"Bob wants to be a nun" and the dignity and vocation of women...

Yesterday we spoke at the "Ladies' Day Out" at St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church in Barberton, Ohio.  We enjoyed spending time with women from the parish and from other parishes in the Eparchy of Parma and other local parishes.  Mother Theodora spoke to the women about the dignity and vocation of women (see excerpt below), and Sr. Cecilia and Sr. Gabriella spoke to the teen girls about the same thing...in teen language (well, we hope!).

The teen girls got a laugh out of a little skit that Sr. Cecilia and Sr. Gabriella used to illustrate the fact that men and women have different vocations and that men and women are equal but not the same!  It has been titled on YouTube as "Bob wants to be a nun...."



To see the full video of their talk, click here.

More photos from the day.

An excerpt from Mother's talk:

Only women are created with an empty space within. Women are created to be receptive, to be life-givers.  Blessed John Paul II describes the woman as the archetype of the human race. He said:

“…this dignity consists in the supernatural elevation to union with God in Jesus Christ, which determines the ultimate finality of the existence of every person both on earth and in eternity. From this point of view, the 'woman' is the representative and the archetype of the whole human race: she represents the humanity which belongs to all human beings, both men and women.”

Women physically have a womb, an “empty space within.” Women are the archetype because they are made to receive. Every human being has an innate empty space within. This empty space aches to be receptive, to be filled. It is a void that can only be filled by intimate union with God. Because we’re made in the image and likeness of God, the creature aches to be in union with the Creator.

Our vocation? To help others (and men too), realize and seek this intimate union with God. Of course, we have to personally be aware and be receptive to the presence of God within ourselves before we nurture others to this reality. People are obsessed and distracted by trying to fill this void with anything and everything. We, as women, who literally have this “empty space within”, understand and can gently nurture others back to union with God.