"The hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at this moment when the human race is undergoing so deep a transformation, women imbued with the Spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling."
~ Pope St. John Paul II
In a world that is screaming for women everywhere to have the perfect guy, get an awesome career, fit into a certain jean size, and have the perfect complexion the real meaning behind being a woman gets lost in the shuffle. Isn't everyone woman looking to the cover of Cosmo to find out who they should really be? We're doing everything to change, contort, and fix everything in us that doesn't match up to this "perfect woman." We're left feeling inadequate, exhausted, empty, and unloved...
BUT, from February 8th to the 11th the Rutgers Catholic Center women wanted to tell the women on campus that they were made for MORE...
More than a a women's empowerment or self-esteem movement, the RU Beautiful Campaign is an effort to speak the TRUTH to every woman on the Rutgers Campus; she is infinitely loved and cherished by the God who made her. Throughout this week we wanted our every action and interaction to convey the Father's words about who a woman TRULY IS.
She IS cherished.
She IS treasured.
She IS a sought after gem.
She IS beautiful.
She IS infinitely Loved by her Father in Heaven.
In order to reach the Rutgers women with the TRUTH, we did different outreach events on Campus each day of the week. All of our efforts were geared toward loving the women we came into contact with on campus and inviting EVERY woman to our Women's Group that Thursday night, 50 Shades of More. Take a look at our RU Beautiful week:
My parents baked over 330 cookies and shipped them up to New Jersey. On Sunday of that week, the CSA girls and I decorated these cookies to put in the gift bags we would hand out during the week!
Monday we also took the campus by storm by putting sticky notes and Women's Group flyers in student centers, bathrooms, and dorms. Any place on campus we knew a woman would walk by we left sticky notes to remind her of her TRUE identity! Here's a little sample of our sticky notes on campus.
For Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we had teams of women tabling at two of our campus centers. Here we handed out gift bags, asked women to fill out surveys and posters, handed out hot chocolate, and invited women to our 50 Shades of More Event.
All of this to speak to women about the incredible gift that they are! We got to meet so many different women and speak to them about how they are Loved. It was a packed few days of out reach all leading up to our Women's Group, 50 Shades of More that took place at 8pm at the Catholic Center.
JOY
FUN
Our RU beautiful Campaign allowed those women already involved in our ministry and those who we met during the week to come to a deeper knowledge of God's Love. It's so hard to describe all that happened in words. God used our efforts to speak the TRUTH to so many new women, but also to open our hearts to receive His Love in a fuller way. What a gift! We want to continue sharing this message with women on Campus. He has made us and Loved us beyond what we look like, what we can achieve, and how well we fit in. He has made us for MORE! He has made us for abundant life in Him! He has made His daughters good with an incredible call to make Him known! He has made us to love and be Loved!
No more do we have to live in the lies that the world would give us to tell us who we are. We can live in freedom of the daughters of God. We can live now out of the TRUTH that every part of us is Loved and incredibly beautiful.
