“Fair as the Moon, Resplendent as the Sun”: An Exposition of the Nature of Feminine Strength and Excellence

A Thesis Submitted to

The Faculty of Thomas Aquinas College In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement

For the Degree of Bachelor of Arts

by Amy Hallas

Advisor: Mr. John Finley

March 15, 2009

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For my mother,

whose strength has overcome every trial

and continues to be my firmest support.

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I. Introduction

In the grand design of human nature, the attainment of virtue has ever been placed before

man as the noblest and surest means to happiness – if not in this life, at least in the next.

However narrow the path of excellence, it is to be traversed with a firm step, a ready wit,

and a submissive heart. The reward to be gained by choosing such a path, according to the

Church, is a life filled by the expectation of divine and eternal love and happiness. Even in

its human form, love – whether hoped for or attained – is a thing man cannot do without, a

thing continuously sought from the moment we first take breath to the moment in which we

take our last. John Paul II avers that “Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that

is incomprehensible for himself; his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he

does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not

participate intimately in it.”1 Love, which is the very thing that enables man to approach a

life of virtue, transforms all who partake of it, perfecting our nature, inspiring compassion

and respect for our fellow man, and allowing us to recognize the Divine Image as it is

reflected in the humblest of beings. This universal desire therefore presents a call to all

mankind, men and women alike, to seek those virtues which will insure our lasting content.

The manifestation of certain virtues, their modus operandi, however, differs widely

from person to person, and all the more between men and women. Virtues even tend to be

“typecast” in a particularly masculine or feminine light because of the frequency or

strength of their appearance in one sex rather than in the other. Thus, although men and

women alike are called to the pursuit of virtue, nonetheless, there has always been dispute

as to whether certain virtues belong more particularly to one sex than to the other; whether,

1 Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, Part III, ¶18 (quoted from his other encyclical, Redemptor

Hominis)

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in the creation of man and woman, there was implanted in each some innate capacity for

the attainment of certain virtues more than others. Courage and magnanimity, for example,

are attributed almost instinctively to a masculine figure, if only because throughout the

course of history the most prominent images of such qualities have belonged to men. This

typical assumption is no slight to women, who, it must be acknowledged, are just as

capable as men of exhibiting great feats of courage. The form of their courage just happens

to manifest itself in different settings and often in more subtle ways and as such is less

often noticed. Similarly, compassion is viewed as a singularly feminine trait, and even

when appearing in a man it is seen as making him softer and more womanly. Since men and

woman are called upon, on account of their shared human nature, to attain to all of the

moral and theological virtues, this peculiar “possession” of certain virtues more

prominently by one sex than the other leads to an inevitable question: Are there particular

virtues that are essential to the composition of male or female personhood, that are

intrinsically a part of the feminine or masculine identity? Do some virtues really “belong”

more to one sex than to the other, or are there merely different benefits bestowed upon men

and women through the attainment of different virtues? What sort of virtue “makes” a man

or a woman, if the lack of that certain virtue “undoes” the person and causes his or her

moral and psychological decline?

Of course it is granted that the absence of any of the virtues from the character of a

man or woman is a grave thing and one tending toward the proliferation of vice and moral

decay. Nevertheless, upon careful consideration of the natures of the masculine and

feminine personae, it will become clear that certain virtues are more inwardly rooted in the

development and fortification of the male or female characters, and that the lack of these

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particular moral strengths, more so than of others, is bound to fundamentally undermine

the very masculinity or femininity of the person. More specifically, with respect to the

woman, the kind of excellence she embodies as woman results from the constitution of her

character, from the very design imposed upon her by the Creator. A virtuous woman will

incorporate every sort of virtue into her daily actions, but with regard to her growth not

merely as a moral individual, but more particularly as a feminine persona, those virtues that

form the moral and psychological underpinnings of her character must be set forth in order

to illustrate their great importance in her moral actuation and even her psychological

integration. Without limiting the possession of these virtues exclusively to one sex or the

other, therefore, those virtues holding a special place in the development of the feminine

persona will be referred to from here on as feminine virtues.

With this said, it may be posited that the fundamental sources of feminine strength

are fidelity and humility and the unifying principle of the feminine persona, chastity. These

three virtues are the touchstones that enable a woman, as a human being designed by God

with a unique vocation in the course of human activity, to integrate her energies into a

healthy dynamism of body and spirit. The origins of woman’s fallibility are, quite

naturally, the vices opposed to these particular virtues, namely faithlessness, pride and

impurity. These cause the disintegration of personal unity in woman, resulting in

psychological instability and a loss of personal identity.

The purpose of this thesis will be to undertake a theological and philosophical

explication of the “nature” of woman (i.e. of her intrinsic design by God insofar as it is

distinct from that of man) in order to determine the origin of her specific strengths and

weaknesses. The nature of a universal human vocation will be set out first in order to

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facilitate an understanding of the human calling as such, since this applies equally to men

and women. The complementarity of man and woman will then be set out, so that the

innate differences between them may be understood; this will open up a discussion of the

particular vocation of women, which in many ways differs from the particular vocation of

men. The structure of the paper will then generally follow the methodology of the Ethics,

insofar as it will illustrate woman’s nature by looking to her vocation (her “function”), and

subsequently will determine which virtues are central to that nature by observing the way

in which she performs her function well, that is, by observing those virtues in which her

excellence lies.

II. The Universal Human Vocation

The Catechism teaches that man is the only creature willed for its own sake2; that is,

mankind is at the pinnacle of the hierarchy of fleshly creatures and is made in such a way

that he possesses an intrinsic desire to know and love God. John Paul II illustrates the

nature of man’s vocation in his encyclical Familiaris Consortio, saying,

God created man in His own image and likeness: calling him to existence through love, He

called him at the same time for love. God is love and in Himself He lives a mystery of

personal loving communion. Creating the human race in His own image and continually

keeping it in being, God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the vocation, and

thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion. Love is therefore the

fundamental and innate vocation of every human being .3

Hence Christ teaches that the greatest commandment given to man is to love God and one

another. Augustine illustrates that these two loves are inseparable4, that man loves God

through his neighbor, while the Catechism similarly affirms that this very act of love and

service to God is the basis of a fundamental human vocation5. Every other commandment

2 The Catechism of the Catholic Church , ¶ 356 3 John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, Part II, ¶ 11 4 Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, Chs. 26, 27 5 The Catechism of the Catholic Church , ¶ 356

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can be resolved into these two, and every virtue springs from this form of self-abnegating

love. In loving God and his neighbor, a man voluntarily steps outside of his native

selfishness and begins to break down the walls of isolation instinctively built out of fear,

jealousy, or hatred. It is in becoming other-oriented rather than self-oriented, and in

directing his focus upon the Divine, that man assumes a kind of magnanimity enabling him

to transcend the habit of sin that ordinarily precludes or severely inhibits his ability to love

fully and freely. In the same encyclical, John Paul specifies the life-styles within which

man can exercise this “fundamental and innate vocation”:

As an incarnate spirit, that is a soul which expresses itself in a body and a body informed by

an immortal spirit, man is called to love in his unified totality. Love includes the human

body, and the body is made a sharer in spiritual love. Christian revelation recognizes two

specific ways of realizing the vocation of the human person, in its entirety, to love:

marriage and virginity or celibacy. Either one is, in its own proper form, an actuation of the

most profound truth of man, of his being ‘created in the image of God.’6

Thus there is a common theme uniting these two callings, and that is one of marital love

and fidelity. Each calling requires a man or woman to devote him or herself to another

person, to a mission or cause, and in either case to God with the complete fidelity and the

enduring love and purity due to a spouse. Indeed, God is to be found as the ultimate object

of every true human vocation. A man or woman will encounter the Spirit in their

relationship to their spouse and will see God’s face reflected in the person of their beloved.

Those who elect to live a chaste, single life encounter God in their many activities and

relationships within their community. Priests, monks, and nuns enter into a spiritual

relationship, a divine marriage, with God Himself.

From a more universal perspective, the image of spousal love is mirrored in the love

Christ the Bridegroom bears for his Bride the Church: He “weds” and thus sanctifies all the

men and women who in their devotion to God compose the living Body of Christ.

6 John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, Part II, ¶ 11

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Marriage, then, is the ideal form of every human pursuit; that is, it is an exemplar of human

vocations; the objects of devotion may differ, but the motivation is the same. Men and

women run down many paths seeking happiness, but those who find it are the ones who

realize that the means to enduring fulfillment is exclusivity to one’s “spouse”, be it an

actual person or God Himself through holy celibacy; this exclusivity then culminates in a

love and fidelity that extends beyond the object itself to its source in God.

The necessity of exclusivity to the object of one’s devotion, and thus of perfect fidelity

within one’s chosen vocation, is clearly illustrated by Scripture. The symbolism

throughout Isaiah and Revelation emphasizes the grave consequences of infidelity. In the

former, God grieves over Israel as a betrayed husband over a much beloved but faithless

wife:

For your husband is your Maker,

Whose name is the Lord of hosts;

And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,

Who is called the God of all the earth.

For the Lord has called you,

Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,

Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,

Says your God.

For a brief moment I forsook you,

But with great compassion I will gather you.

In an outburst of anger

I hid My face from you for a moment,

But with everlasting loving-kindness I will have compassion on you,

Says the Lord your Redeemer.7

Revelation continues this line of imagery, as John in his vision says, “And I saw the holy

city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride

adorned for her husband… Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of

the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, ‘Come here, I will show you the

7 Isaiah 54:5-8

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bride, the wife of the Lamb…’”8 And the angel carries John away to a mountain top and

shows him the magnificent city of Jerusalem. Ephesians reinforces this analogy, directly

relating the spousal relationship of a man and woman with that of Christ and His Church.

In the much-quoted passage regarding the subjection of women to their husbands, Paul

says, “The husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He

Himself being the Savior of the body.”9 In this analogy, moreover, the subjection of

woman to man in the marital union is extended metaphorically to all persons within

Christ’s Church, whether male or female, since all the faithful must submit themselves to

the guiding hand of God as they are led to a fuller understanding of their special purpose in

life. In a sense, we are all of us “female” when it comes to opening ourselves and

submitting our wills utterly to the will of God. It is impossible for man to fulfill his

fundamental vocation in any other way than by devoting his heart and mind exclusively to

the Creator. Only through man’s total submission of his heart to God can the Divine will

become clear, and only then will he find fulfillment, as a human being generally, and as

man and woman individually.

III. The Complementarity of Man and Woman

Though universally applicable to all men and women, this fundamental human vocation is

carried out in different ways, two distinct modes of which may be determined by gender.

The inherent complementarity between man and woman, arising from a variation in design

in the being of each, governs the distinct, gender-based manifestations of the human

vocation. It is through an understanding of this distinction that the being and operation of

each sex may be studied apart from the other.

8 Revelation 21:2,9 9 Ephesians 5:23

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Man is a synthesis of physical and spiritual elements, torn by the inevitable

opposition between spirit and flesh. He simultaneously burns with the fire of intellectuality

and the heat of passion and desire. In spite of this duality, however, it is man’s rationality

that accords with his underlying essence. A brute cannot think and a man, even in perfect

disgrace, nevertheless retains the fundamental capacity to reason. Reason is the intrinsic,

species-making difference of man that sets him apart from and above all other earthly

creatures, and as such enables him to lord over the earth and rule all the creatures put there

for his use. This is man as such.

It is not, however, where the complexity of the human species ends. God created

man: male and female he created them. The man Adam, initially created as the sole

governor of the world and caretaker of its inhabitants, yet did not find this state of isolation

to his liking. His lack of a suitable companion, of a “fit helpmate” to help him to keep and

care for Paradise, left him no equal with whom to relate, no face to look into and see his

humanity reflected back to him. He reigned but he did not share; he named all things but

had no one with whom to converse and to exercise his reason. Man is fundamentally

deficient without his natural counterpart, and thus Eve was created – from his rib no less.

The very bone that guards the heart was transformed into the creature with whom man

would from that time on entrust it. Woman is in every respect the completion of man: She

spiritually guides and informs him, physically receives him and brings forth his children,

and psychologically supports and affirms him. Truly, it is not good for man to be alone, as

the Catechism affirms when it says: “The woman God ‘fashions’ from the man’s rib and

brings to him elicits on the man’s part a cry of wonder, an exclamation of love and

communion: ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.’ Man discovers

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woman as another ‘I,’ sharing the same humanity.”10 It further states:

Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. Physical,

moral, and spiritual difference and complementarity are oriented toward the goods of

marriage and the flourishing of family life. The harmony of the couple and of society

depends in part on the way in which the complementarity, needs, and mutual support

between the sexes are lived out.11

These complementary differences, then, are quite necessary to the proper functioning of

the social order, since they give rise to that rudimentary building block of society, the

family.

Further, Scripture lays down that mankind was created in the divine image and

likeness of God. Man and woman were created as equals, each espousing the rational

nature that elevates them above the animals and which lends them a certain resemblance to

the Divine. Nevertheless, men and women couldn’t be alike in all things: Their respective

strengths were made to fill the deficiencies in the other. As such, a man’s very being is

distinct from that of woman, and while both share in the universal vocation set forth by

God to love and be loved, still each does so in a manner specific to his or her modality of

being. “In their ‘being man’ and ‘being woman,’ they reflect the Creator’s wisdom and

goodness.”12 The Imago Dei is cast upon both sexes, but the reflections differ according to

the spiritual and physical peculiarities of each sex. Together, however, these differences

coalesce to form a “communion of persons”13 through which the man and woman grow in

spiritual unity, each strengthening the other’s weakness and leading one another closer to

God. “Thus in the first account of the creation of man, the difference between male and

female is immediately proclaimed. But mutually they are given the threefold vocation:

10 CCC ¶ 371 11 CCC, ¶ 2333 12 CCC, ¶ 369 13 CCC, ¶ 372

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They are to be the image of God, bring forth posterity, and be masters over the earth.”14

Jungian psychoanalyst Ann Belford Ulanov explains:

Theologically, the imago dei has been interpreted to mean the creation of man as a creature

who has the capacity to relate to his Creator although this capacity has either been

dimin ished or even lost as a result of the Fall. We read in Genesis that ‘God created man in

His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them’

(Gen. 1:27). This can be interpreted to mean, I think, that God’s image is to be found in the

polarity of male and female and that the primary concretization of the covenant between

God and his creature is to be found in the relationship of man and woman.15

This interpretation, one of many used to illustrate the manner in which the Divine likeness

is impressed upon humanity, is strongly echoed by the Catechism. It states that “each of the

two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God, with equal dignity though in a

different way. The union of man and woman in marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh

the Creator’s generosity and fecundity…”16 Through their intrinsic differences, man and

woman each manifest in a unique way the divine attributes of the Creator; that is, “…the

respective “perfections” of man and woman reflect something of the infinite perfection of

God: those of a mother and those of a father and husband.”17

St. Edith Stein believes that the differences between the sexes correspond to

distinctions in the very animating principles of each. She states,

… it follows also from the Thomistic principle of anima forma corporis that such a

spiritual characteristic does exist. Of course woman shares a basic human nature, but

basically her faculties are d ifferent from men; therefore, a differing type of soul must exist

as well.18

This radical assertion of the distinction between male and female souls may be

substantiated through various philosophical and experiential arguments which support the

claim that the complementarity of man and woman is rooted in the inherent diversity of

their souls. Further, this divergent, albeit corresponding, formation of their souls will be

14 St. Edith Stein, Essays on Woman, pg. 61 15 Ann Belford Ulanov, The Feminine in Jungian Psychology and in Christian Theology , pg. 293 16 CCC, ¶ 2335 17 CCC, ¶ 370 18 Stein, Essays on Woman, pg. 45

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seen to result from innate differences in the receptive capacities of the male and female

material principles.

In truth, there doesn’t seem to be any better way to account for the obvious physical

distinctions between men and woman than by positing a difference in form – it would seem

natural for there to be a male soul belonging to the male body and likewise a female soul

belonging to the female body. Experience relates to us the distinction of gender at an

extremely early age; boys and girls know they are different, and as they age these

differences only seem to multiply. What this physical divide between the sexes points to,

however, is a distinction rooted much deeper within each man and woman than that which

is present to the senses. It is a basic philosophical principle that for every faculty of the

physical body there must be a corresponding faculty in the soul; since, then, there are

certain physical abilities allotted to one sex but not to the other, there must be

corresponding powers of the soul possessed selectively either by men or women, but

certainly not by both. Therefore, though every other power of the soul, such as sensation or

reason, is shared by men and women in virtue of their human nature, maternity and

paternity are the particular, non-transferable functions that belong uniquely to the feminine

and masculine principles.

This distinction in form, however, may be attributed to an initial difference in the

receptive capacity of the material principle of each sex. In essence, gender distinction

results from the imposition of a generic rational form upon a specifically feminine or

masculine materia, to which the form is fitted and molded accordingly. In De Potentia Dei,

St. Thomas asserts,

The disposition of the rational soul is in keeping with the disposition of the body: both

because it receives something from the body, and because forms are diversified according

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to the diversity of their matter.19

That is, the soul is the form and animating principle of the body, but it is the form of some

matter that is “disposed” to receive it. Far from being an entirely neutral principle, the

matter to a great extent determines the outcome of the resulting composite. The

predisposition of matter to receive this form or that determines what kind of active

principle can be imposed upon it, and the inherent capacities or limitations of the matter

also have an effect on the powers of the soul once it has been joined to the matter. In the

case of man and woman, it is obvious that certain powers are bestowed upon one sex which

are categorically denied to the other. That is, when a rational soul inhabits a male body, it

acquires from that distinct materia the ability to beget. That generic ability possessed by

every soul to generate others like itself is channeled through the male body in such a way

that the man is specifically enabled to father children rather than to carry them. The

specific ability to conceive and bear belongs, on the other hand, to the composite produced

by the imposition of a rational soul upon a feminine material principle. Thus, in the De

Anima, Aristotle asserts,

… Not any subject whatever can receive any form at random. And that such is the case is

confirmed by reason: the act of any one thing is of that which is in potency to it, and it

occurs naturally and fittingly in matter appropriate to it .20

Just as a rational soul cannot be received by the matter belonging to an animal or a plant, so

a male soul can never be the animating form of a female body, nor a female soul the form of

a male body. This notion is reiterated by St. Thomas, who says that,

[T]he actuality of an active principle, such as the form transmitted to matter by an agent,

always appears to exist in what receives it and is adapted to it, i.e., in the subject, whose [is

the] particular active principle, and which is adapted to attain the final term of the

receiving-process, namely the form in question… [It is] natural to any act to be realized in

some definite and appropriate material.21

19 St. Thomas Aquinas, De Potentia Dei, I.3.9 ad. 7 20 Aristotle, De Anima, II.2.414a21-28 21 St. Thomas Aquinas’ Commentary on De Anima , II.2, ¶272, 277

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Thus it may be inferred that the material principles of men and women are of the

greatest importance in the formation of the sexes. This fact, nonetheless, is more

immediately available through our experience with human sensation; that is, it has been

shown that even the modes of sensation – rooted as they are in the corporeality of man and

woman – are not immune to the distinction of sex. A great deal of evidence has been

accumulated by the advances made in the field of neurological science in just the past fifty

years. In his book, family therapist Dr. Leonard Sax provides a great number of fascinat ing

case studies in which he details the innate biological differences between the sexes. These

include, but are not limited to, differences in the way men and women see, hear, experience

pain, and respond to various neurological stimuli like anxiety or fear. In the chapter titled

“Female Brains, Male Brains,” he says that “Scientists… have concluded that female brain

tissue and male brain tissue are ‘intrinsically different,’” as a result of “dramatically

different expression[s] of proteins derived from the X chromosome and the Y chromosome

in human female and male brains… Sex differences, then, are genetically programmed...22

These differences are extensive and have been shown to be present from birth and to

continue on through adolescence and adulthood. They affect hearing: “There’s good

evidence now, from several different sources, that newborn baby girls really do hear better

than newborn baby boys… Other studies have demonstrated that teenage girls (for

example) do in fact hear better than boys do. The female-male difference in hearing only

gets bigger as kids get older.”23 These chromosomal differences also affect sight. In the

human eye, there are two different kinds of photoreceptors, rods and cones. Rods are

motion-sensors and cannot detect color. Cones sense color, texture, and the like. The male

22 Dr. Leonard Sax, Why Gender Matters, ch.2, pp. 14-15 23 Sax, Why Gender Matters, ch.2, pg. 17

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eye possesses a greater number of rods than cones, and as such it is more disposed to track

moving objects than to study stationary ones. The opposite holds true with girls. The

female eye has a predominance of cones and thus is predisposed to pick up the finer details

of what it sees – a human face, for instance. Hence, “most girls and women interpret facial

expressions better than most boys and men can.” These facts led researchers to the

conclusion that “sex differences in social interest ‘are, in part, biological in origin.’” Why

are girls social butterflies and boys speed demons? “The results of this experiment suggest

that girls are born prewired to be interested in faces while boys are prewired to be more

interested in moving objects. The reason for that difference has to do with sex differences

in the anatomy of the eye.”24

Aristotle’s claim regarding matter’s predisposition to certain forms is explicitly

upheld by these studies – a remarkable witness to the lucidity of the claim. Put in

philosophical terms, the difference might be expressed thus: Men and women share the

essential components of the rational soul; however, the use of the various powers or

functions of that soul vary widely between the genders and even between the individuals of

each sex, on account of the particularity of the matter and according to certain specific

powers possessed by one sex or the other. Beyond the power to reproduce, it seems that the

powers to see, hear, learn, process emotion, etc., are all mediated by innate biological

differences between the sexes, differences that may be attributed initially to the material

principles of men and women, and consequently to their formal principles as well.

What effect, exactly, does the distinction of gender have upon the immaterial

workings of the human soul? In other words, how or why does the law governing gender

also seem to affect the habitual operation of human thought? Men and women clearly

24 Ibid., ch.2, pp. 18-19

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possess the same rational aspect in virtue of their shared human nature; however, they

differ radically in both the mode in which they channel sensory information and the order

and rate at which they develop cognitively. How is it that they can possess the same

immaterial powers, but that their use of these can be so different? The answer, once again,

depends upon an understanding of the influence matter has upon the form inhabiting it.

According to Aristotle, the intellect has no bodily organ as its special instrument, as the

power of sight has the eyes or hearing the ears; however, it still depends upon the senses

insofar as these provide the phantasms by which the intellect is able to formulate its

concepts. In this way, the intellectual operations of the soul, though higher and more

liberated than the other powers, are tied to the workings of the soul’s vegetative and

animate faculties, which include moving, sensing, eating and reproducing. This is entirely

fitting, given that these “lower” functions of the soul may be said to take on a higher

significance in human beings, where they are subsumed among the powers of the rational

soul and thus endowed with a greater spiritual role than are the vegetative and animative

principles belonging to a plant or animal. This point corresponds to a response given by St.

Thomas his Disputed Questions on the Soul, namely, that “The sensitive soul is nobler in a

human being than in other animals because in a human being it is not merely sensitive but

also rational.” Thus “it is true that some at least of the powers of the sensitive soul, which

are irrational in themselves, nevertheless share in reason to the extent that they are

subservient to reason.25 It makes sense then, that a distinction arising from an irrational

aspect of the soul can nonetheless have an effect on the higher, rational functions, on

account of its participation and thus “spiritualization” within the human soul.

Given the views put forth by Dr. Sax above (and many others that were not

25 St. Thomas Aquinas, Disputed Questions on the Soul, Article 11, Ad. 12 and 15

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mentioned), it isn’t surprising that men and women sense the world around them

differently. The unavoidable result of their distinct physicality is that the phantasms

provided by their varying modes of sensation will differently inform their souls’ rational

aspect. Thus in common experience, when a man and a woman are put into the same

situation, they often notice different things, respond differently, and come away with

completely different viewpoints and memories of the event. Experience also demonstrates

that there exist certain congenital strengths in women which do not appear as prominently

in men, and vice versa, all in correspondence to their gender. Thus, from the same rational

form, in accordance with the peculiar potency of the matter receiving it, a diversity of

strengths or weaknesses appears, all of which are manifested through the distinct being and

operation of the sexes.

In every respect, then, from the viewpoints of philosophy, theology and biology26,

the innate complementarity of the sexes is shown to be a necessary component of human

existence. Further, therefore, since men and women are so different, one is led to question

the resulting dissimilarities in both operation and being that further distinguish the

feminine modality from the masculine. Given their different principles, they could not but

have distinct purposes, designated and implanted in them by God. A treatment of the nature

of woman’s vocation, therefore, has become necessary and will follow in the next section.

26 The notion of complementarity also persists within psychology, a science which lends it greater depth by

asserting that there is an intrinsic interplay of femininity and masculinity within the psyche of every person.

Carl Jung’s theories regarding the interaction between a man’s ego and his “feminine unconscious” (his

anima) and between a woman’s ego and her “masculine unconscious” (her animus) are an excellent

illustration of the complementary, and necessary, differences that exist between the sexes and, furthermore,

within every individual man and woman. The psyche of every indiv idual person functions like a microcosmic

version of the community of persons John Paul II spoke of: Just as society could never function properly if

men and women stood alone and apart from one another, so in the mind, the separation or disjunction of the

masculine and feminine elements of being results in a fractured personality. This parallel between the sexes

and the sexual division of psychological functions serves to reinforce all the ideas expounded above in

philosophy and theology. An exploration of Jung’s theories would certainly be pursued if they did not require

the inclusion of so many other concepts which, in this case, would prove to be tangential.

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IV. The Feminine Vocation

The essence of a thing gives rise to its operation27, though in the order of knowing the latter

precedes the former; that is, we first observe how a thing acts and what its particular

function is, and from this we are able to extrapolate the nature of its inner being. Since,

therefore, the source and quality of feminine excellence are sought, it makes sense to first

define woman’s fundamental vocation as woman and then to draw from this a picture of

her feminine essence. Such a depiction will make clear the virtues in which her excellence

lies and the vices that undermine her development into a mature womanhood.

A woman is called as a human being to love, and woman as woman finds the

objects of her love and devotion through her intrinsic vocation to married or consecrated

life. Taking the first Woman, Eve, and the Mother of God as universal types or models of

the feminine vocation, it becomes perfectly clear that woman’s role is essentially that of

spouse and mother. A woman who embraces her innate vocation will assume these roles

whether or not she actually marries: For the single or celibate woman, her Spouse is Christ

and her children all those to whom she ministers throughout her life.

Considering an individual as a man or woman per se, we see that there exist

gender-based vocations that are universally implanted into the distinct sexual natures of

men and women, and that these involve the inborn capacity and natural desire for

parenthood, whether spiritual or physical. In a series of essays discussing the separate

vocations of men and women and of the means of educating women, Edith Stein proposes

the question, “Is there a natural feminine vocation of woman?” She categorically responds

in the positive, saying that,

…woman in soul and body is formed for a particular purpose. The clear and irrevocable

27 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Bk. I, Ch. 7

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word of Scripture declares what daily experience teaches from the beginning of the world:

woman is destined to be wife and mother. 28

Every natural expression of the feminine echoes this maternal predisposition. “Woman

naturally seeks to embrace that which is living, personal, and whole. To cherish, guard,

protect, nourish and advance growth is her natural, maternal yearning… This natural

endowment enables woman to guard and teach her own children.”29 Experience has long

established the fact that a woman is the primary educator of her children, and in any stable

family unit she provides the firmest support and truest counsel for her husband. Woman is

the very root of the family and thus the mainstay of society as a whole. Stein reiterates,

The primary calling of woman is the procreat ion and raising of children; for this, the man is

given to her as protector. Thus it is suitable that the same gifts occur in both, but in d ifferent

proportions and relation…W ith the woman there are capabilities of caring, protecting, and

promoting that which is becoming and growing. She has the gift thereby to live in an

intimately bound physical compass and to collect her forces in silence; on the other hand,

she is created to endure pain, to adapt and abnegate herself. She is psychically directed to

the concrete, the individual, and the personal…30

Wherever, then, a woman employs her particular gifts and talents, she will best put these to

use in an environment that encourages her maternal nature and her orientation to the

concrete, personal aspects of things. Thus in typically “masculine” professions, a woman is

capable of humanizing the most mechanized of tasks, of reintroducing those necessary

elements of warmth, intuition, and human regard. Her presence can better prompt the

growth and development of science, technology, or any other profession, insofar as she is

able to employ the duality of strengths and abilities within her – she brings to the table a

universal feminine strength in the form of a concrete, personal approach to things, as well

as her own specific talents in the field, be they more characteristically masculine (and

hence oriented to the abstract) or feminine (oriented to the concrete). Accordingly, Stein

28 Stein, Essays on Woman, pg. 45 29 Ibid. 30 Ibid., pg. 100

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concludes that,

In using the term, ‘feminine profession’ significantly, it can only denote those objective

tasks assigned by the feminine nature. This would mean all vocations depending on

sympathetic rapport such as nursing, education, and social work… In scholarship, it would

be those branches dealing with the concrete, living personal element, i.e., the arts and

positions wherein one may help and serve, such as translating, editing, and, possibly,

guiding a stranger’s work appreciatively. Basically the same spiritual attitude which the

wife and mother need is needed here too, except that it is extended to a wider working

circle and mostly to a changing area of people; for that reason, the perspective is detached

from the vital bond of blood relat ionship and more highly elevated on the spiritual level.31

Therefore, the responsibilities of wife and mother are the most primary components of the

fundamental feminine vocation. A deeper understanding of this vocation, however,

requires an analysis of these components, three of which are the most essential to woman’s

proper operation. Specifically, women are called to an active maternal and spousal

vocation that involves receiving, mediating, and reciprocating the “advances” of the world

around her. These three aspects enable a woman to function as a physical and spiritual

receptacle whose fecundity of being and strength is the source of the perpetuation of life

and the deepening of man’s grasp of reality. Man strives – reaches outward – to attain;

woman takes all, receives all into herself and ties it all together to form a more perfect,

relatable whole. Through her ability to bring forth and nourish, woman both enlivens and

deepens the growth and development of mankind.

A wife’s receptivity to her husband absorbs his particular strengths, uniting them to

her own, while her specific strengths supply his weakness; her return of these gifts affirms

man in purpose and being. Woman roots man, centers him, interiorly guides him, receives

him, returns his love, and ultimately draws him into a life of greater moral, intellectual, and

spiritual fecundity and strength. In the course of their interactions, man’s initial purpose is

to bestow, woman’s to receive, after which a woman must reciprocate the gift of man’s self

31 Ibid., pg. 49

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with the offering of her own, in order that the man may then accept it. The acts of giving

and receiving are proper to both man and woman, though the process is symmetrically

reversed between the two. Indeed, the mutual receptivity between man and woman reflects

the fundamental human vocation to love and be loved: “In receiving her, [the man] may

discover how she receives him, which may in turn enlarge his view of himself.”32 This

process is the basis of a continual renewal of marital love and fidelity and is ultimately

concretized through their children. John Donne illustrates the importance of a woman’s

centering and stabilizing influence on her husband in his sonnet, A Valediction: Forbidden

Mourning. The husband who grieves to part from his wife for a time comforts her, saying,

Our two souls therefore, which are one,

Though I must go, endure not yet

A breach, but an expansion,

Like gold to airy thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so

As stiff twin compasses are two;

Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show

To move, but doth, if th’ other do.

And though it in the center sit,

Yet when the other far doth roam,

It leans and hearkens after it,

And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,

Like th’ other foot, obliquely run;

Thy firmness makes my circle just,

And makes me end where I begun.

Woman remains fixed, a paragon of stability and strength, the very source and center of

spousal and familial love. Her strengths are always oriented toward the concrete, her focus

remaining ever on those under her care. Woman is man’s help-mate, whose

self-abnegating love “hearkens” after her husband and children, keeping them rooted to

their task, reminding them of their purpose, rectifying or “making just” the wayward paths

32 Ann Belford Ulanov, Receiving Woman, pg. 82

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upon which they stray. The circle thus described by the woman’s centering presence is a

supremely fitting symbol of the feminine, which encloses and shelters all life within itself

and is present at both its inception and its conclusion.

Woman is both physically and psychologically “built” to receive, but in order to

complete her “feminine function” she must bring to fruition what she has taken into herself,

be it an actual child or some kind of spiritual or intellectual seed that must grow and be

delivered. Only with her bringing forth, her outpouring of what she has allowed to grow

and develop within her, is her task to love and be loved fulfilled. A woman who is actively

receptive of the persons and ideas around her allows herself to be loved; in responding to

these, she actively loves them. Through her spiritual and intellectual mediation, woman

acts upon what she receives, forming it and “bringing it forth” in a process analogous to

physical maternity. On the contrary, a woman who either does not receive, or receives and

does not bring forth is fallow, unfertile. Following the Virgin’s example, each woman’s

fiat allows God to work within and through her in order to bring those around her to greater

awareness of themselves and of their own spiritual callings. “Like Eve initiating

knowledge of good and evil, and like Mary initiating a reconciliation of the human and the

Divine, she shows special insight into the hiddenness of God’s revelation.”33 As such,

woman is uniquely suited to bring about the development of mankind. In the course of

human activity, the feminine constitutes a veritable touchstone of spiritual and

psychological awareness, and accordingly as she acts for the benefit of others or for her

own, woman has the ability to channel great grace or great wickedness into the world.

The feminine vocation and the nature from which it arises may also be understood

by means of an analogy between the progression of woman from man in Creation and the

33 Ibid., pg. 30

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progression of the Holy Spirit from the Son in the Trinity. Edith Stein relates,

Augustine and Thomas and those following in their tradition find a likeness of the Trinity

in the human spirit. Although perceived in many ways, it is accepted by most that the

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are rendered back in being, knowledge, and love…

The intellect is predominant in masculine nature; on the other hand in woman’s nature, it is

the emotions. We can thus understand why a particular association is being made between

woman’s nature and the Holy Spirit.34

If man is modeled after Christ, after the Son and thus the Procession of the Word35, and if

on the other hand woman is modeled after the Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father

and the Son and is known as the Procession of Love36, then the nature and vocation of both

sexes become exquisitely clear. Christ the Son, as the Verbum Dei, is employed in the

creation of the world and further takes on the role as Savior of mankind: Man, then, who is

patterned after Christ, is naturally disposed through God’s design to create, to establish, to

fight and protect. All he does is ordered toward the fulfillment of God’s commandment to

Adam to subjugate the earth and become its master and caretaker.

The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, personifies and encapsulates the love that exists

between the Father and the Son and extends forth to encompass all of creation. It was He

who moved over the surface of the unformed world before Creation, He who swept over

the deep prior to the utterance of the Word on the first day; He it was who spoke to the

prophets, He who descended upon the Apostles at Pentecost, appearing as tongues of flame

before them. It is His divine might and wisdom that helped to form the world and convey

the love of the Father to His creatures. As such, therefore, the Spirit serves as a figure of the

feminine, a paradigm of the impassioned force of a woman’s will and the unquenchable

love she bears for those placed in her care. This may be further understood through the

Marian doctrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who in his writings draws a direct parallel

34 Stein, Essays on Woman, pg. 118 35 Summa Theologiae, fp, q. 27, a. 2 36 Ibid., a. 3

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between the Mother of God and the Holy Spirit. He in fact asserts that the Holy Spirit is the

divine analog of the Immaculata and that the union between the Virgin and her Spouse is so

deep that every act of intercession performed by the Queen of Heaven on behalf of

mankind may be considered as the direct action of the Holy Spirit, of God Himself. He

asks, “Who then are you, O Immaculate Conception?”

Not God of course, because He has no beginning. Not an angel, created directly out of

nothing. Not Adam, formed out of the dust of the earth. Not Eve, molded from Adam’s rib.

Not the Incarnate Word, Who exists before all ages, and of Whom we should use the word

“conceived” rather than “conception.” Humans do not exist before their conception, so we

might call them “created conceptions.” But you, O Mary, are different from all other

children of Eve. They are conceptions stained by Original Sin, whereas you are the unique

Immaculate Conception.

He then proceeds to ask, “And Who is the Holy Spirit?”

[He is] the flowering of the love of the Father and the Son. If the fruit of created love is a

created conception, then the fruit of Divine love, that prototype of all created love, is

necessarily a Divine “conception.” The Holy Spirit is, therefore, the “uncreated, eternal

conception,” the prototype of all the conceptions that multiply life throughout the whole

universe.37

The Spirit of God Himself bears the same title as the young woman who was sanctified

from birth in preparation for the role she would play in the Incarnation. It’s an incredible

parallel that illustrates the supreme fittingness of the manner in which the Incarnation came

about. The union between Mary and the Holy Spirit is an exemplar of all marital love and

fidelity, thus illuminating woman’s purpose in this life: Because of the sanctifying

presence of God in her, every aspect of a woman’s proper function is exalted and in

extraordinary cases may be put to divine as well as to human use. Her love bridges the

seemingly insurmountable breach between God and man. For the Spirit “…is uncreated

Love in [Mary]; the Love of the Father and of the Son, the Love by which God loves

37 Fr. H.M. Manteau-Bonamy, O.P., IMMACULATE CONCEPTION AND THE HOLY SPIRIT: The Marian

Teachings of Fr. Maximilian Kolbe, excerpts from catholictradition.org

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Himself, the very Love of the Most Holy Trinity.”38

The Spirit, therefore, receives the love of the Father and of the Son, He mediates

that love to mankind, and He brings forth every kind of spiritual fruit among those who

likewise receive the outpourings of His grace. Just as the Holy Spirit acts as an emissary of

the Father and the Son, transmitting their love and grace to mankind, so woman acts in the

service of God, of her chosen companion, and of her children insofar as she functions as

receptor, mediator, and co-creator of the love and graces poured out by the Father and

intended for those to whom she ministers throughout her life. At last, in whatever way a

woman pursues her most basic calling, it will be seen that the virtues aligning her with her

purpose and serving to reveal her identity and mission as woman are fidelity and humility,

both of which rest upon a foundation of personal chastity. These virtues are absolutely

necessary to woman’s moral and spiritual development and are intrinsic components of her

maternal and spousal roles.

Ultimately these operations reveal that “the deepest longing of woman’s heart is to

give herself lovingly, to belong to another, and to possess this other being completely.”39

Woman attains what she desires – the fruits of her feminine vocation – through this

three-fold manifestation in her nature, which itself consists of a chaste receptivity to others,

a humble mediation of that which she receives, and finally, a complete fidelity toward that

which she brings forth. All these enable her to grow in her role as wife and mother and to

sponsor the development of those under her tutelage or care.

V. The Feminine Nature and Its Excellence

“Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in

38 Ibid. 39 Stein, Essays on Woman, pg. 53

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wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”40

A corresponding division of the feminine character is manifested through this three-fold

division of woman’s vocation. The feminine modality of being is rooted in these same

three components, and thus the discussion turns to the nature of woman and to her native

excellence, that is, to the virtues requisite for the full development of her natural strengths.

A. Receptivity

“Behold the Handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to Thy word.”41

The essence of woman, in one respect, is intrinsically receptive, and though receptivity is a

necessary component of both a masculine and a feminine persona, the trait may be

considered as primarily feminine. This quality enables a woman to open herself to

otherness in all its forms – she receives other persons, other ideas, and the otherness of the

Divine – and in doing so she is able to mirror it in her own being. Edith Stein notes that in

the Biblical account of the creation of woman, “the Hebrew expression [for “woman”]… –

Eser kenegdo – …literally means ‘a helper as if vis-à-vis to him.’ One can think here of a

mirror in which man is able to look upon his own nature.”42 The creation of woman as

helpmate explains why she is able to behave so responsively and intuitively to those in her

care – woman is a “mirror” of humanity. Her esse reminds man of his own and the likeness

it bears to the Creator: Man and woman mutually reveal to one another their divine origin

and purpose. This womanly act of reception and the subsequent reflection of being back

upon her companion and those she cares for results in an affirmation of their being, which

is necessary for any healthy relationship, any fruitful contemplation, or any true

development of spirituality: “Mirrored back in the face of the lover, we discover our true

40 Proverbs 31:25-26 41 Luke 1:38 42 Stein, Essays on Woman, pg. 61

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image.”43

Woman, however, does not merely reflect; she acts. She is called to a life of

sacrifice insofar as she submits her will to God, her autonomy to the marital or celibate

bond, her needs to the needs of those around her. Her nature might well be likened to the

sacrificial offering made by Christ in his Passion; like Him, her dynamism is rooted in

receptivity, in a willing and active acceptance that overcomes all forms of selfishness and

sin. As Christ took on the sufferings of the world in order to purge mankind of the inborn

taint of sin, so a wife cures the sufferings of her husband as he endures the trials of

supporting and protecting his family; so a mother endures every kind of physical and

spiritual affliction in bringing forth and rearing her children. As Christ opened His arms

upon the Cross, so woman opens herself, body and soul, to others in order to reconcile that

otherness and close the divide between the human and the Divine. She thus accepts all

burdens onto herself in what might be considered a specifically feminine form of

atonement. A woman’s fiat becomes her passion, a willingness to undergo the greatest of

miseries in order to insure the salvation of the beloved. St. Paul highlights the critical role a

spouse may play in the salvation of an unsaved husband or wife.

And if any woman hath a husband that believeth not, and he consent to dwell with her, let

her not put away her husband. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing

wife; and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the believing husband: otherwise your

children should be unclean; but now they are holy.44

Thus, in fact, the feminine must be seen as both acting and accepting in its process of

receiving. This feminine acceptance is never totally passive. Rather, the act of accepting

has connotations of voluntary allowance, of selective consent. A woman may just as well

reject as accept the physical and psychological imposition of a man who pursues her, and

43 Ulanov, Receiving Woman, pg. 79 44 1 Corinthians 7:13-14

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just so with the feminine element of being: There is a latent activity present within this

intrinsic component of the feminine principle: “The quality of feminine activity is to accept

a conception, to carry knowledge, to assimilate it, and to allow it to ripen… [it] is a mixture

of attentiveness and contemplation.”45

The analogy to the Holy Spirit referred to above may be employed to illustrate this

component of the feminine being, and later on to affirm the other two as well. It was said

before that the Spirit personifies the love emanating from the Father and the Son and

encompassing the whole world. This occurs through the procession of the Holy Spirit,

which is the Procession of Love46 and which in this context may be understood to mirror

the loving receptivity present in the woman God created for man. The Spirit, and by

analogy the woman as well, acts as emissary of God’s grace through His perfect expression

of God’s love and, concurrently with that love, His will. Woman’s reception of the world

likewise facilitates the diffusion of grace to God’s people, and it is by means of this

receptivity that others may approach into closer communion with the Divine.

This particular aspect of feminine being is rooted in the virtue of chastity, and it is

specifically undermined by impurity. From experience it appears that promiscuity affects

men and woman differently, seemingly in accordance with their respective physical and

psychological differences; but why does it affect women so much more than it does men? A

woman’s reputation and her psychological equilibrium are adversely affected by her illicit

sexual behavior. This does not seem to be the case – not to the same degree – with men.

The double-standard appears to exist within the very biological and psychological make-up

of the sexes.

45 Ulanov, The Feminine, pp. 172-173 46 Summa Theologiae, fp, q. 27, a.3

Hallas 29

Stein proposes a response. “Woman’s soul is present and lives more intensely in all

parts of the body, and it is inwardly affected by that which happens to the body; whereas,

with men, the body has more pronouncedly the character of an instrument which serves

them in their work and which is accompanied by a certain detachment.”47 Man by nature

operates in a more objectively external manner than does woman, whose more subjective

interiority serves to deeply embed all the consequences of her actions within her own body

and psyche.

A woman who is unchaste severs herself from the normal functioning of her

feminine nature, literally receiving into herself all the consequences of illicit action. A

woman who is “promiscuously receptive” gives a small part of herself to many, instead of

all of herself to one: This kind of sexual mendacity results in psychological fragmentation

as woman, who is built to receive, makes a mockery out of one of the most fundamental

aspects of her being. John Paul II firmly states:

…Sexuality… is by no means something purely biological, but concerns the innermost

being of the human person as such . It is realized in a truly human way only if it is an

integral part of the love by which a man and woman commit themselves totally to one

another until death… if the person were to withhold something or reserve the possibility of

deciding otherwise in the future, by this very fact he or she would not be giving totally.48

On the other hand, a woman who is “exclusively” or “chastely” receptive is able to give

totally and honestly to her partner in the way that God and nature intended. As Fr. Ronald

Rolheiser explains, “Chastity is respect, reverence, and patience. Its fruits are integration,

gratitude, and joy. Lack of chastity is impatience, irreverence, and violation. Its fruits are

disintegration of soul, bitterness, and cynicism.”49

Sexuality for a woman produces an internal fructification, while for men both the

47 Stein, Essays on Woman, pg. 95 48 John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, ¶11 49 Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, The Holy Longing, pg. 202

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act and the outcome have a much more extrinsic character, both physically and, thus to a

great extent, psychologically. Women cannot help but be deeply altered by sexual activity,

licit or not, while for men, little alteration occurs unless they are interested in developing

the relationship, in which case they can form the strongest of emotional attachments; many

times, however, this attachment, if but weakly formed, can be broken at will. Since the

advent of the feminist movement, women have gone to every extreme in an attempt to

reinvent their sexuality. They treat it casually, coldly, even frivolously, but the results have

been the opposite of what was intended. Instead of the liberation they sought, they have

engendered acute physical and mental suffering, and further, they have absolutely

transformed the way men approach and treat them.

A man rises or falls to the level of the object of his desire. A man seeking a deeper

spirituality and a greater knowledge of God desires, in a certain sense, to be apotheosized

in order to draw closer to the Divine. His moral state will improve as a result. Conversely,

a man who gives way to base or lewd passions will be degraded both by the pursuit and

especially by the attainment of his desire. When a woman stoops to gratify such a man, she

opens the way for the fulfillment of a morally corruptive act – were she to refuse, the man

would be forced to seek elsewhere or, ideally, to reform. Woman sets the standard. Man

pursues, but woman has the choice to accept or reject, and thus there are many instances

where a man who loves and desires a certain woman will be elevated or brought low,

depending on the moral rectitude or dissolution of that woman. This observation is in no

way intended to lay all the blame at woman’s door; however, in the relations of men and

women there is a clear correspondence between the height at which woman “sets the bar”

and the level to which man must raise himself in order to be worthy of her. Hence, a

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disregard for chastity on the part of woman carries a kind of gravity that isn’t as

immediately obvious in a man’s actions.

Thus a woman’s role as a companion is compromised by her acts of impurity; and

her role as a mother also suffers from this misuse or misunderstanding of her innate desire

to receive another’s love. Insofar as she is responsible for the bearing and is more actively

involved in the rearing of her children, she can be a dangerous and corruptive influence.

Without attempting to deemphasize the vital role the father plays in the overall formation

of a child, it remains that the mother is the first to bond with the child and is the primary

educator of her offspring – she is the first to acknowledge their presence in the world and

she sets the first example for them to follow. Her neglect or negative influence can distort

their understanding of the nature of virtue and vice and thus corrupt the formation of their

value-systems – for life if the example is serious or long-lasting enough. There is a reason

that the religious imagery of the tabernacle and the holy things contained within it are used

to symbolize the sacred act of maternity. Woman carries life within the ark or tabernacle of

her body. That means that the way in which this life is brought about and the manner in

which that life is treated are matters of sacred importance.

The Catechism stresses the great need for every man and woman to embrace his or

her vocation to chastity. It relates a chaste sexuality with personal integration of being; thus

the fundamental importance of this virtue for the spiritual maturation of man and woman

alike is obvious, but especially so for woman, whose sexuality is so deeply related to her

physical being and psychological stability.

Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner

unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being. Sexuality, in which man’s belonging to the

bodily and biological world is expressed, becomes personal and truly human when it is

integrated into the relationship of one person to another, in the complete and lifelong

mutual g ift of a man and a woman. The virtue of chastity therefore involves the integrity of

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the person and the integrality of the gift.50

Further, the Catechism asserts that,

The chaste person maintains the integrity of the powers of life and love placed in him. This

integrity ensures the unity of the person; it is opposed to any behavior that would impair it.

It tolerates neither a double life nor duplicity in speech… ‘Indeed it is through chastity that

we are gathered together and led back to the unity from which we were fragmented into

multiplicity’ [Augus tine, Confessions 10, 29, 40]…51

A woman who lacks this discipline will find that her personal unity – the integrality of the

various psychological, physical, and spiritual components of her being – will slip steadily

away the deeper she involves herself in a life of promiscuity. She will lose contact with her

own identity and she will find herself severed from the moral stability that a chaste

integration of being supplies. She cannot possibly give truly of herself to anyone. She

cannot love and will not be loved, and thus she will find herself utterly outside the sphere of

feminine strength and grace. Thus in Scripture, Jerusalem’s descent into paganism is

likened to the adultery of a fallen woman: “Jerusalem sinned greatly, therefore she has

become an unclean thing. All who honored her despise her because they have seen her

nakedness; even she herself groans and turns away.”52

B. Mediation

“And Mary kept in mind all these things and pondered them in her heart.”53

The second facet of feminine nature is the ability to intercede, to become the “middle term”

as it were in the natural proportions between two persons, between a person and God, or

between a person and his or her spiritual or philosophical growth. The archetypes of

feminine mediation are, of course, the first Woman and the Mother of God. Eve was the

vessel through which evil first came into the world; through her pride, she became the

50 CCC, ¶ 2337 51 CCC, ¶ 2338, 2340 52 Lamentations 1:8 53 Luke 2:19

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gateway for sin and was the catalyst of our fallen nature. “That is why,” Edith Stein

explains, “the foremost sin of pride, in which vanity and desire coincide, is a falling-off

from the spirit of love and a defection from feminine nature itself.”54 The virgin Mother of

God, however, as the “second Eve” became the Mediatrix of all graces and thus the channel

through which salvation would flow. Stein continues,

Yet, ‘Quod Heva tristis abstulit, tu reddis almo germine.’55 The pure image of feminine

nature stands before our eyes in the Immaculata, the Virgin. She is the perfect temple in

which the Holy Spirit took up his dwelling and deposited as his gift the fullness of grace.

She wanted nothing else than to be the handmaid of the Lord, the gate through which He

could make His entry into humanity; for it was not through herself but through her

‘gracious offspring’ that she was to restore for us our lost salvation.56

The imagery here is quite specific and has application to the nature of woman generally.

Mary is depicted as a “temple”: She, who had as full an enjoyment of God’s graces as a

human being is capable of, physically housed the Son of God within her body. She who at

the Annunciation was directly addressed by the angel as “full of grace” offered up her body

as a temple of the Holy Spirit and her womb as the temple within which Christ would

dwell. She has therefore always been looked upon by those in prayer as the most perfect

intercessor of God’s love and grace. The Ark of the Covenant carried by the Jews through

their wanderings in the desert was a precursor of this image of the Virgin-Mother. The Ark

contained manna, Aaron’s rod, and the tablets upon which were inscribed the Ten

Commandments and was itself perfectly holy. Mary, through her total embodiment of

grace, was destined to carry the Bread of Life, the Divine Shepherd, the personified Word

of God. The wife of the Holy Spirit and the Mother of God is therefore the greatest example

to the female sex of its intrinsic call to take up the crosses of this life as a faithful spouse

54 Stein, Essays on Woman, pg. 119 55 “What sorrowful Eve took away, you restore with a lovable offspring.” – A line from “O Gloriosa

Virginum”. 56 Stein, Essays on Woman, pg. 119

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and devoted mother.

Mary is also depicted as the “gate” through which Christ would enter the world:

“And the glory of the Lord came into the house by way of the gate facing toward the

east.”57 The image of woman as a gateway is an old one and not difficult to understand.

With her body, mind, and heart woman fosters the development of humanity at every stage

from birth to death. She acts as the gateway of life, giving birth to children, and for those

entrusted to her care, she is the channel through which graces flow. As Eve was the

gateway to sin, so the Virgin was the gateway to salvation, the gate as it were, to heaven.

Pius XII in his 1943 encyclical Mystici Corporis illustrates the mediating power of

the Virgin Mary, who may be held as every woman’s spiritual exemplar:

…She whose sinless soul was filled with the divine Spirit of Jesus Christ above all other

created souls, and who ‘in the name of the whole human race’ gave her consent ‘for a

spiritual marriage between the Son of God and human nature.’ … It was she, the second

Eve, who, free from all sin, original or personal, and always most intimately united with

her Son, offered Him on Golgotha to the Eternal Father for all the children of Adam,

sin-stained by his unhappy fall, and her mother’s rights and her mother’s love were

included in the holocaust… Thus she who, according to the flesh, was the mother of our

Head, through the added title of pain and glory became, accord ing to the Spirit, the mother

of all His members.58

Most appropriately then is woman held up as an envoy of spiritual and physical blessings.

What woman receives she “ponders in her heart,” turning the accepted content over and

over, meditating upon it and perfecting it, readying it to be returned to the giver enriched

with every grace she has to give.

A final point of interest might be “…the duality of the etymological root of that

traditional symbol of the feminine, the ‘moon.’ The Sanskrit root mas yields ma, meaning

to measure, which leads to metis, cleverness and wisdom, metiesthai, to mediate or to

57 Ezekiel 43:4 58 Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, ¶ 110

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dream or have in mind, and mati-h, knowing…”59 Through her mediation a woman comes

to know intimately that which she has received and subsequently reflected upon, and

because her method of relating to a thing is personal and concrete, dealing primarily with

its subjective value in the realm of human experience, a woman’s mediation is a kind of

“measurement,” an evaluation of a person, thing, or idea. Her contribution, therefore, to the

world of being moves beyond merely reflecting that which she receives; she actively works

upon it as well, molding and developing it, bringing it into the fullness of its purpose and

meaning. Stein says,

According to everything which we learn from personal experience and the history of

salvation, the Lord’s method is to form persons through other persons. Just as the child is

assigned to the care and upbringing of an adult for its natural development, so also is the

life of grace propagated through human mediation. Persons are used as instruments to

awaken and nurture the divine spark. Thus, natural and supernatural factors reveal that

even in the life of grace, ‘it is not good that the man should be alone.’60

The Holy Spirit is another exemplar of the feminine act of mediation. In

conjunction with the intercession of the Virgin, The Holy Spirit transmits God’s graces to

mankind, such that, “through Mary, the Holy Spirit begins to bring men, the objects of

God’s merciful love, into communion with Christ.”61 He makes known the existence and

will of the Divine, and by His movement in men instills in them all the “fruits” of faith

spoken of in Scripture: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, self-control.”62 Similarly, woman proceeds through her incomparable love to

nourish and cultivate the spiritual and intellectual growth of her husband, children, and

anyone else who comes within her sphere of activity.

“When pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom.”63

59 Ulanov, The Feminine, pg. 178 60 Stein, Essays on Woman, pp. 126-7 61 CCC, ¶ 725 62 CCC, ¶ 736 63 Proverbs 11:2

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This aspect of the feminine nature is rooted in the virtue of humility or selflessness. As the

Catechism says of Mary with regard to her Immaculate Conception,

The Holy Spirit prepared Mary by his grace. It was fitting that the mother of Him in whom

‘the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily’ should herself be ‘full of grace’. She was, by

sheer grace, conceived without sin as the most humble of creatures, the most capable of

welcoming the inexpressible gift of the Almighty.64

It is humility that enables any human being to accept the gifts bestowed upon him or her by

God. An awareness of one’s proper place in the order of things lends perspective and due

modesty concerning both one’s talents and one’s weaknesses ; as such it empowers a person

firm in the knowledge of her purpose and place to reach out to others and selflessly guide

them along their path. Pride desires to stand alone, without the beneficence or aid of

anyone – man or God.

A woman who distorts this aspect of her character has a tendency to manipulate

what she receives in order to benefit herself instead of others; she “mistranslates” what she

has received and returns it in a lowered or unfitting state, thereby becoming an impure

channel of the grace that ought to flow from her acts of mediation., if she retains the ability

to properly mediate at all. Proper intercession requires a sort of transparency of self; the

mediator is interested only in closing the divide between two persons or ideas, with no

thought of her own immediate profit or loss. When Eve offered Adam the forbidden fruit,

that is, when she mediated between man and sin, she did so in the interest of elevating

herself to the level of divinity, forgetting that it is through humility and patience that one

attains the transcendence of being that mirrors the Divine. Her mediation thus polluted

the world instead of perfecting it. The purity or “transparency” of humility, therefore, is

fundamental to this particular operation of the feminine.

Vanity, which is often considered a peculiarly feminine flaw, is opposed in every 64 CCC, ¶ 722

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sense to this aspect of woman’s being. Her forgetfulness of the needs of others, her

preoccupation with personal appearance or gain – in short, the willfulness and

self-absorption that eclipse all her other concerns – are a great detriment to the

development of true feminine virtue. These seriously inhibit, or even entirely preclude, the

proper functioning of feminine mediation, and as such restrict the maturation of such a

person into true womanhood. Thus in Scripture it is said that, “…the tongue of the wise

brings healing. Truthful lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only for a

moment.” And, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.”65

C. Bringing Forth, or the Feminine Act of Creation

“Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb and

Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.’”66

The third and final aspect of feminine being is a bringing forth, a yielding, of the fruit that

has been carried, molded, and perfected within the woman. This relates to the physical,

spiritual, and psychological operations of the woman insofar as she literally brings a forth a

child, “gives birth” to greater understanding of a spiritual truth, or through her accepting

and mediating presence – through her counsel and gentle guidance – brings another person

into the fullness of humanity. Ulanov expounds upon this idea, saying,

The personal interiority of a woman is the vessel in which she touches the spirit and is

touched by it, just as her body is the vessel of her physical transformation and all its

openings places of exchange between inner and outer experience. The body symbolism

associated with the female represents her spiritual capacity as well as her material; the

vessel, which contains something for herself and for the male, ‘is the ‘life-vessel as such’ in

which life forms, and which bears all living things and discharges them out of itself and

into the world.’67

The “personal interiority” referred to by Ulanov, along with Stein’s explanation of the

65 Proverbs 12:18-19, 16:18 66 Luke 1:41-42 67 Ulanov, The Feminine, pg. 184

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“more intense” connection of the feminine spirit to the body, both ultimately point to this

fundamental aspect of the feminine nature. A woman’s connection and response to that

which she brings forth may be likened to the exclamation of joy made by Adam at the

creation of woman: “This at last is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones!” Birth is the

feminine act of creation.

More so than with the processes of receiving and mediating, this final act of

bringing forth is the most obvious indication of woman’s spiritual and physical fertility. In

no other way is woman’s nature most completely fulfilled than through this process of

bringing forth new life, through this ability to bless the world with the riches she carries

within her.

This component of the feminine being may be viewed in two lights: A woman may

be the direct source from which new life, new ideas, or a richer concept of humanity is

brought forth, or she may be an indirect, though necessary, means of bringing these forth

from another person. Women function as both the mothers and the midwives of historical

and spiritual events, and in this way are their acts of mediation and creation intrinsically

linked – the latter is a natural outpouring of the former. Women are the chosen witnesses

and messengers of God’s divine will; their participation is essential in His overall plan for

humanity as well as in the individual plans He has for each person. There are many

examples of this in Scripture: Women are very often the first to witness and the first to

spread the “good news” of some divine episode or miraculous occurrence ; many times they

are essential in bringing that very episode about. The Mother of Jesus, in a certain sense,

inaugurates His first miracle at the Wedding at Cana. In her quiet and humble observation

of all that goes on around her, she is the first to notice and to bring to Her Son’s attention

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the shortage of wine at the wedding feast, and, interestingly enough, in addressing her He

appears to speak to women universally. "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My

hour has not yet come." Her reply is not to Him, but rather is directed toward the servants:

“Do whatever He tells you.” So perfectly aware was Mary of the workings of the Divine

Will that she seemed to know instinctively that it was His time, and in His obedience to His

Father’s Will and his mother’s wisdom, Christ allowed the Woman to initiate this period of

preaching and proselytizing in His ministry.

In a similar occurrence, Mary Magdalene takes on a sort of priestly role by

anointing Christ before His Passion. She bathes his feet with her tears and then blesses

them with costly oil – an intimate and holy service that not even His disciples performed

for Him. Neither Peter, the future head of the Church, nor even John, the disciple Jesus

loved, was chosen for this task. A woman, rather, was chosen to prepare Christ for His

Passion: She honored and anointed the Lamb, initiating the very mystery of the Paschal

Sacrifice.

And again, the women who travel to the tomb of Jesus to anoint His Body provide a

third example of the sacred duties allotted to women in Scripture.

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices

which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when

they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about

this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing… the men said to them,

“Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen.

Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man

must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise

again.” And they remembered His words, and returned from the tomb and reported all these

things to the eleven and to all the rest.68

To prepare, to initiate, to witness and to declare are all inborn components of this

component of a woman‘s being. While all the disciples were in hiding, terrified of Roman

68 Luke 24:1-9

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persecution, it was a small group of women who ventured forth to honor and properly bless

the hastily buried Body of Christ. From all these examples it is obvious that women play a

necessary and active role in the life and ministry of those to whom they are bound by flesh

or by oath. Their maternal role, their so-called “midwifery” in Christ’s ministry sets forth a

universal example for all women, whatever their circumstances or particular callings.

Woman as such was designed with these maternal operations in mind, and she was meant

from the beginning to embody them in every aspect of her being, particularly in this last.

Perhaps it is on account of the woman’s role as messenger and initiator that

Scripture attributes feminine characteristics to the Spirit of Wisdom: Sophia is the font of

knowledge and the bearer of all God‘s blessings; she knows the mind and will of God and

pours forth His grace upon those who faithfully and humbly seek His favor. “How blessed

is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding. For her profit is better

than the profit of silver and her gain better than fine gold. She is more precious than jewels;

and nothing you desire compares with her.”69 Ann Ulanov continues this line of

symbolism, saying, “The flower is the supreme visible form of Sophia, the personification

of wisdom; it is the symbol of Mary...”70 She then goes on to explain,

Femin ine wisdom nourishes, supports, and develops the strongest possible ties to reality. It

is the wisdom of feeling and compassion, coordinated to the qualitative moment and the

specific instance rather than to an unrelated code of law. Feminine wisdom in personal,

never impersonal… Such wisdom brings ecstasy and illumination rather than knowledge.

The heart and soul of consciousness are carried beyond themselves into intimations of the

deepest mysteries… The wisdom of the feminine sanctifies what it touches, making [it]

pure and efficient…71

The relation between the Spirit and the feminine is affirmed elsewhere. To refer

once more to the writings of Maximilian Kolbe, we can see more clearly the intimate

69 Proverbs 3:13-15 70 Ulanov, The Feminine, pp. 189-190 71 Ibid., pg. 191

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relation between the fecundity of the Holy Spirit and that of the woman, as well as the

importance of the marital union in bringing such divine and human fruitfulness into being.

With regard to the divine union of the Virgin and the Holy Spirit which brought forth the

Incarnation, he says that the Holy Spirit Himself “…is a fruitful Love, a “Conception.”

Among creatures made in God’s image, the union brought about by married love is the

most intimate of all. In a much more precise, more interior, more essential manner, the

Holy Spirit lives in the soul of the Immaculata, in the depths of her very being. He makes

her fruitful, from the very first instance of her existence, all during her life, and for all

eternity. This eternal “Immaculate Conception” [which is the Holy Spirit] produces in an

immaculate manner Div ine life itself in the womb or depths of Mary’s soul, making her the

Immaculate Conception, the human Immaculate Conception. And the virginal womb of

Mary’s body is kept sacred for Him; there He conceives in time the human life of the

Man-God.

Universally, then, taking Mary to represent all women, we see that “the Spirit fecundates a

woman’s whole being, and she experiences herself both as subject and object in the

mysterious process.”72

One final analogy with the Holy Spirit may be used to illuminate this aspect of

woman’s being. It has been said already that woman brings forth life and subsequently

affirms those beings to whom she is closely tied through her maternal ministry. This role is

typified by the action of the Holy Spirit during the Creation, Who “by wisdom founded the

earth…”73 and Who subsequently provided an evaluative response to that which had been

created: “…and God saw that it was good.”74 This analogy operates on the supposition that

each member of the Trinity assumed a different role in the act of creation, and that that

which the Holy Spirit played may be viewed as prototypical of the function that woman

was assigned at her creation. The roles were distributed thus: In the beginning, the Father

spoke, the Word fashioned, and the Spirit affirmed. That is, before the creation of the

world, “the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep,

72 Ibid., pg. 185 73 Proverbs 3:19 74 Genesis 1:10

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and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.”75 Then God uttered the

Word, the world took shape, and at the end of every day He pronounced that it was good.

St. Thomas demonstrates in the Summa76 that God’s Will is manifested through the

Procession of Love, which is the Holy Spirit, and so God’s Goodness is personified in that

same Spirit (just as his Word is personified in the Son). The goodness of creation that was

brought forth by the Word is therefore declared and affirmed by this Spirit, and in just the

same way woman is responsible for recognizing, fostering, and reaffirming the good

wherever she encounters it in her ministry.

The Spirit Who receives the Divine Love, Who mediates all graces, Who both

creates and affirms the goodness wrought by creation, in each respect provides a type of the

roles delegated to woman at the very beginning of time. The analogy, then, between

woman’s nature and the operations of the Holy Spirit is complete. These three aspects of

feminine being encapsulate every truly “womanly” action and, if properly developed,

enable a woman to simultaneously embrace her own being and the being of others in a total

expression of selfless love and fidelity.

The underlying virtue of this aspect of woman’s nature is, quite naturally, fidelity.

Woman, who becomes so intimately connected to that which she receives, carries, and

produces, cannot but be bound by faith and loyalty to that which she has brought to life. As

God is eternally faithful to His “children,” the works of His creation, so woman, who is a

reflection of these maternal, nurturing aspects of God, adheres faithfully to that which she

has co-created with God and man. For “we have received not the spirit of this world, but

75 Genesis 1:2 76 Summa Theologiae, fp, q. 27, a. 2

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the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us from God.”77

Mary, of course, perfectly embodies this virtue. She faithfully followed her Son and

supported Him from the moment of His birth, throughout the course of His ministry, until

and even after His death on the cross: “Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, and the

disciple He loved.”78 She was told when Jesus was still an infant that “A sword will pierce

your own soul too…”79, but this never weakened her devotion or caused her heart to stray

from her Son; rather, she accepted every trial and bitter sorrow with total confidence in her

Son’s promises, with boundless hope that He would rise again, and with an

all-encompassing love that gave her the strength to witness His crucifixion and still bear

the separation from Him during the three days He lay in the tomb. Taking the Old

Testament figure of Judith as a herald of Mary, the same words said of her may also be said

of the Virgin: “May you be blessed, my daughter, by God Most High, beyond all women

on earth… The trust you have shown shall not pass from the memories of men, but shall

ever remind them of the power of God.”80 A woman’s enduring fidelity, then, is the final

constituent of her feminine strength, without which she could not fully embody true

womanhood.

VI. Conclusion

It cannot be denied, then, that the three virtues of chastity, humility and fidelity are

indispensible qualities of the feminine persona and that the strength they provide

underscores the very integrity of a woman’s being. The moral and psychological decline

women suffer by neglecting to cultivate these qualities is evident from common

77 1 Cor. 2:12 78 John 19:25-26 79 Luke 2:35 80 Judith 13:23,25

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experience; it is also a recurring theme in Scripture and is constantly employed in

literature. The overwhelming number of examples from these sources alone is enough to

convince one of their validity. The analogies drawn between Israel’s infidelity and an

unfaithful wife or a prostitute are too numerous to count, and the warnings against the

corruption of fallen women are present in many works of moral or theological import –

Augustine’s squeamishness about makeup and dyed hair, for instance. Again, where would

Shakespeare be without the macabre ambition and grossly unfeminine pride of Lady

Macbeth? What would have become of Anna Karenina, Edna Pontellier, or Nora Helmer if

they had remained faithful to their husbands and refused to abandon their children? (On

one hand, three broken marriages, two suicides, and the death of a small child would have

been prevented, but on the other three excellent novels would have been drained of their

agonizing forcefulness and emotional vigor.) In any case, illustrations of these virtues and

vices may be readily employed to support the ideas set forth in the preceding sections. In

sum, I have shown that there is an express purpose laid out for each man and woman by

God, universally shared in virtue of their human nature, but more particularly possessed in

virtue of their sex. An explication of the complementary natures of men and women led to

an illustration of the innate gender-based distinctions in operation and being that

fundamentally influence the development of male and female character. Finally, after

having scrutinized the vocation specific to women and after coming to an understanding of

their unique modality of being, I demonstrated that the virtues listed above are those in

which feminine excellence consists and which are the moral and psychological

underpinnings of the female character. I drew frequent analogies to both the Blessed

Mother of God and to the Holy Spirit because of the remarkable resemblance between their

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strengths and their exceptional roles in the course of human history and those of the

feminine. The Virgin and her Spouse are the prime exemplars of the feminine spirit and its

divinely ordained roles in this life and the next; one is a model drawn from creation, the

other from the Most Holy Trinity, but, as St. Maximilian Kolbe so aptly pointed out, the

divine “marital” union into which they entered at the Incarnation gave rise to the

coincidence of their redemptive actions on behalf of mankind, and as such they also serve

as a pattern of the marital roles espoused by all women, regardless of their way of life. On

this account, the very title of this paper was chosen to reflect the fullness of divine grace

that was present in Mary in virtue of her intimate union with the Spirit. In the same way, the

woman who chastely receives, humbly mediates, or faithfully and lovingly brings forth is

filled with the same Spirit Whose gifts magnify her own strengths until she too is a mirror

of the sun’s brightness, a perfect reflection of God’s love and goodness.

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