Male and Female He Created Them (and I'm the second one, so let's talk about that)

Sometimes, when you're Catholic, you get excited by things that most people think are really weird. And yesterday, I discovered one of them! I was alive (in the womb) when Blessed John Paul II wrote Mulieris Dignitatem: On the Dignity and Vocation of Women! I'm not going to lie, that makes me feel pretty special. He was writing it to me - little pre-birth me - I just didn't know it yet! But even at that point in my life, God had given me the dignity and vocation of womanhood... and he saw that it was good.

Next, I learned that JPII wrote that apostolic letter at the conclusion of the Marian year he had declared, so bonus points... I was alive during the Marian year, too! #happyCatholicgirlsigh. So I read Mulieris Dignitatem, and then, in a bit of google searching... I discovered his Letter to Women in 1995! #doublehiphiphooray #moreJPIIismorebetter

I'll be totally honest: I can't always handle reading about "Catholic womanhood." It's kind of a touchy subject, yes? Mention the Catholic Church + women, and you'll get all sorts of crazy reactions... both outside the Church and in. From debates about skirts to stay-at-home moms to people telling me I'm a beautiful princess and I don't need makeup or whatever, it's not always my favorite topic.

 (Plus, saying "femininity" is like trying to say "anemone.")

But this is JPII we're talking about here. My Papa! And it's so, so good. So it's not really true that I don't like reading "girl stuff"; whenever I find something that actually speaks to my feminine heart in a real and genuine way, I truly do love to soak it in! It's the counterfeits that make me grumpy.

In honor of these glorious discoveries, and in honor of Saturday (Mary's day!), I present to you a list of some of my favorite books, talks and blogs on being authentically feminine. I promise, none of these are the "girl power," man-bashing type, because I despise that attitude (tension between men and women is a product of the fall, fo' sho'). I also promise that they are not the type that are going to make you feel horrible about yourself and like you're not really feminine, because you don't wear skirts every day/you work outside the home/you have short hair/fill-in-the-blank with your pet peeve here. It's not a complete list by any means; I'm probably forgetting lots of other soul-enriching goodness that I would also recommend to you. (Feel free to comment with your own favorites!)

Books:
~ The World's First Love: Mary, Mother of God by Ven. Fulton J. Sheen
~ The Catholic Girl's Survival Guide for the Single Years by Emily Stimpson
~ Woman in Love by Katie Hartfiel
~ My Sisters the Saints by Colleen Carroll Campbell
~ Style, Sex, and Substance: 10 Catholic Women Consider the Things that Really Matter (edited by Hallie Lord)
~ Men, Women and the Mystery of Love by Edward Sri (basically, the easier-to-chew version of Love and Responsibility)
~ Story of a Soul by St. Therese (my favorite!! I had to include her. If you want to read the words of a woman who was truly in love with Jesus Christ as her spouse, then read it.)

Talks:
~ Why Do Women Do That? by Lisa Cotter (this is actually a talk given to men, but I found it super helpful in understanding myself!)
~ The Ache of Singlehood and Dating by Jackie Francois (I'm sorry that the sound quality isn't the greatest on this video... but watch it anyway! Basically, anything Jackie says is gold. She and her fiance have a blog, too!)

Blogs:
~ The Evangelista by Christina Grace
~ Verily (by the staff of the Verily magazine)
~ Worthy of Agape by Amanda Mortus (she also just published a book on the same topic!)
~ Seraphic Singles by Dorothy Cummings

I'll be totally upfront, in that several of those appeal mainly to single young women. But hey, that's what I am at the moment, so that's what I like.

I'm kind of excited about my next related read; I'm about to dive into the essays of Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross)! I'll let you know how it goes...

And last but not least, I'll leave you with two lovely, thought-provoking, potentially tear-jerking quotes from our Polish Papa:

"Thank you, every woman, for the simple fact of being a woman! Through the insight which is so much a part of your womanhood you enrich the world's understanding and help to make human relations more honest and authentic." -Letter of Pope John Paul II to Women, 1995

Therefore the Church gives thanks for each and every woman: for mothers, for sisters, for wives; for women consecrated to God in virginity; for women dedicated to the many human beings who await the gratuitous love of another person; for women who watch over the human persons in the family, which is the fundamental sign of the human community; for women who work professionally, and who at times are burdened by a great social responsibility; for "perfect" women and for "weak" women - for all women as they have come forth from the heart of God in all the beauty and richness of their femininity; as they have been embraced by his eternal love; as, together with men, they are pilgrims on this earth, which is the temporal "homeland" of all people and is transformed sometimes into a "valley of tears"; as they assume, together with men, a common responsibility for the destiny of humanity according to daily necessities and according to that definitive destiny which the human family has in God himself, in the bosom of the ineffable Trinity." -Mulieris Dignitatem