“This mutual gift of the person in marriage opens to the gift of a new life, a new human being, who is also a person in the likeness of his parents. Motherhood implies from the beginning a special openness to the new person: and this is precisely the woman’s “part”. In this openness, in conceiving and giving birth to a child, the woman “discovers herself through a sincere gift of self”. The gift of interior readiness to accept the child and bring it into the world is linked to the marriage union, which – as mentioned earlier – should constitute a special moment in the mutual self-giving both by the woman and the man. According to the Bible, the conception and birth of a new human being are accompanied by the following words of the woman: “I have brought a man into being with the help of the Lord” (Gen 4:1).This exclamation of Eve, the “mother of all the living” is repeated every time a new human being comes into the world. It expresses the woman’s joy and awareness that she is sharing in the great mystery of eternal generation. The spouses share in the creative power of God!
“The woman’s motherhood in the period between the baby’s conception and birth is a bio-physiological and psychological process which is better understood in our days than in the past, and is the subject of many detailed studies. Scientific analysis fully confirms that the very physical constitution of women is naturally disposed to motherhood – conception, pregnancy and giving birth – which is a consequence of the marriage union with the man. At the same time, this also corresponds to the psycho-physical structure of women. What the different branches of science have to say on this subject is important and useful, provided that it is not limited to an exclusively bio-physiological interpretation of women and of motherhood. Such a “restricted” picture would go hand in hand with a materialistic concept of the human being and of the world. In such a case, what is truly essential would unfortunately be lost. Motherhood as a human fact and phenomenon, is fully explained on the basis of the truth about the person. Motherhood is linked to the personal structure of the woman and to the personal dimension of the gift: “I have brought a man into being with the help of the Lord” (Gen 4:1). The Creator grants the parents the gift of a child. On the woman’s part, this fact is linked in a special way to “a sincere gift of self”. Mary’s words at the Annunciation – “Let it be to me according to your word” – signify the woman’s readiness for the gift of self and her readiness to accept a new life.”
Coming Home 
honestly, you have to LOVE the way JP II wrote about almost anything.
But his writings on sexuality, motherhood and marriage are unsurpassed.
“Motherhood implies from the beginning a special openness to the new person: and this is precisely the woman’s “part”. In this openness, in conceiving and giving birth to a child, the woman “discovers herself through a sincere gift of self”.”
It is amazing that a celibate MAN could understand femininity so very well. Absolutely amazing.
Dear Dr. Nadal: Great website, and glad to see the mixed backgrounds, as these issues cover several areas. I am concerned though about some of the erroneous “science” assumed by the book by George and Tollefsen, especially their claim that human beings begin to exist when the “zygote” is formed. Your readers have simply followed suite. This claim is erroneous. According to the Carnegie Stages of Early Human Embryolonic Development (accepted internationally since 1942), the zygote formes only at the end of fertilization (Stage 1c). Before that the embryo already exists at Stage 1a and Stage 1b. To claim the “zygote” essentially achieves the same as the false term “pre-embryo” – in this case, there is “no embryo before the zygote”. Wrong, but if followed it could be used to justify early abortions, the use of abortifacients, human embryo research, human cloning, unethical human genetic engineering, etc. – most of which use the existing embryo before the formation of the zygote. Here are the direct quotes from the Carnegie Stages: SEXUAL HUMAN REPRODUCTION:
Carnegie Stage 1 Definition:
Embryonic life commences with fertilization, and hence the beginning of that process may be taken as the point de depart of stage 1. Despite the small size (ca. 0.1 mm) and weight (ca. 0.004 mg) of the organism at fertilization, the embryo is “schon ein individual-spezifischer Mensch” (Blechschmidt, 1972). … Fertilization is the procession of events that begins when a spermatozoon makes contact with an oocyte or its investments and ends with the intermingling of maternal and paternal chromosomes at metaphase of the first mitotic division of the zygote (Brackett et al., 1972). Fertilization sensu stricto involves the union of developmentally competent gametes realized in an appropriate environment to result in the formation of a viable embryo (Tesarik, 1986) … . Fertilization requires probably slightly longer than 24 hours in primates (Brackett et al., 1972). In the case of human oocytes fertilized in vitro, pronuclei were formed within 11 hours of insemination (Edwards, 1972). … Fertilization, which takes place normally in the ampulla of the uterine tube, includes (a) contact of spermatozoa with the zona pellucida of an oocyte, penetration of one or more spermatozoa through the zona pellucida and the ooplasm, swelling of the spermatozoal head and extrusion of the second polar body, (b) the formation of the male and female pronuclei, and (c) the beginning of the first mitotic division, or cleavage, of the zygote. … The three phases (a, b, and c) referred to above will be included here under stage 1, the characteristic feature of which is unicellularity. … (c) Zygote: The cell that characterizes the last phase of fertilization is elusive. The first cleavage spindle forms rapidly and has been used in identification. … Pronuclear fusion does not occur. Rather, the two pronuclear envelopes break down (post-apposition envelope vesiculation,” (Szabo and O’Day, 1983), and the two groups of chromosomes move together and assume positions on the first cleavage spindle. Thus the zygote lacks a nucleus. … In the human, the initial cleavage that heralds the onset of stage 2 occurs in the uterine tube “some time between twenty-four and thirty hours after [the beginning of] fertilization” (Hertig, 1968).
(Carnegie Stages of Early Human Embryonic Development, Stage 1, at: http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/collections/hdac/stage1.pdf)
Thank you! Dr. Dianne N. Irving, M.A., Ph.D.