UNBORN WORD of the day

Earlier this month we had a quote from Dr. Jerome LeJeune entitled The Story of Tom Thumb. Here are two more quotes from Dr. LeJeune that were in an article published by the Knights of Columbus.

“Life has a very long history, but each individual has a very neat beginning — the moment of conception.”

“I see no difference between the early person that you were at conception and the late person you are now. You were, and are, a human being. It is hard to believe, although beyond any possible doubt, that the whole genetic information necessary and sufficient to build our body and even our brain, the most powerful problem-solving device, even able to analyze the laws of the universe, could be epitomized so that its material substratum could fit neatly on the point of a needle!” – World renowned geneticist, the late Dr. Jerome LeJeune

Today June 26 is the Feast Day of St. Josemaria Escriva.

St Josemaria Escriva was asked a question by a social worker during one of the many talks he gave around the world. She wanted to know how to talk to the poor women who came to her as a social worker and as a Catholic when they were distressed after becoming pregnant – she wanted advice about what to say to them.

His responded in part: “Tell them they should be proud of the confidence God has in them, giving a baby to the world who is a child of God even while still in the womb. So, they should not be dismayed. No, they should give thanks to God for making them instruments of such a marvelous thing, an extraordinary miracle, this participation in the creative power of God. “

He went on to tell them the true story about a wise Chinese doctor whom he knew. This man worked in a very poor area. A woman came to him (a non-Christian) who was distressed because she was pregnant with her ninth child. She told him she wanted an abortion because there was not enough food to feed this child. He told her he could not kill her child but then he had an idea and asked her about her oldest child. She told him about her oldest child – a son. He pointed out quite logically that if having enough food was the problem it was this son who ate the most – a Solomon-like leading comment- No, she said he’s my child I could never harm one of my children. He then, gently pointed out that the one in her womb was also one of her children.

Today, Sunday, June 24th is the Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist.

Q1. Were Mary and her unborn baby, Jesus, present at the birth of John the Baptist?
Q2. Why does the Church celebrate John’s birth on June 24th rather than June 25th (the latter date would be exactly 6 months before the Lord’s birth on Dec. 25th)?
Q3. John’s father Zechariah was unable to speak, but could he hear?

A1. Since this is the most important question of the three we will devote the most time to this first one. (And some source info. will be listed at the end of this post.) When one consults both Catholic and Protestant Bible Commentaries there is not universal agreement on the answer, however a strong majority in my survey either state clearly that Mary stayed for the birth or remain silent about it as opposed to actually taking the negative position. The possible confusion relates to the positioning of verses 56 and 57 in Luke 1. Here’s what two Catholic commentaries say: a.) “Luke stylistically closes the scene; Mary must have remained longer, in order to be of service at the birth of John the Baptist”, b.) “Lk rounds off one theme before passing on to another. Consequently, it does not follow that Mary had departed before the birth of John”. *

Here’s how one Catholic mother and author answered: “No one is sure, they say, if she stayed for the birth of St. John. I am amazed. So is every mother I know. Let the scholars haggle over it if they will; of course she stayed…” (Mary Reed Newland)*

In his book The World’s First Love, Archbishop Fulton Sheen talks about Mary being present at three births – listing first the birth of John the Baptist. (Chp. 3) In their book The Gospel Story, Ronald Knox and Ronald Cox make the following observation about the scene eight days after the birth of John when he is being named: “This scene is most vivid if we recall that the Messias himself was present there, in his mother’s womb”. (Chp. 1)

Finally, it has long been believed that it was Mary who told Luke about all the events occurring in the first two chapters of Luke (directly or indirectly as the source).

A2. In the fifth century A.D. the Feast of Christmas was established on December 25th, (exactly nine months, to the day, after the March 25th feast of the Annunciation). Gabriel told Mary that Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy. So 3 months after March 25th brings us to June 25th. But according to Francis Weiser, S.J., we celebrate on the 24th because of “…the Roman way of counting, which proceeded backward from the calends (first day) of the succeeding month. Christmas was ‘the eighth day before the Kalends of January’ (Octavo Kalendas Januarii). Consequently, Saint John’s nativity was put on the ‘eighth day before the Kalends of July.’ However, since June has only thirty days, in our way of counting the feast falls on June 24”.

A3. The only reason this is a question is because of Lk 1:62: “And they made signs to his father (Zechariah), inquiring what he would have him called.” There are two schools of thought. But nowhere does it state that Zechariah could not hear. Rev. L.C. Fillion, S.S. points out that the Angel Gabriel had only threatened Zechariah with loss of speech and when he is “cured” the Gospel only states that “his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed”, further he suggests that when someone is signing to you (because he can’t speak) you may be inclined to respond in kind (even if he can hear).*

* Q1. a.) Jerome Biblical Commentary b.) A New Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Also, the IVP Bible Background Commentary, New Testament and Halley’s Bible Handbook, New Revised Ed. Zondervan, 1965.
Newland: The Year and Our Children, P.J. Kenedy & Sons, NY, 1956.
Q2. Fr. Weiser, S.J., Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs, Harcourt, Brace & Co., NY, 1958.
Q3. Fillion: The Life of Christ, Herder Book Co., St. Louis, 1940.

“Yes, it certainly seemed that God wanted to give the world the impression that it is ordinary for Him to be born of a human creature. Well, that is a fact. God did mean it to be the ordinary thing, for it is His will that Christ shall be born in every human being’s life and not, as a rule, through extraordinary things, but through the ordinary daily life and the human love that people give to one another.”

The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander

I really liked this slogan – if you click on it you can go to Feminists For Life where you can buy bumper stickers etc. with this slogan on them.

The slogan reminded me of what Mother Teresa said in her Nobel Lecture when she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

“… I feel the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a direct war, a direct killing – direct murder by the mother herself. And we read in the Scripture, for God says very clearly: Even if a mother could forget her child – I will not forget you – I have carved you in the palm of my hand. We are carved in the palm of His hand, so close to Him that unborn child has been carved in the hand of God. And that is what strikes me most, the beginning of that sentence, that even if a mother could forget something impossible – but even if she could forget – I will not forget you. And today the greatest means – the greatest destroyer of peace is abortion.”

Here is a quote about the patience of Christ from Mother St. Paul’s book Ortus Christi (published in 1921) .

“Patience is a twofold grace, that of waiting and that of suffering, both are a great aid to zeal. The Eternal Word’s zeal for the salvation of men had existed in all its perfection and all its fullness from all eternity, yet think how long He waited! When the conditions were changed and He had at length become incarnate, He still waited patiently for nine months, and after that He waited for thirty years! This was zeal, zeal in its perfection. Is my zeal tempered with patience?”

Yesterday Caryll Houselander was quoted reflecting on “the habit of Advent”. Part of this “habit” is living the virtue of patience. Through the decades the pro-life movement has had to be patient while trying to promote a Culture of Life. Many disappointments, trials and setbacks have been experienced. Those who are pro-life must persevere and patiently trust in God.

Caryll Houselander (1901-1954) wrote the following reflections in the early/mid 1940’s.

“We live in an age of impatience, an age which in everything, from learning the ABC to industry, tries to cut out and do away with the natural season of growth. That is why so much in our life is abortive. We ought to let everything grow in us, as Christ grew in Mary….. No man should ever make anything except in the spirit in which a woman bears a child, in the spirit in which Christ was formed in Mary’s womb, in the love with which God created the world.”

“In this contemplation there is great virtue in practicing patience in small things until the habit of Advent returns to us.”

Caryll Houselander
The Reed Of God

“At the true age of one month, a human being is four and a half millimeters long. Its tiny heart has already been beating for a week, its arms, legs, head, brain are already recognizable. At two months old, from head to the tip of its bottom, the human embryo is about three centimeters long. It could fit curled up inside a walnut shell. Inside a clenched fist, it would be invisible, and the clenched fist would crush it accidentally without even noticing. But open your hand, the embryo is almost complete, hands, feet, head, organs, brain, everything is in its place and from now on will merely grow. Look more closely , you can already read the life lines in its palms and predict its good fortunes. Look closer still, with an ordinary microscope, and you can see its fingerprints. Everything is already there and it would be possible to issue its identity card.”

“The incredible Tom Thumb, the man no bigger than my thumb, actually exists ; not the one in the fairy tale, but the one which every one of us once was.” Dr. Jerome LeJeune (the great pro-life scientist who discovered the cause of Downs Syndrome)