The Consecrated Life

We would like to publish some homilies that Fr. Buela has written about the consecrated life. These homilies have been written especially for the Servidoras. We pray that these reflections only draws one closer to God.

Institute of the Incarnate Word

Institute of the Incarnate Word
Priestly Ordinations - Institute of the Incarnate Word

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Homily of Fr. Buela - New Woman







The New Woman[1]
…from the beginning of creation,
“God made them male and female...”
(Mk 10:6)

Pope John Paul II, in his role as Vicar of Christ on earth, often speaks on the subject of woman. He considers her distinct virtues with respect to society, the Church, life, culture, family, marriage, and consecrated life.  In addition, he takes into consideration the feminine psychology, which gives his writings and discourses a great influence and impact.

For me as a “Servant of the Lord” it has been truly a revelation to read the words of the Holy Father taken from the encyclicals Mulieris Dignitatem and Evangelium vitae, and the newspaper L’Osservatore Romano from the year 1995. The United Nations declared that year as the “International Year of the Woman,” whose principal event was the Fourth World Conference on the Woman in Beijing. In various homilies, catechetical points and discourses to religious and to the laity, Pope John Paul II developed the theme of the role and, even more so, the integral dignity of women according to the Christian Catholic faith.

In the present text, which is a compilation of quotes organized according to different themes, I wish to highlight the beautiful spectrum of the feminine vocation (be it lay or religious) that the Holy Father paints for us with his words. The principal end of this writing is to reach a greater understanding of the role of women in the divine plan of salvation. The reason for all of this is to grow in love and gratitude primarily to the Creator - gratitude for having received the gift of life - and also to the Church and the Holy Father, because, through the sacred words of Revelation and the teachings of the Church, we are guided through the paths of this life, offering to humanity a model of life that indicates the love and holiness needed in order to reach eternal life. 

The motto of Pope John Paul II is totus tuus. With these words, he has willed to place his pontificate beneath the protective mantle of the woman par excellence, the Holy Mother of God, wishing to be all hers.[2]

In the Angelus message on Sunday, June 25, 1995[3] the Pope spoke thus: “One can already perceive the immense dignity of women by the sole fact that God's eternal Son chose, in the fullness of time, to be born of a woman, the Virgin of Nazareth, the mirror and measure of femininity.

Although the Most Holy Virgin is the sublime model for women, the holy women of the Gospel also give light to their role and dignity.[4]  They were women who followed and served Christ [5] and later accompanied the Apostles. 

The Pope observes that “[Christ] established a relationship with women which was distinguished by great freedom and friendship. Even if he did not assign the Apostles' role to them, he nevertheless made them the first witnesses of his Resurrection and utilized them in proclaiming and spreading God's kingdom. In his teaching, women truly find ‘their own subjectivity and dignity.’”[6]

In what does this subjectivity and highly proclaimed dignity of women revealed by the Savior and expressed for our times and our society by Pope John Paul II consist? The present work develops these concepts in different parts in the following way: the first part will see woman as spouse and mother in the natural order. The second will be dedicated to the consecrated woman, followed by a vision of the different tasks of woman in the third part. The fourth part will demonstrate the supreme model that every woman finds in the Virgin Mary. To finish, I will make a brief conclusion dedicated to the consecrated woman, the Sponsa Christi

We pray, “May Mary herself help men and women to perceive and to live the mystery dwelling within them, by mutually recognizing one another without discrimination as living ‘images’ of God!”[7]

[1] This chapter of Las Servidoras was written by Mother Maria de Anima Christi. Only the first two parts are published. It was written when St. John Paul II was Pope.
[2] Cf. Crossing the Threshold of Hope, “Totus tuus” Ed. Arnoldo Mondadori, 1994.
[3] John Paul II, Angelus 25 June 1995, https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP950625.htm
[4] Cf. Mk 15:40-41, Lk 8:2; 23:49-56; 24:1-11
[6] John Paul II, Angelus 25 June 1995, https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP950625.htm
[7] Cf. Ibidem.