The Annunciation by Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio
On May14, 2009 Pope Benedict XVI visited the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Israel. Here is an excerpt from his homily:
“What happened here in Nazareth, far from the gaze of the world, was a singular act of God, a powerful intervention in history, through which a child was conceived who was to bring salvation to the whole world. The wonder of the Incarnation continues to challenge us to open up our understanding to the limitless possibilities of God’s transforming power, of his love for us, his desire to be united with us….
The Spirit who “came upon Mary” (cf. Lk 1:35) is the same Spirit who hovered over the waters at the dawn of Creation (cf. Gen 1:2). We are reminded that the Incarnation was a new creative act. When our Lord Jesus Christ was conceived in Mary’s virginal womb through the power of the Holy Spirit, God united himself with our created humanity, entering into a permanent new relationship with us and ushering in a new Creation.”
The narrative of the Annunciation illustrates God’s extraordinary courtesy (cf. Mother Julian of Norwich, Revelations 77-79). He does not impose himself, he does not simply pre-determine the part that Mary will play in his plan for our salvation: he first seeks her consent. In the original Creation there was clearly no question of God seeking the consent of his creatures, but in this new Creation he does so. Mary stands in the place of all humanity. She speaks for us all when she responds to the angel’s invitation. Saint Bernard describes how the whole court of heaven was waiting with eager anticipation for her word of consent that consummated the nuptial union between God and humanity. The attention of all the choirs of angels was riveted on this spot, where a dialogue took place that would launch a new and definitive chapter in world history. Mary said, “Let it be done to me according to your word.” And the Word of God became flesh.”
“When we reflect on this joyful mystery, it gives us hope, the sure hope that God will continue to reach into our history, to act with creative power so as to achieve goals which by human reckoning seem impossible.”
Pope Benedict, Homily at the Basilica of the Annunciation, May14, 2009
“Vessel of the Preborn Jesus in Watercolor” by Lea Marie Ravotti
Last week, we had a post about St. Louise de Marillac’s chaplet to Unborn Jesus. Amazingly, there is a new apostolate that has just formed with a similar idea to St. Louise’s. A few months ago we became aware of this new apostolate. This apostolate encourages Christians to make rosaries while praying the Joyful Mysteries and meditating on Preborn Jesus. These prayers would be said for mothers with unplanned pregnancies.
How did this originate? Bernie Conklin tells the story:
“It started in the spring of 2009 after completing the 33 day St. Louis de Montfort consecration to Jesus through Mary. A practicing OBGYN I know mentioned to me that a girl was considering an abortion. I told her that I would pray a rosary for the young girl and after seeing her baby on a sonogram, this young mother chose life for her child. Isn’t that a beautiful miracle?
This incident lead me to begin discerning about creating a ministry where cord rosaries, using knots instead of beads, could be made and prayed. Then, the mother with an unplanned pregnancy could be given one of these rosaries as a token of love. The following thoughts kept coming to me, ‘ We meditate on Jesus as the Risen Savior, the Crucified Lord, a Babe in the manger, but not as Preborn Jesus in the womb!’ I thought it would be enlightening if people could visualize Jesus’ presence in Mary’s womb. So as a favor to me for my birthday in July one of my sons sketched the image of Preborn Jesus.”
Here is the image of Preborn Jesus that he drew.
At this point Bernie prayed:
“Lord, this is a beautiful image of You in the womb. It is estimated at about $50.00 to enlarge it onto an 18×24 foam board, which seemed like a lot. If you want this done, I know You’ll open a window.”
And here is how our Lord answered her prayer:
“I had cleaned this patient’s teeth a few times before, but on this day in July when I was done with his cleaning, he placed money in my hand and complimented my work. Well, you certainly don’t tip your hygienist, but after a few rounds of back and forth he curled my hand around the money and left, yelling, ‘Merry Christmas’ as he went out the door of our office.
As my eyes fell upon the $50 bill, I recalled my prayer from the night before…‘If you want this done, I know You’ll open a window.’
Of course I immediately had the image of the Preborn Jesus enlarged and since then it has been at pregnancy centers, the ‘Truth Booth’ at the Butler Farm Show, an abortion clinic in Pittsburgh and at church functions.”
She adds: ” Presently, we are making the variegated pink and blue cord rosaries with a medal of Baby Jesus attached. As the rosary is made, the ‘Joyful Mysteries’ of the rosary are prayed. Meditation on the image of Preborn Jesus in the womb is central to this devotion. The rosary is a gift to the mother as well as her child.”
Recently Lea Ravotti, an artist from Pittsburgh, completed the watercolor after seeing the original sketch that Bernie’s son drew. They have worked together to distribute pamphlets that encourage others to take up this devotion. The pamphlets are beautifully illustrated with both images. Also included in the pamphlet is a poem from Preborn Jesus to the mother with child.
If you want to obtain one of these pamphlets you can email Preborn Jesus Ministry at:
PrebornJesusMinistry@zoominternet.net
or visit their website
Today, Monday March 15 is the feast day of St. Louise de Marillac. In an October 10, 2009 post entitled St. Louise de Marillac and Unborn Jesus – we talked about the chaplet that St. Louise developed to honor Unborn Jesus. In a book published in 1884 by Benziger Brothers, Life of Mademoiselle Le Gras (Louise de Marillac) Foundress of the Sisters of Charity, we are given a little more insight into how she came up with this idea.
“What adds to the interest of these scattered leaves is a number of familiar details which people might find too minute, but which the family would gather up and preserve as relics. They reveal, among other things, divers practices of daily piety suggested to Mile. Le Gras (St. Louise de Marillac) by her increasing devotion to the hidden life of our Lord, and principally His sojourn in the womb of His Mother. ‘ Hearing this mysterious state spoken of,’ she writes in the year 1642, a little before Advent, ‘ I applied myself to it with deep reflection, and a new light was given me with a desire to honor this mystery by some appropriate prayers.’ It was at this time that she made the resolution of saying a rosary composed of nine grains (beads), in honor of the nine months preceding the birth of the Infant God; and to encourage in her Daughters a taste for this holy exercise, she prepared for them in a little box as many chaplets as were necessary for each to be given one, to be distributed after her death.”
As we pointed out in St. Louise and the Unborn Christ Child she never did distribute those rosaries because:
It seems that St. Vincent had agreed to this devotional practice three years earlier but at this point he asked her to discontinue it. Even though St. Louise continued to believe that this was a devotion that Our Lady wanted her to practice – in holy obedience to St. Vincent she discontinued it.
She alludes to this in a letter: “I feel that I must tell your Charity (St. Vincent) that I was and still am sorry at having to abandon those little prayers because I believe that the Blessed Virgin wanted me to render her this small tribute of gratitude. But with her, I console myself by offering my renunciation to her and by resolving to please her in some other way and to serve her with greater fervor….” Louise de Marillac, Spiritual Writings, L.304
Later this week we would like to present to you a new apostolate in Pennsylvania called Preborn Jesus Ministry. This new apostolate is promoting praying the joyful mysteries of the rosary to honor preborn Jesus and to pray for the unborn.
John Paul II the Great left the Church a vast legacy of abundant fruits! One of these incalculable contributions is his profound and extensive teaching about ‘Theology of the Body’. Beginning with the Book of Genesis, Chapter One, in September 1979, he began what turned out to be an extraordinary collection of teachings which are destined to bless the Church for centuries to come.
Here is one quote which is particularly relevant to the subject of this blog:
“The fact that theology also considers the body should not astonish or surprise anyone who is aware of the mystery and reality of the Incarnation. Theology is that science whose subject is divinity. Through the fact that the word of God became flesh, the body entered theology through the main door.” (April 2, 1980; #4)
Indeed! And Christ Himself commented on this fact immediately as it occurred as we read in Hebrews:
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired,
but a body hast thou prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God,’
as it is written of me in the roll of the book.” Heb 10:5-7
You will find the above reading in the Mass for The Annunciation of the Lord on March 25th. Pope Paul VI commented on this passage from Hebrews, calling it the “fundamental offering that the Incarnate Word made to the Father when he entered the world” and St Alphonsus de Liguori, a Doctor of the Church, comments on this passage explaining that Christ spoke these words “immediately” (in other words, at the first cell stage of His life; His conception).
Christ acknowledges that He has received, as a gift from His Father in heaven, His body… and when He says “I have come to do thy will, O God”, He implies His own acceptance of and satisfaction with the Body received, and explicitly states His own holy intention to unite the gift of His body and soul to the holy and glorious purposes of His Father. So, an incipient theology of the body comes from the “lips” of Christ Zygote, Christ Embryo. This is a very positive view of one’s body and soul, as a gift bursting with potential and purpose. By the fact of His conception and “speaking”, we see the unity of His Person with His body, and by the fact of His “offering”, we see that this fundamental act is an act of holy love.
Further, frequently throughout His life on earth our Lord repeatedly re-stated this offering of His life and Himself to the holy will of His Father – a whole and complete offering, which includes His body being offered for the benefit of others. The Incarnation – viewed as a loving offering – teaches us the simple truth that God is Love.
Friday, March 5th, 2010
RADIO INTERVIEW
with Al Kresta at Ave Maria Radio
George Peate, M.T.S., will be interviewed about his book, Unborn Jesus Our Hope this Friday, March 5th by Al Kresta who broadcasts with Ave Maria Radio.
The show airs from 4-6 Eastern Standard Time and George will be interviewed at the beginning of the program from 4 – 4:30 pm Eastern Standard Time (1-1:30 pm Pacific). The Al Kresta show is also carried by EWTN radio and Sirius radio network.
LATER IN THE SHOW, CARDINAL ARINZE WILL BE LIVE IN THE STUDIO WITH AL KRESTA – IT WILL BE A FASCINATING INTERVIEW.
To find a radio station near you that carries this program or to listen to the show on your computer click here.
Maurice Denis. The Visitation. 1894. Oil on canvas. 103 x 93 cm. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.
The following story was told by Mother Agnes Mary Donovan, superior general of the Sisters of Life in her Dec. 10, 2009 address to the Nothing More Beautiful Congress entitled Witness to the Grace of Jesus Christ.
After recounting the story of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth Mother Agnes reflects:
“How did Elizabeth know that Mary was carrying the unborn Jesus?” our founder would ask. “Remember how Mary had exchanged her word for the Living Word, the Son of God, who would be conceived beneath her heart? That same Living Word reached out and touched Elizabeth.
“She hadn’t received any advance warning that Mary was coming, no telephone call or telegram, and there was no way she could have known that Mary was carrying the Son of God. But Elizabeth did know – she knew that Mary was the Mother of God because the infant in her womb leapt for joy.”
That’s the power of the Christ child within the womb of Mary. It radiated outwardly from that womb and penetrated the womb of Elizabeth, purifying John the Baptist as you and I are purified of original sin at Baptism.
At this point in the address, Mother Agnes goes on to recount a true story of a young pregnant woman whom they ministered to:
Let me tell you a recent story which is nearly a present day recapitulation of this New Testament event. As part of the 40 Days for Life, Janet and her friends, local faithful Hispanic women, witnessed before an abortion mill in Stamford, Conn., each week on their way to work.
A young woman, Maria, who came to the clinic for an abortion appointment, came over mistakenly to speak with one of them. In the midst of the conversation they realized that this woman did not want an abortion, but without support for herself and her child, she had surrendered in desperation.
In the midst of the conversation, Janet and her friends realized that they needed to leave to get to work and called the Sisters of Life to ask them to continue where they had left off and to help link this young vulnerable pregnant woman with the resources she would need.
Our only Spanish-speaking sister was on an errand away from the convent that morning and other sisters who were home when the call came in went hurriedly to pick her up, and to bring her to the convent so that they might talk to get to know Maria and to understand her needs.
Just that week, in the entrance foyer of our convent and retreat house a beautiful stained-glass window of Our Lady of Guadalupe, had been installed to mark the fifth anniversary of our retreat mission at Villa Maria Guadalupe. Our Italian sister from Brooklyn, launched into the use of her limited Italian, and another sister broke out Spanish she hadn’t used since college telling the young woman in literal and poor Spanish: “This is the home of your mother.”
They continued communicating using the only language they all shared – the universal language of love.
After some time our Brooklyn sister remembered the Spanish Bible in the library, and returned with it encouraging the young woman to read the story of the Visitation – Mary’s visit to Elizabeth following the Annunciation of the angel and conceiving the Christ Child.
As the young mother read the story silently to herself, tears poured from her eyes as she exclaimed: “That is what happened to me as I looked at the window of my mother. The baby leaped in my womb.”
These are pictures of the stained glass window of Our Lady of Guadalupe,that was installed to mark the fifth anniversary of the Sister’s of Life retreat mission at Villa Maria Guadalupe.
The following article was written by Veteran Rockford pro-life witness Kevin Rilott. It was first published in the Rockford Pro-life Initiative. Some of you may recall the shocking video that detailed the happenings at the Rockford Abortion Facility.
One of the saddest lines in all of human history is “and there was no room for them in the inn.” Humanity could not find a place for it’s God and savior in the world that God Himself created.
In our city of Rockford we say weekly to approximately twenty of God’s children “there is no room for you in the inn of our hearts” and these twenty children’s lives are brutally destroyed at the Northern Illinois Woman’s Center. We again reject the gift of God’s life and love.
During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Luke 1:39-44
When we pray at the Rockford abortion mill we join the Blessed Virgin Mary as she visited her cousin Elizabeth by serving those who need us. We can be the cause of these forgotten and betrayed children’s joy as Mary and Jesus were for John the Baptist. Every aborted child will know when they reach the heart of God that they have experienced human love on this earth. Someone cared enough to stand in the cold and pray for them, plead for their lives, and offer love and support to their mothers.
If here and now we stand publicly in solidarity with the unborn and their mothers in the endless eternity that all will face we will know every time we have prayed for and loved God’s precious infants in the womb we gave them cause to “leap for joy” in their mothers womb because they have experienced the love and presence of their Christian family at the place of their death in Rockford.
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” Matthew 2:16-18
Jesus was threatened with a “furious” attempt to kill Him when he was still in the womb and an infant. Herod mocked God and murdered innocent children and we see the same “furious” assult on God and innocent human life at the Rockford abortion mill with countless hate filed displays and signs mocking God and the murder of well over 50,000 of God’s children.
When Jesus and Mary were in danger St. Joseph listened to the Angel when he was told, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” We join St. Joseph in His love and protection for an innocent child facing death and His mother every time we pray at the Rockford abortion mill. Countless times the prayers and presence of Christians at the Northern Illinois woman’s Center have been able to “take the child and his mother and flee to safety” away from a place where the city of Rockford kills it’s children.
This Christmas and as long as this killing center is open in Rockford please join Mary, Joseph, and many of your Christian sisters and brothers as we pray for and do what we can to protect these “holy innocents” facing death at the hands of our culture of death.
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
I have been really looking forward to being born in Bethlehem – just as Micah prophesied. I know my parents have been anxious. I wanted to take the same nine month journey in the womb that other unborn children take, in solidarity with ALL unborn children (and their mothers). Its all about love really…and I know my parents love me with a love beyond all telling. And my Father so loved the world that He sent me, His only Son… This will be a sign of great joy! But there will be a shadow – the shadow of bad politicians and bad judges who should know better – they have sent their forerunner Herod to destroy me, but they will all fail! My birth will signal a great victory for Life and Love!
Meditation
“The sun sets on the twenty-fourth of December on the low roofs of Bethlehem, and gleams with wan gold on the steep of its stony ridge. The stars come out one by one. Heaven is empty of angels, but they show not their bright presences up among the stars. Rude men are jostling God in the alleys of that Oriental village, and shutting their doors in his Mother’s face.
Time itself, as if it were sentient, seems to get tremulous and eager, as though the hand of its angel shook as it draws on towards midnight. Bethlehem is at that moment the veritable centre of God’s creation. Still the minutes pass. The plumage of the night grows deeper and darker. How purple is the dome of heaven above those pastoral slopes duskily spotted with recumbent sheep, and how silently the stars drift down the southern steep of the midnight sky! Yet a few moments, and the Eternal Word will come.”
Rev. Frederick W. Faber, Bethlehem, Chapter Two, page 97.
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
The Virgin and St. Joseph Refused Shelter in Bethlehem by Jan Massys 1558
We showed up at the Inn in Bethlehem but there was no room. The Innkeeper turned us away – my mother (nine months pregnant) and me, a little ‘preborn’ baby! I was rejected by humanity, so we sought shelter with animals, rodents and insects in the cave manger near the fields. I forgave this Innkeeper because he didn’t know what he was doing. Everyone should be more welcoming to pregnant mothers and unborn babies. Lk 2:6-7
Meditation
We come now to another aspect of the Unborn Christ Child’s solidarity with many unborn children of our day, His rejection in His time of need. Caesar wanted a census taken throughout the Roman Empire for utilitarian purposes concerning power and wealth. Everyone’s lives got caught up in his imperial desire, including Joseph of Nazareth and his family. Mary was probably in her ninth month when they made this evangelical journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
According to scripture, and a star in the sky, Bethlehem is where the Messiah would be born. But the welcome the pregnant woman and her husband received in the City of David was disappointing. All that scripture relates is that Mary’s baby was placed “in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Lk 2:7). For two thousand years Christians have wrestled with this scene and it always seems to spell ‘rejection’ loud and clear. Rejection by the local inn keeper, implied rejection by unmentioned relatives in the vicinity and rejection by humanity in general, since they end up with animals (and angels) marginalized in a manger of rejection.
But who is rejected? A pregnant woman and her unborn child! Mary and Unborn Jesus are rejected. The Unborn Christ Child is rejected before He is even born. He shares with hundreds of millions of unborn children through the years, rejection before birth. A sad, unborn solidarity in human rejection. But, of course, baby Jesus had loving parents and was born. The birth occurs in subdued seclusion in a manger with animals, probably some rodents, lots of insects, and so on. Welcome Savior, into our human community.
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
Census at Bethlehem by Pieter Bruegel (1566)
The Journey with Joseph
Setting the flask of water down,
he gave his arm to Mary,
and gently, cautiously,
helped her up.
Then her smile…
for she had remembered…
and now held thoughtfully
the swaddling clothes.
Together they had prepared….
her hands moving deftly to weave them;
he, cutting, plying, sanding wood… a cradle crib.
Now, fastening water flask, a little sack of food
bread, a few figs, he sensed
the sadness of her smile for him; they’d leave
without the crib.
One glance back; he untied the beast of burden,
privileged to carry her, and he began the psalm
“My heart is ready…Lord.”;
their prayer of trust,
their prayer of assurance.
Hoofbeats clicked the rhythmic clod
for God’s prophet had readied them…
‘twas Bethlehem.
Mi- cah; Mi-cah;
Town – of – Da – vid
yet…. was BETHLEHEM prepared?
(Sister M. Linus Coyle PBVM)
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
Mary and Joseph carved by Jacques Bourgault
The prophet Micah had prophesied as to where I would be born. So when the news came that Caesar had called for a worldwide census and my mother and adoptive father realized that we would all have to travel to Bethlehem, they rejoiced, knowing that God’s ancient promises were about to be fulfilled. Here we are on the way to Bethlehem. This was the third long journey my poor mother had to take while pregnant – she had a much harder time of it than I did. (Lk 2:1-5)
Meditation
We can picture Mary, now in the final trimester of her pregnancy, perhaps working at home or on an errand out in the town center, when she suddenly hears the news ‑ a census decree by Caesar requiring Joseph and her to travel to Bethlehem. A wave of joy and relief breaks upon her soul as she sees God intervening not only in her life, not only in the history of her own people, but with one universal sweep of His Almighty Hand in the history and destiny of the entire world! She is in awe, realizing that yet another prophecy is to be fulfilled ‑ not abstractly or disinterestedly, as some “head count” might be ‑ but intimately in her own life, in her own person and body and family, in the city of David.
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in travail has brought forth;
then the rest of his brethren shall return
to the people of Israel. Micah 5:2‑3
The words of this prophecy could now be more fully appreciated by four Israelites; Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah. Particularly the more obscure words ‑ “whose origin is from of old, from ancient days” now held a remarkable meaning. God’s Son, eternal like God His “Father”; together their origin reaches back through time, beyond time’s beginning, into some old ancient unknown “days” before days were defined or numbered, before the earth existed. Eternally uncreated! (As the Nicene Creed states: “…eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father.”)
Based on her astonishing experiences thus far and those words of the prophet Micah, Mary understood that her pregnancy (and unborn child) was different from all other pregnancies: a constant mystery of faith to her. This pregnancy of her’s had been the subject of prophecy, explained in scripture; angels had come to earth to reveal its holy hidden meanings. Her baby, in some sense existed before King David was conceived, before Abraham was called. As her now unborn child would explain it thirty years hence: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (Jn 8:58) From Unborn Jesus Our Hope
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth and got ready for my birth. Like most parents they prepared their home to receive a new baby but they were also being prepared for the unique mission that God had set before them. As St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, “Mary and Joseph needed to be instructed concerning Christ’s birth before He was born, because it devolved on them to show reverence to the child conceived in the womb, and to serve Him even before He was born.”
Meditation
“We should like to penetrate into those remaining months, which Mary and Joseph spent together, before the birth of the Holy Child. Scripture is silent about them, but it is not difficult for a sanctified imagination to picture something of what was taking place…
The house at Nazareth was in very deed God’s Sanctuary, containing the Altar of Repose, where the Savior of the world was resting. Angels were in constant adoration before their King. The faithful consisted of Mary and Joseph, whose thought and conversation could be about nothing else but the Child Who was coming into the world. And who shall measure the graces and blessings, which that Child was showering upon Mary and her faithful spouse, during those months of waiting and prayer and holy converse,while they planned and arranged with such care and minuteness, as parents are wont to do, every detail connected with the birth of the firstborn?” Mother St. Paul, Ortus Christi
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father…And from His fullness have we all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:14,16).
Detail on fresco of Virgin Mary “of the Sign”: she is carrying Jesus in her womb found in The Mezquita of Cordoba, a Roman Catholic cathedral and former mosque, situated in the Andalusian city of Córdoba, Spain.
Meditation
“I put myself on the side of childhood – on the side of the assassinated child, Abel as well as on the side of the victorious child David; of the child Joseph who reigned in Egypt and of the Hebrew children who sang their joy in a furnace and were subjected to lions and flames. I am above all on the side of the Infant God who promised happiness to the meek.” From The Son of Man by François Mauriac who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, 1952
“When He came into the world as a tiny unborn baby, Jesus placed Himself squarely “on the side of childhood”. He demonstrated His solidarity with all unborn children, and later with children at every stage of life. Would that all were pledged to be “on the side of childhood” ‑ with the Infant God ‑ throughout all of its many stages, from conception and early life in the mother’s womb to late adolescence when the child prepares to go out on his own. If the world were truly on the side of childhood, we would live in a much more innocent and receptive world.” From Unborn Jesus Our Hope
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
I am now beginning the third trimester of my development in the womb. Here is a 14th or 15th century sculpture discovered in a German Cistercian convent (founded in 1248 A.D.). See how the sculptor emphasized that I was a distinct Person by hollowing out the womb area so devout Christians could see me before birth and have their hearts lifted up in thanksgiving for the mystery of the Incarnation. It’s amazing that people living 600 years ago could demonstrate such profound respect for my prenatal life and yet many people in the 21st century have no respect at all for my life in the womb of my mother.
Meditation
“What was the essence of His (Christ’s) prayer (during those nine months)? What was it which lay behind all? It was the intention. And what was that? We have meditated on it many times: “Behold I come to do Thy Will O my God.” (Hebrews 10:7)
Naturally there are many different ways of doing that Will, and many different degrees in the perfection with which it is done; and that is why we are quite safe in picturing to ourselves Jesus in the womb of His mother forgetting no single detail; or perhaps a truer picture would be a union with His Father so perfect that there was no need to talk about what was so evident.
Now let us apply this to myself and I will find that instead of being discouraging , it is most encouraging, instead of making my prayers harder it will make them far easier.
What is the intention in my prayers? Is it not to please God and to do His Will? …Now let me see how this works out in practice. I pay a visit to our Lord, perhaps I am too tired to think about Him, I may even sleep in His Presence; perhaps I am so busy that I find it impossible to keep away distracting thoughts…the time is up and I go, thinking, perhaps, what is the good of paying Him a visit like that?
There is great good even in that visit which all the same might have been so much more perfect. What was my intention in paying it? Certainly to please Him. Then I have pleased Him. It was a pleasure to Him to see me come in and sit with Him, even though I was occupied with my own concerns most of the time. We are too much taken up with asking how we say our prayers, but the important question is why do we say them.
To go and sit in His presence because He is lonely or because I am tired and I would rather sit with Him than anyone else is prayer even if I say nothing. What God is doing for me is of far more importance to my soul than what I am doing for God; and all the time that I am there, whether I am thinking of Him or not, He is impressing His image on my soul…”
Mother St. Paul, Ortus Christi, pp 92-93
Filed under: Adoption, Advent, Biblical Reflections, Evangelium Vitae, Unborn Jesus
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
The Dream of St. Joseph (with unborn Christ Child) by Francisco Rizi (1608-1685)
My mother was betrothed to Joseph the carpenter, but he was unsure of what to do about me. Here is a picture of him sleeping and an angel of the Lord explaining everything to him in a dream. You can see my mother and I in the background. Joseph awoke from the dream and adopted me while I was still an unborn baby! (Mt 1:18-25)
Meditation
In Joseph’s midnight angelic revelation John Paul II sees Joseph’s “personal Annunciation” and the moment of his “Divine election….His place in the history of salvation is defined”. The Pope, continuing his observations, points out that the response of Joseph was exemplary: “’When Joseph woke from sleep ‑ we read in Matthew ‑ he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him’ (Mt 1:24). In these few words there is everything. The whole description of Joseph’s life and the full characteristic of his holiness: ‘He did’. Joseph, the one we know from the Gospel, is a man of action.”
Pope John Paul II, General Audience, March 19, 1980
“In these days of Advent, the liturgy invites us to contemplate in a special way the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, who lived with a unique intensity the time of waiting and preparation for the birth of Jesus. Today, I want to direct our gaze toward the figure of St. Joseph… The one who gives the most importance to the adoptive father of Jesus is the Evangelist Matthew, emphasizing that thanks to him, the Child was legally introduced into the lineage of David fulfilling the Scriptures, in which the Messiah was prophesied as the ’son of David’.”
Pope Benedict, Angelus address, December 18, 2005
It pleased God to bring the beauty of human adoption into the heart of the Incarnation mystery. Adoption is a noble institution and has been a major theme of the Pro-Life message, but it was God’s idea and He relayed it to us. So we can find here another experience of solidarity, that is, a solidarity between God the Father and adoptive parents – His blessing upon their commitment to embrace a little one and, like Joseph, raise the child to the best of their abilities to fullness of life.
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
Mary Contemplating (click here to find out about this design)
My mother returned home to her parents and to Joseph. This was a time when she opened her heart to me. So often she told me of her love for me and of her concern for Joesph. Oh, how I opened my Heart to my beloved mother. And of course, I was praying to my Father for Joseph and my Father would soon be sending an angel to announce His plans to him.
Meditation
Here is a wonderful quote from Mother St. Paul (1861-1940) about Mary’s life with Jesus during her pregnancy.
“She was ever holding colloquies with her God within her, pondering things over in her heart, that is, talking them over with Him from Whom she had no secrets and between Whom and her soul she put no obstacles.
Her life was spent with Him; whatever her duties might be, everything was done with Him, which is prayer. If duties or conservation demanded all her attention for a while, did it matter? No, for He was there all the same. He, in her, carried on the blessed converse with His Father; there was never any separation between Mary and the Blessed Fruit of her womb, Jesus. She would come back to Him…
…When we think of Jesus praying for nine months to His Father, when we think of Mary’s nine months colloquy with Jesus, we begin to think that there is something wrong about our methods of prayer, that they need re-modeling.
Let us try to understand something of what His prayer was. We think of Him, and quite rightly, as talking over with His Father all His plans for man’s salvation, praying for each individual thing that would be connected with it through all time. We love to think that He prayed particularly for each one of us.“
From Ortus Christi:Meditations for Advent (1921) by Mother St. Paul
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
Mary Taking Leave of Elizabeth and Zacharias by Lorenzo Salimben
My mother took leave of cousin Elizabeth, Zacharias and newborn John. It had been a wonderful visit but she felt it was time to leave now that John had been born. She wanted to get back to her life in Nazareth and Joseph.
Meditation
“It seems not unlikely that, during the course of this prolonged journey by foot or donkey back to Nazareth , Mary’s thoughts would wander to Messianic scripture passages ‑ searchingly, expectantly. Granted, we can not know the exact nature of Mary’s thoughts and reflections in these circumstances, but we know she loved the scriptures and knew them well. They were alive for her! She was living out age‑old prophecies. That is, she was physically, maternally linked to the One in her womb fulfilling all prophecy! To guide our reflections let’s consider some of the Messianic texts from the Prophet Isaiah which were widely known throughout Israel.
Her mind would have naturally gravitated to chapters 7‑12 of Isaiah which form a distinct section ‑ the Book of Immanuel ‑ in which we find repeated references to the Messiah. Within this “Book of Immanuel”, there are a number of references to the Messiah as a baby and small child. This unique prophetic perspective on the Child Messiah would have fascinated Mary, and should be of great interest to our modern world. Let’s consider some of these verses:
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14 (NAB)
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”…. Isaiah 9:6
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. Isaiah 11:6
Isaiah, under the influence of the Spirit of God, focuses on a “child” (a son) who is the Messiah and more, he is Immanuel (God with us), Mighty God and Prince of Peace. And in some real way, this “little child shall lead” us. Not by mere coincidence has the Church come to love these prophetic passages with a tender passion. The Church sees the incarnational mystery revealed here in beauty, hope and peace.
Now if Isaiah was attracted by this “child”, Mary was completely mesmerized. A shiver probably ran up her spine whenever she recalled the words: “…the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and name him Immanuel”. For Mary was the virgin chosen by God to fulfill this prophecy and her unborn baby was the promised One. But all Christians should share in that same prophetic shiver of anticipation at hearing “to us a child is born” and “to us a son is given”. To us Unborn Jesus was sent as a sign of hope ‑ and for every vulnerable unborn child: He is their only Hope.
Curiously, in this same passage from Isaiah we are once again given His “name”: “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”! Actually these four words speak to the identity of this most special Child. Mary, the pregnant mother, would have meditated on these words often, perhaps recalling as she did, the singular Divine titles given to her Son by the Angel Gabriel, Elizabeth, Zechariah, and yes, even by the great prophet Isaiah! These witnesses unfold the Divine Identity of the tiny Person she carries within her womb. She was overcome by this reality ‑ peacefully overwhelmed by the Prince of Peace.”
Taken from Unborn Jesus Our Hope by George Peate
UNBORN WORD of the day 