God has a specific plan for woman. He has given her a holy mission, a holy call.

    We are praying for the grace of authentic femininity and spiritual Motherhood.

Reflection Six
Reflections taken from Grace-Filled Moments

The Nature of Woman

Woman’s nature is determined by her original vocation of spouse and mother. One depends on the other. The body of woman is fashioned “to be one flesh” with another and to nurse new human life in itself.
Edith Stein

Dear Lord, 
You have woven into the very fabric of the womanly heart a longing to be in loving communion with another – a union that is life-giving and life-sustaining. This is so clearly seen in the nuptial embrace and its openness to life. But, even the feminine soul longs for fertile communion – a communion with You, which conceives and nurtures spiritual life. Help me to become a fertile field, ready to receive your seed of grace. Make me pregnant with your divine life that I may be made holy and become a source of grace for others. Help me achieve my vocation as a woman. Amen. 

Scripture Passage for Meditation: 
“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you! … Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus… The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” 
(Luke 1: 28,30-32,35). RSV

Daily Reflection:
· Contemplating the virginal conception of Jesus in the Blessed Mother, how does the original vocation of spouse and mother apply to all women – religious, single, and women married without children? How do I see the original vocation represented in me? 

· What are some specific ways the Lord uses my feminine call as a source of sanctification for myself? For others? 

· Consider the longing to be in loving communion with others and the life-giving and life-sustaining dimensions of such a relationship. Do I seek opportunities to enter into life-giving relationships with others? In what ways? What other opportunities for this exist in my everyday life?