“Virgin’s First Communion” Pianist Jacqueline Chew
Olivier Messiaen (December 10, 1908 – April 27, 1992) was a devout and well-respected French Catholic composer. Olivier Messiaen wrote Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus , a collection of pieces for solo piano in 1944. The French title translates “Twenty gazes/contemplations on the infant Jesus”. It is considered to be one of the greatest piano works of the twentieth century, and the summit of Messiaen’s keyboard writing. The idea of les regards, the spiritual gazes, came from the devotional book Le Christ dans ses Mystères by the Irish-Belgian Benedictine Abbot Dom Columba Marmion.
The gaze is a profound moment of passionate contemplation, spiritual communication and two-way recognition: an exchange, to use one of Marmion’s favorite words, in which love and knowledge passed in both directions between God and humanity.
Some of Messiaen’s ‘gazes’ on the Infant Jesus include: Gaze of the Father, Gaze of the Star, The Exchange, Gaze of the Son upon the Son, By Him everything was made, The Kiss of the Infant Jesus, Glance of Silence (click here to see all of the pieces)…the piece that touches on our blog’s theme is: ‘Premiere Communion de la Vierge’. (No. 11, “Virgin’s First Communion”) and represents the Virgin on her knees, worshiping the unborn Jesus within her.
Olivier Messiaen wrote notes for each of the glances/regards. Here is what he wrote about the Premiere communion de la Vierge:
“Première communion de la Vierge [First Communion of the Virgin]. A tableau in which the Virgin is shown kneeling, bowed down in the night-a luminous halo around her womb. Eyes closed, she adores the fruit hidden within her. This comes between the Annunciation and the Nativity: it is the first and greatest of all communions. Theme of God, gentle scrolls, in stalactites, in an inner embrace. (Recall of the theme of La Vierge l’Enfant from my Nativity du Seigneur for organ, 1935). Magnificat more enthusiastic. Special chords and durations of two and two in which the weighty pulsations represent the heartbeats of the Infant in the breast of his mother. Disappearance of the Theme of God. After the Annunciation, Mary adores Jesus within her…my God, my son, my Magnificat!-my love without the sound of words.”
Here are two links:
Program Notes for Twenty Glances on the Infant JesusVingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus
The Elusive Allure of Olivier Messiaen
June 25 is the memorial of the death of a truly inspirational man, Bishop Austin Vaughan. My husband and I were inspired by Bishop Vaughan’s witness as a Bishop and as a pro-life leader. To learn more about Bishop Vaughan click here.
Bishop Austin Vaughan (1927-2000), Auxiliary Bishop of New York, who was arrested many times for peacefully praying and protesting in front of abortion facilities, wrote an article called “The Catholic Duty to be Pro-Life” in which he reflected:
“It is not an accident, I think, that in the Scriptures the first person, after Mary, who adored Jesus when he came into the world was St. John the Baptist…The second person who ever worshipped Jesus after Mary was an unborn baby and I think God made it that way to tell us in our day and age the worth and importance of every individual right from the very beginning of life.”
There is a beautiful teaching in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians about God’s peace:
“And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Phil 4:7
We find this peace first and foremost in the Person of Jesus Christ – even when He was an infant, a little baby. Just after the birth of John the Baptist, when Mary was just about 3 months pregnant, Zechariah (the father of newborn baby John) proclaims the future prophetic role of his baby son. Zechariah also speaks of a time “when the day shall dawn upon us from on high….to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Lk 1:78-79).
That day had surely begun to dawn in Bethlehem. And so the angel of the Lord and the heavenly host which appeared to the shepherds in the nearby fields, ended their proclamation with these words: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!” (Lk 2:14).
The shepherds go to the stable and worship the newborn Christ. Later the wise men come and worship as well. There is, in fact, a correlation between worshipping God and encountering the Peace of God.
After the shepherds left, Luke tells us: “But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2:19). The words and experiences were so deep and profound, that only her heart could touch them. Mary’s heart was at once, the vessel from which her worship poured forth and a receptacle for the breath of God’s Peace.
Mary was the first to touch that Peace of Christ which surpasses all understanding, or rather – the Peace of the Unborn Christ (and later newborn Christ) touched her, enveloped her pondering heart…guiding her “feet into the way of peace”…
“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Jn 1:4-5
“And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them…” Lk 2:8-9
“…and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was.” Mt 2:9
“And as he was praying, the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white…and they saw his glory…” Lk 9:29,32
“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world…’” Jn 8:12
“Now as he (Paul) journeyed he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed about him. And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ And he said, ‘Who are you Lord?’” Acts 9:3-5
“For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” II Cor 4:6
In our darkest moments, let us look for the glimmer of Christ’s light in our own hearts and in the lives of Christians around us, in the pregnant woman, in the manger, in the night sky, on the mountain top, even down the darkened meandering road….
Here is how most people celebrate their birthdays!
But the great St. John Eudes didn’t look at it quite like that and wrote an extremely lengthy prayer for Christians to recite on their birthdays. Here are a few excerpts:
Prayer to Jesus for the Anniversary of Your Birth
“O Jesus, I adore Thee in Thy eternal birth and Thy divine dwelling for all eternity in the bosom of Thy Father. I also adore Thee in Thy temporal conception, and in Thy presence in the sacred womb of Thy most pure mother, for the space of nine months, and in Thy birth into this world at the end of that time. I adore and revere the great and admirable occurrence of these mysteries…
Again I adore and glorify Thee, O Good Jesus, as performing all these things for Thyself, and for me and for everyone in the world. On this anniversary of my birth I give myself to Thee, O my Dear Jesus, that I may now repeat the acts Thou didst perfect while dwelling from all eternity in the bosom of the Father, and for nine months in the womb of Thy mother…
Such, O my Lord, is the rightful homage I ought to have rendered to Thee, had I been able, at the moment of my birth, and indeed from the first moment of my life, that I now endeavor to render to Thee, although very tardily and imperfectly…
In Thy temporal birth, Thou didst render for me to Thy Father all the rightful homage I should have rendered Him at my own birth, and Thou didst then practice all the acts and exercises of devotion that I should have practiced. Be Thou blessed for ever!”
St. John Eudes, The Life and the Kingdom of Jesus in Christian Souls
The Vision of St. Juliana (1191-1258) of Mont Cornillon (about 1645/50)
Philippe de Champaigne 1602 – 1674
You may have never heard of St. Juliana of Cornillon (Juliana of Liege), 1192 -1258. She was an Augustinian nun who was the first promoter of a feast day in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. In his November 17, 2010 audience Pope Benedict spoke eloquently about St. Juliana.
“The Pope explained how the Belgian saint “possessed great culture, … and a profound sense of the presence of Christ, which she experienced particularly intensely in the Sacrament of the Eucharist”. At the age of sixteen she had a vision which convinced her of the need to establish a liturgical feast for Corpus Christi “in which believers would be able to adore the Eucharist so as to augment their faith, increase the practice of virtue and mend the wrongs done to the Blessed Sacrament”, said the Holy Father. Click here to read more.
What many people don’t know is that she also had a profound devotion to Christ in His Blessed Mother’s womb. Here is an excerpt from a book about her life written in 1873 detailing this devotion.
“She had also a great devotion for the feasts of our Lady, but of all her feasts, the one she celebrated with most ardent devotion and piety was the feast of the Annunciation. It seemed as if she could never cease from meditating upon and admiring the celestial simplicity of the words of the angel Gabriel; the trouble that his salutation at first gave to Mary, the consent that she gave to become the Mother of God, the profound humility, the more than angelic modesty, and the ardent love, our Blessed Lady displayed upon this occasion.
At the thought of the Eternal Word descending from the bosom of His Father, and becoming man for love of us, her heart became so inflamed with love, that it seemed to her she could no longer contain it within her breast…
A devotion that she frequently recommended to the other religious, was to recite the ” Ave Maria,” and the canticle ” Magnificat,” nine times every day, in honour of the nine months our Lord dwelt in the womb of His ever Blessed Mother; and she assured them that she was indebted to the practice of this devotion for many favours and graces she had obtained from heaven.
When ever she recited or sung the “Magnificat,” she was accustomed to contemplate the fatigues our Blessed Lady suffered in her journey from Nazareth to the house of her cousin Elizabeth. She then considered the tender embraces of those two women so beloved by God, the joy with which St. John the Baptist leaped in the womb of his mother, at the approach of Mary, who bore his Saviour within her womb; then she meditated upon their holy salutations and the thanksgivings they afterwards rendered to God.”
From: The Life of St. Juliana of Cornillon by Brother George Ambrose Bradbury, O.C. 1873. pp 24-25
“It goes without saying that in the small kingdom that was the home, the wife was queen….Her importance was all the greater since…a great many things that we buy in shops or factories were produced at home. Cloth, for instance, was spun and woven in the house. ”
“To a large extent clothing was home-made, too: the excellent wife of Proverbs :busies herself with wool and thread, holding the distaff and the spindle.” Daily Life in the Time of Jesus by Henri Daniel-Rops pp. 150-51, 275
A Pictorial History of Mary Sewing
The Child Mary Learning to Sew
The Young Virgin, ca. 1632–33, Francisco de Zurbarán
According to medieval legend, as a girl the Virgin Mary lived in the Temple in Jerusalem, where she devoted herself to praying and sewing vestments, the subject of Zurbarán’s painting, executed about 1632–33.
The Girlhood of Mary Virgin by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
“I have represented the future Mother of Our Lord as occupied in embroidering a lily,—always under the direction of St. Anne; the flower she is copying being held by two little angels.” Dante Gabriel Rosetti
Saint Anne and the young Virgin sewing, fresco by the Master of the Bambino Vispo, Museo dell’Opera di Santa Croce
Mary Preparing for Christ’s Birth
Here are a number of paintings where Mary is sewing while she is expecting the Unborn Christ Child – we can imagine that she was sewing His swaddling and baby clothes
Romanesque Spinning Virgin, Catalan Fresco, Museu d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona
The Virgin at the Spinning Wheel (Hungarian, unknown artist)
Mary In the House Of Elizabeth Robert Anning Bell (sewing baby clothes for John the Baptist)
Mary Spinning with Joseph before the Birth of Jesus, Strasbourg, Musee de Notre-Dame I’Oeuvre, inv 1482
The Virgin is occasionally depicted knitting a garment, thought to represent the seamless garment worn by Christ (John 19:23). This seamless garment that the guards casts lots for beneath the cross was likely given to Jesus as a gift from his mother, since it was customary for Jewish mothers to make such a garment for their sons as a last gift before they entered the world on their own. Here are 2 representative paintings of this type of Knitting Madonna sewing the seamless garment.
The Holy Family by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, c. 1345
Detail from the right wing of the Buxtehude Altar by Bertram von Minden, 1400-1410
Filed under: Papal Quotes, Pro-life, Quotes from Great Christians, Unborn Jesus
God has always been reaching out to us! Today He is reaching out personally to you!
Michaelangelo captured the scene in his famous painting of God the Creator Father reaching out to Adam who represents humanity.
Mother St. Paul explains how God the Father reached down to touch each of us at our creation:
“Our Lord Touched us when He created us to His own image; He could have created us to the image of the angels but no, He created us to His own – it was a touch.” Virginibus Christi p. 25
Interior Of The Mezquita Cathedral Virgin Mary Icon
From Mary’s womb Unborn Jesus was reaching out to us, but we couldn’t see. Perhaps in a Michaelangelo moment, in Mary’s womb He extended His tiny unborn arm, hand, and finger towards each of us.
Pope Pius XII tells us:
“But the knowledge and love of our Divine Redeemer, of which we were the object from the first moment of His Incarnation, exceed all that the human intellect can hope to grasp. For hardly was He conceived in the womb of the Mother of God, when He began to enjoy the Beatific Vision, and in that vision all the members of His Mystical Body were continually and unceasingly present to Him, and He embraced them with His redeeming love” On the Mystical Body of Christ, #75
As we remember this sad anniversary of Roe v Wade, let us realize that in the silent cries of the unborn He is reaching out to touch our hearts.
Let us reach out to touch Him for as St. Mark tells us:
“As many as touched Him were made whole” (Mk 6:56)
Photo by Lennart Nilsson
“Behold, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle, or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice.” Song of Songs 2:8-9
In this final trimester of growth within His mother’s womb, Unborn Jesus is dramatically growing in size; a tripling in weight and a doubling in length. More sleeping and less leaping. This sanctuary of Mary’s womb is closing in on Him as He grows in size. He is content, but as the weeks and months go by He will become lovingly restless for the world awaiting Him.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, initially within His mother’s womb. Let’s consider for a moment the ‘face of God’; the face of Unborn Jesus. By 25 weeks gestation, the retinas of His eyes are developed, He has eyebrows and eyelashes and now His eyelids can open. He now has a mature face, with distinctive features, and recognizable expressions reflecting in part His experiences even here in the womb, even now before birth. Dark hair is growing on His head. Even here and now, like His ancestor David, He “was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome” (I Sam 16:12).
“Thou hast said, ‘Seek ye my face.’
My heart says to thee,
‘Thy face, Lord, do I seek.’
Hide not thy face from me.” Psalm 27.8-9
The physiological bonding between Mother and Unborn Son is marvelously supplemented by behavioral bonding (for example, as Mary rubs her abdomen or repeatedly sings her favorite Psalms to God and her unborn child). But there is also a spiritual, redemptive bonding between Savior and Mother – which both would ponder in their hearts.
This pregnancy – like all pregnancies – gives glory to God and hope to humanity! But this pregnancy – unlike all others – will bring forth the only begotten Son of God!
Madonna and Child with two Votaries by Paolo Veneziano
“Behold, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle, or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice.” Song of Songs 2:8-9
We consider Unborn Jesus in the Virgin Mary’s womb during the second trimester of this Redemptive Pregnancy.
By the 14th week (of gestation) He has significant cerebellar control which is reflected in a variety of coordinated physical movements and facial expressions. Unborn Jesus clenches His fists, somersaults, rolls over and kicks. For he is like us in all things, but sin (cf. Heb 4:15). 4 1/3 to 4 2/3 inches in length and about 2 ¾ ounces in weight.
His wrinkled skin is still somewhat transparent and noticeably we see His heart vibrant and beating 120 – 160 beats per minute (around twice the adult heart rate). Thirty years hence Jesus will say: “Come to me…for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Mt 11:28-29). This miniscule heart, is even now pumping the Savior’s blood, which will wash away the sins of humanity. A tiny red tide of mercy.
By the 20th week of gestation, Unborn Jesus can hear conversations between Mary and Joseph (and others) – Joseph’s deeper voice is easier for Him to hear. He recognizes their voices. When Mary visits with Joseph while he is working at his carpenter’s trade, Unborn Jesus exhibits a ‘startle reflex’ when He hears loud hammer blows and other noises. (After birth He will grow accustomed to these familiar sounds.) And when Mary sings Psalms, He is comforted. “Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day” (Psalm 96:2). By the 22nd week of gestation, He is about 8 ½ inches in length and weighs about 1 ¼ pounds.
Straßburg, Frauenhaus-Museum, Zweifel-Joseph (Detail) Mary and Joseph before the Birth of Jesus.
Painting from Gemaldegalerie Berlin
As we approach Christmas – keeping in mind the pregnant Virgin Mary and her growing unborn baby – this is a good time to ask, “What does our little Savior look like?”
The Zygote Christ Child is a mere one cell and you can’t even see Him. This cornerstone cell of the Christ Child’s Body is a male human living cell with 46 chromosomes. Jesus at this one cell stage is literally bursting with Grace! This is “the grace of union”, when the Son of God assumed a human nature from His very conception, which St. Thomas Aquinas taught was the source of every other grace. He is One Cell and one with us.
The Blastocyst Christ Child at about one week development now consists of more than 100 cells; a one hundredfold blessing for humanity. He is implanted into the lining of Mary’s womb and is clearly focused on His Incarnation Mission.
The Embryonic Christ Child is between 1/12 to 1/6 of an inch in length (around 4 weeks gestation). He is “the least among us” but has the most to give! His primitive Sacred Heart is beating for love, a tempo that this world has never heard before, with a meaning that will take a life time to comprehend. (Memo to Mary: Your little baby has taken charge of this redemptive pregnancy already, sending chemical-hormonal messages from His body to yours – thank you Mary for passing on essential nutrients to your Embryonic Christ Child, you are building up His tiny body and preparing Him for His Redemptive Mission.)
The Fetus Christ Child (around 8 weeks gestation) is 1 ¼ to 1 2/3 inches in length and weighs about 1/3 ounce. He is not heavy, He is our brother, in solidarity with all unborn children, embracing our humanity in His body and Soul. In proportion to the rest of His rapidly growing body, Christ’s head and heart are very big; He knows us and loves us. His Sacred Heart beats at about 140 beats per minute.
As His First Trimester ends, Unborn Jesus shows extraordinary signs of typical growth for an unborn baby. All vital organs are fully formed, His hair is growing, you can count the fingers on His hand and His finger nails are growing too! See each ear taking on its final shape and the iris forming in His eye. “Incline thy ear, O Lord, and hear; open thy eyes, O Lord, and see….”(Isaiah 37:17) In the buoyant liquid environment in which He grows, Unborn Jesus is showing not just a ‘walking reflex’ but vigorously stretches His limbs and can even be seen leaping.
“Behold, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle, or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands behind our wall,
gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice.” Song of Songs 2:8-9
Maestro Francesco, XIII century
Madonna Platytera fra tre santi , Venezia, Scuola di S.
The picture above is a mural on the Visitation Church in Ein Kerem on the outskirts of Jerusalem which commemorates Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth and the Magnificat
Certainly as we accompany the Church from the First Sunday of Advent to Christmas Eve, we are exposed to many traditional and beautiful readings from scripture and powerful themes for our edification.
We look back historically – and hear the prophets proclaim the Messianic Age.
We look forward prophetically – to the Great Mystery of the Final Coming of Christ.
We live the present expectantly – preparing for Christmas and our encounter with Christ!
In a General Audience in 2002, John Paul II spoke of the Church providing us with 3 guides for Advent: The Prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist and Mary the Mother of Jesus.
In the Penitential Season of Lent – we discover our Savior and our need of Redemption.
In the Penitential Season of Advent – we seek a Baby and contemplate His Incarnation.
One way to travel your Advent weeks to Christmas is to accompany Mary (and Unborn Jesus) on her (and His) nine month journey. Their journey together is gestational and spiritual….but when you join them on their journey it becomes very personal.
Enter into the Mystery of the Incarnation. Mary is overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and conceives the Son of God – then she leaves in haste on a 4 day journey to the hill country of Judah to visit her pregnant cousin Elizabeth. When she arrives remarkable events unfold – her unborn Child right in the middle of it all (CCC #717). On one level, Mary is visiting Elizabeth, on another level, God is visiting His people. You can join in this visit.
Three months later, Elizabeth gives birth to her baby John, and shortly thereafter, Mary (and Unborn Jesus) return to Nazareth. Trusting Joseph encounters Mary (and Child) and becomes perplexed, then resolved upon a course of action. But God introduces into the marvelous mystery of the Incarnation a simple human institution called ‘adoption’. The angel of the Lord visits Joseph in a dream and the rest is salvation history. You can visit Nazareth during the second and third trimesters of this singular Redemptive Pregnancy.
Travel to Bethlehem with the Holy Family. Witness the rejection this young pregnant mother experiences as the door to the inn is closed in her face, and the babe in her womb vigorously stirs within her. Behold Joseph’s resolve now. Watch God the Father provide for the birth of His Son. The angels tell all! The shepherds teach all!
Finally, you can welcome God’s newborn newfound Love at journey’s end with worship and a promise to be childlike yourself, and always respectful of the child.
Pregnant virgin. In Pinacoteca, Vatican Museum
During his Homily for the Vigil of Nascent Life on November 27, Pope Benedict speaks of the connection between the unborn and Christ’s time in the womb:
“The beginning of the liturgical year helps us to relive the expectation of God made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, God who makes himself small, He becomes a child, it speaks to us of the coming of a God who is near, who wanted to experience the life of man, from the very beginning, to save it completely, fully. And so the mystery of the Incarnation of the Lord and the beginning of human life are intimately connected and in harmony with each other within the one saving plan of God, the Lord of life of each and every one of us. The Incarnation reveals to us, with intense light and in an amazing way, that every human life has an incomparable, a most elevated dignity.”
Later in the Homily he states:
“With regard to the embryo in the womb, science itself highlights its autonomy capable of interaction with the mother, the coordination of biological processes, the continuity of development, the growing complexity of the organism. This is not an accumulation of biological material, but a new living being, dynamic and wonderfully ordered, a new unique human being. So was Jesus in Mary’s womb, so it was for all of us in our mother’s womb. With the ancient Christian writer Tertullian we can say: ” he who will be a man is already one” (Apologeticum IX, 8), there is no reason not to consider him a person from conception.”
He closes the Homily by entrusting the unborn to Our Lady who bore Jesus, our Savior in her womb:
To the Virgin Mary, who welcomed the Son of God made man with faith, with her maternal womb, with loving care, with nurturing support and vibrant with love, we entrust our commitment and prayer in favour of unborn life .
To read the entire homily click here
Mary is the ‘Holy House’ who bore God in her womb and is forever to be honoured by Elizabeth Wang
The unique St. John Eudes wrote many diverse prayers during his lifetime demonstrating his desire to offer every action of each day to God in a special and meaningful way. This is reflected in prayers such as this:
“O Jesus, I offer Thee the rest I am about to take, in honor of the eternal rest Thou dost enjoy in the bosom of Thy Father, and in honor of the sleep and temporal rest Thou didst take in the bosom of Thy Mother, as well as during Thy whole life on earth.”
His reference to the “bosom of Thy Mother”, is an endearing term for the womb of Mary as we see in the following instruction he gave elsewhere to retreatants:
“Your retreat ought to be made with these chief ends in view: 1. To continue and honor the various retreats of Jesus, for example, His retreat from all eternity in the bosom of His Father; His retreat for nine months in the bosom of His Mother…”
During his times of rest, sleep and even retreat John Eudes was reminded of Unborn Jesus within Mary’s womb. As he instructs us above, we can honor these acts of Jesus to the extent that we join ourselves to Him with these mysteries in mind.
Quotes taken from: St. John Eudes, C.J.M., The Life and the Kingdom of Jesus in Christian Souls
Unborn Word of the Day has received permission to post The Annunciation by Bradi Barth* copyright “BRADI BARTH” “HERBRONNEN” vzw www.bradi-barth.org
Mother St. Paul wrote this of the unborn Christ Child who rested in His mother’s womb.
“Come, my little King, Who art nevertheless the Eternal Wisdom, come and teach me this heavenly prudence….”
“…and in my own life when things seem, as they sometimes do inexplicable and beyond human ken. Oh! come and teach me that the way of prudence is to lie still like a little child in its mother’s arms, not to try to fathom nor to understand, but to say: I am in the Arms of the Eternal Wisdom, Who can do all things, Who loves me with an infinite love and Who is disposing all things sweetly, gently, mercifully for my sake. This is the lesson the Child (Christ) yet unborn would teach.”
Mother St. Paul, Ortus Christi, 1921
Johann Michael Rottmayr, Virgin Sewing, 1712, Mattsee, Stiftsmuseum – From the Mary Expectant with Child Exhibit, Dommuseum Zu Salzburg
“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
La Vierge Enceinte Daniel Hallé
Église paroissiale Saint-Pierre, Saint-Pierre-lès-Nemours
Commenting on the passage where “a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts that You sucked!” (Lk 11:27), the holy doctor (St. Anthony) says
“Blessed, therefore, is the womb of the glorious Virgin who for nine months was worthy to carry all goodness, the highest goodness, the bliss of angels and reconciliation of sinners.”
Elsewhere he writes that “She possessed within Her the compactness of love—for nine months She carried Love Incarnate in Her womb.”
From The Marian Devotion of St. Anthony of Padua
UNBORN WORD of the day 
