “understands” with unique intuition what
is happening inside her. In the light of the “beginning,” the mother
accepts and loves as a person the child she is carrying in her womb.
This unique contact with the new human being developing within her
gives rise to an attitude towards human beings―not only towards her
own child, but every human being―which profoundly marks the woman's
personality. It is commonly thought that women are more
capable than men of paying attention to another person, and
that motherhood develops this predisposition even more. The man―even
with all his sharing in parenthood―always remains “outside” the
process of pregnancy and the baby’s birth; in many ways he has to
learn his own “fatherhood” from the mother. One
can say that this is part of the normal human dimension of
parenthood, including the stages that follow the birth of the baby,
especially the initial period. The child’s upbringing, taken as a
whole, should include the contribution of both parents: the maternal
and paternal contribution. In any event, the mother’s contribution
is decisive in laying the foundation for a new human personality.
Motherhood in relation to the Covenant
19. Our reflection returns to the biblical
exemplar of the “woman” in the Proto-evangelium.
The “woman,” as mother and first teacher of the human being
(education being the spiritual dimension of parenthood), has a
specific precedence over the man. Although motherhood, especially in
the bio-physical sense, depends upon the man, it places an essential
“mark” on the whole personal growth process of new children.
Motherhood in the bio-physical sense appears to be passive:
the formation process of a new life “takes place” in her, in her
body, which is nevertheless profoundly involved in that process. At
the same time, motherhood in its personal-ethical sense
expresses a very important creativity on the part of the woman, upon
whom the very humanity of the new human being mainly depends. In
this sense too the woman’s motherhood presents a special call and a
special challenge to the man and to his fatherhood.
The biblical exemplar of the “woman” finds its
culmination in the motherhood of the Mother of God. The words
of the Proto-evangelium―“I will put enmity between you and the
woman”―find here a fresh confirmation. We see that through
Mary―through her maternal “fiat,” (“Let it be done to me”)―God
begins a New Covenant with humanity. This is the eternal and
definitive Covenant in Christ, in his body and blood, in his Cross
and Resurrection. Precisely because this Covenant is to be fulfilled
“in flesh and blood” its beginning is in the Mother. Thanks solely
to her and to her virginal and maternal “fiat,” the “Son of the Most
High” can say to the Father: “A body you have prepared for me. Lo, I
have come to do your will, O God” (cf. Heb 10:5, 7).
Motherhood has been introduced into the order of the
Covenant that God made with humanity in Jesus Christ. Each and every
time that motherhood is repeated in human history, it is
always related to the Covenant which God established with the
human race through the motherhood of the Mother of God.
Does not Jesus bear witness to this reality when he
answers the exclamation of that woman in the crowd who blessed him
for Mary’s motherhood: “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the
breasts that you sucked!”? Jesus replies: “Blessed rather are those
who hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk 11:27-28). Jesus
confirms the meaning of motherhood in reference to the body, but at
the same time he indicates an even deeper meaning, which is
connected with the order of the spirit: it is a sign of the Covenant
with God who “is spirit” (Jn 4: 24). This is true above all
for the motherhood of the Mother of God. The motherhood of
every woman, understood in the light of the Gospel, is similarly not
only “of flesh and blood”: it expresses a profound “listening to
the word of the living God” and a readiness to
“safeguard” this Word, which is “the word of eternal life” (cf.
Jn 6:68). For it is precisely those born of earthly mothers, the
sons and daughters of the human race, who receive from the Son of
God the power to become “children of God” (Jn 1:12). A
dimension of the New Covenant in Christ’s blood enters into human
parenthood, making it a reality and a task for “new creatures” (cf.
2 Cor 5: 17). The history of every human being passes through
the threshold of a woman’s motherhood; crossing it conditions “the
revelation of the children of God” (cf. Rom 8: 19).
“When a woman is in travail she has sorrow,
because her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child,
she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is
born into the world” (Jn 16: 21). The first part of Christ’s
words refers to the “pangs of childbirth” which belong to the
heritage of original sin; at the same time these words indicate
the link that exists between the woman’s motherhood and the
Paschal Mystery. For this mystery also includes the Mother’s
sorrow at the foot of the Cross―the Mother who through faith shares
in the amazing mystery of her Son’s “self-emptying”: “This is
perhaps the deepest 'kenosis' of faith in human history.”
As we contemplate this Mother, whose heart “a sword
has pierced“” (cf. Lk 2: 35), our thoughts go to all the
suffering women in the world, suffering either physically or
morally. In this suffering a woman’s sensitivity plays a role, even
though she often succeeds in resisting suffering better than a man.
It is difficult to enumerate these sufferings; it is difficult to
call them all by name. We may recall her maternal care for her
children, especially when they fall sick or fall into bad ways; the
death of those most dear to her; the loneliness of mothers forgotten
by their grown up children; the loneliness of widows; the sufferings
of women who struggle alone to make a living; and women who have
been wronged or exploited. Then there are the sufferings of
consciences as a result of sin, which has wounded the woman's human
or maternal dignity: the wounds of consciences which do not heal
easily. With these sufferings too we must place ourselves at the
foot of the Cross.
But the
words of the Gospel about the woman who suffers when the time comes
for her to give birth to her child, immediately afterwards express
joy: it is “the joy that a child is born into the world.”
This joy too is referred to the Paschal Mystery, to the joy
which is communicated to the Apostles on the day of Christ's
Resurrection: “So you have sorrow now” (these words were said
the day before the Passion); “but I will see you again and your
hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (Jn
16: 22-23).
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For
Mother's Day...
