Women’s Ministries Congress in the South France Conference

About forty women of all generations, met during a whole weekend from April 21-23, 2023, to discover the words of Jesus to the women of his time, words that still resonate and speak to us women today. With Valérie Duval Poujol, theologian and historian, as our guide, we accompanied Jesus through his various encounters with the women of his time to discover, through his words, a message for each of us today. On Friday evening, the stage was set and we set out in the footsteps of Jesus through a panorama of various encounters.
The first encounter that is presented to us is that of Jesus with the woman of Matthew 26:6-13. This anonymous woman is emblematic of the invisibility in which women have been confined for thousands of years. But Jesus is the man who sees all these women and brings them from the shadows into the light. He honors her with these words: ‘Wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.’ But… is that the case in reality?
Jesus allows himself to be touched by women, both literally and figuratively, as in the case of the bleeding woman in Mark 5:21-34, whom he tenderly calls "My daughter...".He calls Martha twice, as with Moses and Saul, thus announcing a deeper revelation of his person. To the Samaritan woman he says "I am": "Ego emi", a nod to the revelation God made to Moses and a confirmation of his identity.
Jesus is the one who gives each person the possibility to say who they are, as with Mary Magdalene on Resurrection Sunday, when he asks her ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ He makes her an apostle whom he sends to bring the heart of the gospel to the other disciples.
After this beautiful and rich panorama, we were given eight keys to being feminine, each one illustrated by the life of a woman. We were made aware of the crucial question of the mirror: "Who tells me who I am?", as well as the question of taking care of our bodies with the following maxim: "Take our bodies to heart". We were invited to find the balance between being and doing.
Saturday afternoon was dedicated to workshops. The women were able to discover in small groups:
1. Sexist translations of the Bible with Valerie,
2. Tools for setting up a house group with Astride and
3. Lectio divina, an approach to the biblical text to bring the Word to life.
This period ended with the story of the woman who had been bent over for 18 years, which Valerie told us in a poignant way. Jesus healed this woman, allowing her to stand upright and no longer stare at the ground, but to raise her head to go her way. An inspiring story
An inspiring story that could be a metaphor for our lives, bent under the weight of tradition, of cultures that paralyze and handicap us - preventing us from taking our part in the beautiful adventure of the Kerygma. But with Jesus the story does not end there.
The opportunity was then given to those who wished to express their gratitude orally, or in writing on the pages of the program reserved for this purpose.
We ended this magnificent weekend on Sunday morning with a final lecture by Valerie who concluded this Congress with this beautiful text taken from Paul's letter to Ephesians 2 :10: "We are his most beautiful poem.". What a magnificent declaration for each of us, as daughters of God!
To conclude this blessed time, we gave each participant a beautiful Bible journal created by the Union Women's Ministries Department, with which they can continue to explore the Bible and comment on the passages that had inspired them the most.
Jesus came to do his Father's will, including the restoration of his original plan for humanity, namely the equality between men and women. In this sense, Jesus is neither revolutionary nor conformist, but he is subversive. There were virtuous women, women of value, daughters of Abraham, daughters of God, women disciples, women apostles...
My wish is that this message may be heard and fill each one of us so that it may set us in motion to go and announce to others the good news of a life transformed in Jesus.
According to a report by Diane Regis, Women’s Ministries Director, South France Conference