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John Paul II Mulieris Dignitatem Woman's Study on the Dignity and Vocation of Women
Are you interested in using our book for your own home or parish woman's study group?
Price: $14 (includes S & H)
Welcome to our 10 week Woman’s Study that uses the book, Renewing Your Christian Self in a Secular World by Cheryl Dickow. The focus of the study are the lives of women from the Old and New Testament and how their experiences help us live more fully as Catholic Women today, in light of many of JPII’s teaching on our inherent worth and dignity.
The course has ten weekly podcasts associated with it along with a “welcome” podcast. This is a self paced course but can also be used within a group. For individual use, you simply read the chapter and listen to the corresponding podcast and use a journal (or the space provided at the end of each chapter) for your private contemplations and revelations.
For group use, please contact me at Cheryl @ Bezalel Books.com (no spaces) and request the Leader’s Booklet and the specific number of books you need for your study group. The participants can listen to the online podcasts at their leisure and the group time can focus on both the podcasts and the particular chapters.
There is a lot of flexibility in the way that the study has been put-together but however it is used, it will surely be an anointed time.
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The Podcasts
Please click the underlined week number to hear the podcast
Welcome Message - The welcome message introducing the series.
Week 1 - Chapters to read: A Woman’s Worth pages 7-18 and The Holy Spirit pages 19-31
We often find ourselves moving on “autopilot” and miss out on the true meaning of our existence. Keep your heart open to ways in which the Spirit is moving you. Purposely respond to nudges of the Holy Spirit. It is time for us to hearken back to an existence where the Spirit is first and foremost in our lives and the secular messages take a back seat. Purposely make them “switch places” in your life. Be willing to look at your world this week through those eyes and share ways in which your perspective sharpens.
Week 2 - Eve pages 32-41 and Shiphrah and Puah pages 103-109
Was it difficult to get out of “autopilot?”
If Christ is the Truth that will set you free (as read in pages 12-13), what do you need to be free from?
Christ speaks to women about the things of God, and they understand them; there is a true resonance of mind and heart, a response of faith. ~ Mulieris Dignitatem
Week 3 - Noah’s Wife pages 42-50 and Lot’s Wife pages 64-72
We are building upon the foundation that our trust is in the Holy Spirit, who is responding to our daily invitational prayers, and that a conscious realization of the use of our free will is imperative. We are firm in our resolution to understand, believe, and “own” the knowledge that our worth is not dependent on any label but on the mere fact that God created us for our own sake. We daily live the Truth that in Christ we have salvation, love, all we need, hope, strength, faith, abundance, forgiveness, peace, joy. In Him we have everything.
This week I ask you to again invite the Spirit to reveal a new perspective of your life to you knowing that the new perspective is really the Truth. Noah’s Wife is our role model for that Truth. For in her we see that it is truly through our everyday lives, tasks, and perseverance that we serve God. And when we forget that there is a bigger picture we cannot see, we do well to remember Noah’s Wife who work tirelessly in fulfilling what God had put before her.
The second aspect of your study this week is for you to spend time in quiet contemplation examining what it is that you need to “let go of” so that you can live more fully for Christ. What is it that fills a part of your day that no longer belongs to you but belongs in the hand of your Savior? What should be left at the foot of His cross so that, like Noah’s Wife, you will be able to better serve God? These are difficult questions for it is not easy to view ourselves in that light. But if we remember that the light is Christ and when we look at ourselves in that “light” we are also finding the forgiveness, strength, and peace we need to move forward.
Week 4 - Sarah pages 51-63 and Rebekah pages 73-84
In what ways has your living become more consciously focused on Jesus?
Please read Genesis 20 in its entirety and reflect upon the ways in which this passage brings a multitude of feelings to you.
How do you feel about Abraham calling Sarah his sister so as to protect himself and her from harm from Abimelech?
Why was God’s punishment upon Abimelech’s household (closing every womb) so severe?
What does this say about God’s commitment to Sarah as the only woman to whom He will allow His covenant with Abraham could be fulfilled?
And finally, what does this say about God’s promises to YOU?
Week 5 - Rachel pages 85-94 and Leah pages 95-102
Consider the significance of the women who would, with Jacob, reap the rewards, so to speak, of God’s blessings. They would be women of great spiritual prowess, in their own rights, and yet would still experience the “human-ness” we all experience as women of God.
Like Rachel and Leah, we have a great blessing in the salvation that is ours in Jesus Christ. Just as Rachel and Leah were intended to be the recipients of the blessings from Jacob, as originally given to Abraham by God, we, too, were intended to inherit what Christ gives us through His cross, death, and resurrection! It was an intentional act of the Father to include each and every single one of us in the salvation purchased through the blood of Christ. Consider the “rewards!”
Let’s also consider ways in which facing adversity “can be a good thing” and consider the ways in which Rachel must have grown spiritually when faced with Leah’s seemingly easy ability to conceive children with Jacob.
Week 6 - Zipporah pages 110-119 and Miriam pages 120-127
If there are any reflections on how adversity can be “good,” please share below.
There are so many issues at play in this week’s focus on Zipporah and Miriam. I feel it is imperative to begin by noting that God’s expectations of these women were, from my perspective, quite intense. As with all the other women we have studied, these women continue to showcase God’s great faith in what a woman is able to accomplish in her life.
Consider ways in which your own dreams or expectations in life have differed from the reality of your life and ways in which you have been called to task because, as a Christian, God has certain expectations of your daily behavior. Consider also, the commitment you bring to your marriage or relationships and ways in which you are called to send a message into the world via another person (husband, child, friend, neighbor).
Most importantly, make an effort this week to change your perspective, if necessary, and recognize how you affect the world through your immediate relationships with your family.
Week 7 - Deborah pages 128-137 and Esther pages 145-154
If I were to suggest to you that feminism has failed, what would be your response? If I were to ask you to consider any part of Mulieris Dignitatem, along with what we covered thus far in the study, and say that the church teaches the Truth when she speaks of a feminine genius, what would you think? What would you say to my suggestion that feminism has failed?
How do women like Deborah and Esther differ from the way women today are encouraged to pursue positions of “power,” of course realizing that all women are in positions of power and yet only certain positions, like a CEO or an Investment Banker etc. are secularly recognized as “power” positions.
Why does JPII say, in Mulieris Dignitatem, that women, when imbued with the Gospel, have the power to aid humanity in not falling? How much more power might we want than that?!
Week 8 - Ruth pages 138-144
The story of Ruth truly begins with the witness of Naomi. Naomi’s complete trust in God, even when her life has produced anything other than heartache in the death of her husband and sons, is what speaks to the spirit of Ruth and is what Ruth responds to when she says, “Do not ask me to abandon nor forsake you! For wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Wherever you die I will die, and there be buried. May the Lord do so and so to me, and more besides, if aught but death separates me from you!”
Reflect on the ways that you have lived your faith so that, unbeknownst to you, any “Ruth’s” that you have encountered would have been affected by your ways. Share your responses and thoughts below.
Read Hebrews 13:5 and draw a correlation between those words of Christ and the words Ruth so passionately spoke to Naomi.
Along with the week’s reading of the one chapter in “Renewing Your Christian Self,” everyone should read The Book of Ruth in their bibles.
Week 9 - Mary Magdalene pages 164-172
What are the ways in which you, personally, view Mary Magadalene? What has affected your perception of her? You may or may not see her role as one of great substance in our faith and that is perfectly acceptable.
Consider ways in which Mary Magdalene is ”the perfect woman” as identified when John Paul II wrote, “The perfect woman becomes an irreplaceable support and source of spiritual strength for other people, who perceive the great energies of her spirit. These “perfect women” are owed much by their families, and sometimes by whole nations.”
Reflect and share your thoughts on this question: Is my faith as strong as Mary Magdalene’s that Christ could have counted on me to share the good news of His resurrection?
Week 10 - This week will include Mary pages 155-163 and includes Scripture Messages and Your Time on Earth, pages 173-180.
JPII looks at all the ways in which The Virgin Mary epitomizes “woman.” We are reminded that when Christ calls her “woman” He is not doing this out of disrespect but in a way that connects you and I to her for all eternity. In our enthusiasm for her role as the mother of Christ we often forget that she was a real “mom.” What do you think this means? Why is this appropriate for closing the study?
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