The complementarity of women and men

Woman complement of Man

Anything that violates the complementarity of women and men, anything that prevents the real communion of people according to the complementarity of the sexes, offends the dignity of women and men.

It is important that in this its fundamental equality with man, (the woman) do not lose sight of its complementarity, and above all its maximum nobility: "to be image and likeness of God". The mirror reflects the image only when it is located in the right place, when it receives the necessary light and is well polished. The mirror, for man and woman, is Christ; the light comes from God; It is the right place and indicated by the ethical law recorded in all hearts.

Man was created "from the beginning" man and woman: the life of the human community - of small communities and of society as a whole - carries the sign of this original duality. From it derive the "masculinity" and "femininity" of each individual, as well as that duality, every community achieves its characteristic richness in the reciprocal complement of people.

Therefore, in the creation of women is recorded from the beginning, the principle of help: help-note well-not unilateral, but reciprocal. The woman is the complement of man, just as man is the complement of woman: woman and man are complementary to each other. Femininity performs "the human" as well as masculinity, but with a diverse and complementary modulation.

I especially wish to dwell on the complementarity and reciprocity that characterizes the relations between the two sexes. In the biblical page of the creation it is read that God, after having shaped man, has mercy on his solitude, and decides to give him a similar help to him (Gn 2:18). No creature is capable of fulfilling this desire. Only when the woman is shown, taken from her body, can the man express his deep and joyful astonishment, recognizing her as "flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones" (Gen 2:23). In the suggestive symbolism of this narrative, the difference between the sexes is interpreted in a profoundly unitary way: it is in fact the only human being, which exists in two different and complementary modes: the masculine and the feminine. Precisely because woman is different from man, However, being at the same level, it can truly be "help". On the other hand, aid is the opposite of unilateral: woman is help for man, just as man is help for woman!