Cultivating the Feminine Genius

“…Woman has a genius all her own, which is vitally essential to both society and the Church.” —Pope St. John Paul II

A woman who doesn't know her feminine genius is like a warrior with an incredible arsenal of weapons, but she doesn’t know how to use them. Even worse, she may not even be aware that she has them.

Yes, women are warriors. We are one half of the Church militant, the Church on earth, fighting every day for the souls of our children, the health of our families, and the future of our culture. Every day, women shape their communities through countless acts of love, sacrifice, courage, and fidelity. The question is not whether women have influence. The question is whether we recognize the gifts God has entrusted to us and learn to use them well. Pope St. John Paul II believed the renewal of both the Church and society depended on women understanding these gifts.

Created in the image and likeness of God, women possess the same inherent dignity as men. Equal dignity, however, does not mean we are the same. Our culture increasingly struggles to hold these two realities in tandem: if men and women are equal, they must be interchangeable. If they are not the same, one must somehow be superior to the other.

It is a conversation that misses the point.

God did not create man and woman as competitors. He created them as partners and companions whose distinct gifts together reveal something of His own divine life. Their equality is found in their dignity. Their beauty is found in their complementarity.

Pope St. John Paul II called the unique gifts God has bestowed on women the feminine genius.

He wrote that women have a special capacity to "see persons with their hearts." We naturally notice the person before the thing, be it the task at hand, the problem to be solved or the accomplishment to be celebrated. The feminine genius is not weakness or sentimentality. It is strength expressed through love. It welcomes, nurtures, protects, accompanies, and encourages others to become who God created them to be. Our world desperately needs those gifts.

The problem is that many women try to prove themselves by appropriating the gifts of men, overlooking or never discovering the gifts they already possess. Imagine Katniss Everdeen walking into the Hunger Games arena without her bow. Or imagine she had it, but never learned how to use it. How long would she have survived? Gifts that remain unused cannot accomplish the mission for which they were given. The same is true of the feminine genius.

When women understand who they are and embrace the gifts God has given them, they become an extraordinary force for good. They strengthen marriages, shape families, build authentic friendships, and transform workplaces and communities where people are known, loved, and encouraged to flourish.

So how can we cultivate our feminine genius?

Read Pope St. John Paul II’s 1995 Letter to Women. Read his 1988 Apostolic Letter, Mulieris Dignitatem (On the Dignity and Vocation of Women). Then do something just as important: talk about his teachings with other women. The feminine genius grows in community. It grows as women pray together, ask honest questions, encourage one another and learn from each other's experiences. It grows as older women reflect the feminine genius back to the younger generation.

Our culture doesn't simply need stronger women. It needs women who know who they are, who understand the beauty of their vocation, and who are willing to place their gifts at the service of their families, the Church, and the world.

The Lord has entrusted each of us with extraordinary gifts. May we never leave them unopened.

—Annette Bergeon, CEO Endow

Click HERE to find "Letter to Women" on the Endow Website