There is a very worthwhile apostolate called One More Soul. On their website they describe themselves as “a non-profit organization dedicated to spreading the truth about the blessings of children and the harms of contraception.”
They have many outstanding pamphlets and DVD’s on different subjects – chastity, infertility/fertility, contraception etc. Recently they came out with a pamphlet about the Unborn Christ Child.
The 12 page booklet entitled The Life of Jesus in the Womb – A Meditation and a Prayer by Kathleen Curren Sweeney is a loving and beautiful tribute to the pre-born Christ Child. In this booklet, the author describes the ordinary growth that each child in the womb experiences but that Our Lord himself sanctified during those wonderful nine months. We see Christ being prepared for the work of Salvation. “The whole destiny of the world is held in your tiny form.” (p.4)
Throughout the booklet, Kathleen Sweeney has a prayerful love and understanding of the Pre-born Christ’s solidarity with all pre-born babies especially those who are most vulnerable today. This is a perfect pamphlet for Respect Life groups to order for their parishes. To order this booklet click here.
Kathleen Sweeney has worked for National Right to Life for many years. In 2001, she began the master’s degree in theology at the John Paul II Institute and completed it in 2004. Since then, she has been writing articles on the theology of marriage and family, bioethics and pro-life topics. She is now working only as a free-lance writer. An article she wrote on the Holy Family will be published by the Homiletic and Pastoral review this fall.
Stop the Birth Control Mandate Petition
My youngest daughter goes to a Catholic University on the east coast. I would not call this college a conservative Catholic institution. It is like many other Catholic institutions – some conservative and some liberal elements can be found there.
I also know quite a bit about health insurance - so a couple of years ago I went through the health care plan that this college provides for its students. It took some digging – wading through the paperwork online etc. but I was happily surprised that the health plan they offered did not cover contraceptives. In fact I was overjoyed by this fact.
Recently, as most of you have heard the Obama Administration (with the help of renegade Catholic Kathleen Sebilieus) has found a way to force Catholic institutions to cover contraceptives/many of which are also abortifacient – through the new health care legislation.
Our Bishops have asked us to pray and fast as well as to call our Legislators and other government officials to protest this attack on Catholics and the Catholic Church. Here is an article about this recent decision.
Catholic Bishop Blasts Obama Admin. for Contraception Mandate
This is just one more way that this administration is attacking religious institutions and people. Here are a couple of other decisions that have been made by this administration that directly attacks Christians.
Feb. 2011 – The Obama administration rescinded most of a federal regulations designed to protect those who refuse to provide care they find objectionable on moral or religious grounds. Here is an article on this topic:
Pro-Life Groups Upset by Obama’s Weakening Conscience Rights
Another article on this decision at Life News. Obama Admin Weakens Protections for Pro-Life Medical Workers
September 2011 – “The Obama administration through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ceased funding for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) work with victims of sex slavery and trafficking. The USCCB had been granted this funding since 2006 and …A Washington Post investigation found that USCCB lost the grant competition despite having received higher scores of effectiveness than other grant competitors.” Why – because the USCCB did not refer those they helped to get abortion or contraception.
Here are 2 articles on this topic.
Obama Administration Puts Politics Before Trafficking Victims?
Anti-Catholic bias by Obama administration debated at House hearing
Finally I would recommend the following article that summarizes the attack by this adminstration on Catholics.
Obama turns his back on Catholics by Michael Gerson
The Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate have this beautiful icon at this location
Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel
Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate
199 Colonel Brown Rd
Griswold CT 06351
An explanation of this icon is found on their website.
“This icon of the Mother of God is called “The Helper in Childbirth“. The first prototypes of this icon appeared in Western Russia, in the early 19th century. It was made for a very practical and urgent need – the difficulties in conceiving and giving birth.
A variation of the ancient and famous icon of Our Lady of the Sign, this icon differs by showing the Mother of God folding her hands in prayer over her heart, instead of holding them outstretched to the sides. Under the protective arch of her hands, we can see the newly conceived Christ Child, emanating from inside her womb in an almond shaped-halo of light. To show He is the “Logos“, or Word of God incarnate, He holds a small white scroll. She is filled and radiant with light from inside.”
To read more about this icon and the Franciscan Friars click here
Here are 3 other icons in this tradition. Click on each icon – to see full view.
This Sunday at Mass we heard a deep teaching of Jesus about forgiveness; Mt 18: 21-35. But look at how it all starts: “Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
This is a great question! Sure, some sophisticated know-it-alls may choose to dismiss Peter’s question and demean him, but to me this was a real and legitimate question to pose to the Lord. And of course, the answer was even better, much better!!
So today, Peter’s successor the Pope, and the Bishops as well, ask God many questions and listen attentively for His wonderful guiding responses. And the laity of course prays for our Pope and Bishops, to support them in their prayers and listening before God.
A few years ago I was quite surprised when I re-read the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, issued by Vatican Council II. There was a reference that appeared several times which was at once surprising but very profound and beautiful:
“Guiding the Church in the way of all truth (cf. Jn 16:13) and unifying her in communion and in the works of ministry, he bestows upon her varied hierarchic and charismatic gifts, and in this way directs her; and he adorns her with his fruits (cf. Eph 4:11-12; I Cor 12:4; Gal 5:22).” LG #4 Hierarchic gifts – given to the apostles and their successors for the good of the Church!
Which brings us back to Peter. It is critical to ask God the right questions, to persevere in prayer seeking the truth. Our Popes and Bishops do this. (No they haven’t been perfect – just human, but generally with wonderful results.) A great testimony to this reality of the Church’s life is the solid defense given by the Church on behalf of unborn children.
From the 1st century A.D., when the Didache states: “You shall not put a child to death by abortion nor kill it once it is born…”, to Vatican II (Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, #51), to The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae, written by John Paul II), the Church has been guided by the Holy Spirit to teach soundly on respect for human life, right from the moment of conception.
But this guidance came through prayer, asking God the right questions, like Peter did 2,000 years ago, and like Benedict XVI and his fellow Bishops do today. Last Advent, 2010, Pope Benedict introduced a profound new tradition on the eve of the first Sunday of Advent; he celebrated a Vigil for the Unborn, linking it to Advent when we contemplate Christ in the womb, about to born. Surely this too was the fruit of prayer, of seeking God’s inspiration and guidance. Thanks be to God!
Filed under: Pro-life
Robert Anning Bell - Mary in the House of Elizabeth (Mary and Elizabeth sewing and mending during three month visit!)
America the Beautiful is one of my favorite patriotic songs because it gracefully weaves together noble religious sentiments with a humble pure patriotism. One of my favorite lines in the song is: “God mend thine ev’ry flaw. Confirm thy soul with self-control, Thy liberty in law.”
As the saying goes, “Nobody’s perfect”… same too with organizations, groups, families, communities, nations. America has flaws. People of good will need to try and ‘mend them’.
But one flaw surely stands out – as more than a mere “flaw”; abortion, virtually on demand (that is, no reason or rationale need be given), literally up to the ninth month.
The current law of the land foisted upon us by neglectful judges is an “unjust law”; more than a flaw! When we sing the prayer line “God mend thine ev’ry flaw”, we should remember our greatest flaw; an unjust law.
The hollow and meaningless slogan “freedom of choice” is a ‘supposed liberty’ which needs to be curtailed by a just law.
The soul of America is sorely weakened, in large part by the deadly wound of killing its own unborn children. Its soul will be strengthened and confirmed, when a just law in the land protects the innocent unborn in the womb.
Sing and pray for unborn souls and just laws!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev’ry gain divine.
He would be a disciple of Jesus… “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mk 9.24). Let us call him “the disciple of human struggle”, the disciple of our human weakness and striving. His words were spoken directly to Jesus in a moment of desperation.
God is All Good, we are good in small measures and irregularly. God is omniscient, we are ignorant and confused much of the time. God is omnipotent, we are consummate weakness. God is Love, we are self-centered much of the time, we like sometimes, we love imperfectly. But, “I believe Lord; help my unbelief!”
This is a cry of hope. “I hope Lord; help my hopelessness.” A cry for strength. “I have courage Lord, help my discouragement!”
And so, when a despondent, discouraged pregnant woman considers having her unborn child aborted, humanity senses her anguish though we have not walked in her steps. We sense her confusion and weakness. We sense too the prayer that she should try to make. “I believe Lord; help my unbelief! I am born Lord; but help my unborn!”
God help us to help her and in our world’s time of need to make this our prayer too. “We believe Lord; help our unbelief! We are born Lord; help our unborn!”
Filed under: Biblical Reflections, Pro-life, Quotes from Great Christians, Saints
I recognize that not everyone will like this picture and I myself used it with some hesitancy. But it highlights a theme that quite a few saints and spiritual authors have written about which actually seems very relevant in our time (because of abortion), namely that Christ’s time in the womb was a time of suffering for our sins. Here are four quotes for our Lenten meditation:
Salvation to all that will is nigh;
That All, which always is all everywhere,
Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,
Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,
Lo, faithful virgin, yields Himself to lie
In prison, in thy womb… John Donne, The Annunciation
“The third characteristic then of the obedience of Christ is that it was tried by suffering and humiliations. To accomplish the Will of His heavenly Father, the Infant Christ, with the full use of every faculty, consented to be enclosed for nine months in the dark prison of His Mother’s womb. Other infants feel not this privation as they have not the use of reason, but Christ had the use of reason and must have dreaded the confinement in the narrow womb, even of her whom He had chosen to be His Mother.
Through obedience to His Father, and from the love He bore to man, He overcame this dread, and the Church says: ‘When Thou didst take upon Thee to deliver Man, Thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb.’ Again, our dear Lord needed no small amount of patience and humility, to assume the manners and the weaknesses of a child, when He was not only wiser than Solomon, but was the Man ‘in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.’ ” St. Robert Bellarmine, The Seven Words on the Cross
“Consider the painful life that Jesus Christ led in the womb of his Mother, and the long‑confined and dark imprisonment that he suffered there for nine months. Other infants are indeed in the same state; but they do not feel the miseries of it, because they do not know them. But Jesus knew them well, because from the first moment of his life he had the perfect use of reason….The womb of Mary was therefore, to our Redeemer a voluntary prison, because it was a prison of love. But it was also not an unjust prison: he was indeed innocent himself, but he had offered himself to pay our debts and to satisfy for our crimes. It was therefore only reasonable for the divine justice to keep him thus imprisoned, and so begin to exact from him the due satisfaction.
Behold the state to which the Son of God reduces himself for the love of men, he deprives himself of his liberty and puts himself in chains, to deliver us from the chains of hell.” St. Alphonsus de Liguori,The Incarnation, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ
“He was filled with compassion for all the miseries of creation, and this never left Him henceforward; and most of all did He feel for sin, the greatest and the truest of our miseries, and He distinctly and separately pitied the sins of each one of us in particular.
…He surrendered Himself as a prisoner in His Mother s womb, for crime, for debt, and as a prisoner of war, as if He were a delinquent threefold by all those three liabilities. He only left His prison to suffer and to expiate, and it seems as though He loved it so, that He repeats His state of imprisonment in the Blessed Sacrament.” Father Faber, The Blessed Sacrament
When I think of Christ suffering in the womb for our sins it gives me great hope. Hope that He has obtained for us a special grace during His time of suffering in the womb – a grace that will enable us to overcome abortion in our time.
“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.”
Quote from: Dr. Jerome LeJeune (the great pro-life scientist who discovered the cause of Down Syndrome)
Filed under: Pro-life
On Saturday, January 22, 2011, our sponsoring organization Unborn Word Alliance had an exhibitor booth at the 7th annual WALK FOR LIFE WEST COAST which took place in San Francisco. An estimated 40,000 people participated in the Walk.
The Walk began at 11:00 a.m., but at 8:00 a.m. there was a Mass at the Catholic Cathedral in San Francisco, thereby linking praying & walking for Life; a good way to start. The large Cathedral Church was full. But what surprised us was the number of young people attending this 8:00 a.m. Mass on a Saturday morning. At least 50% of the congregation looked to be under 30, and probably 2/3 of the congregation was under 35. (Note: To get there for 8:00 a.m., they had to get up at probably 6:30 a.m. or earlier – on a Saturday!)
For those of us….over 39….this was inspiring. Dude, it was awesome!!!
One of the keynote speakers before the Walk was Abby Johnson, the former Director of a Planned Parenthood abortion facility, turned Pro – Life. As she looked out over the Young crowd, she spoke out enthusiastically:
“You are the new generation of pro-lifers and let me tell you something friends, Planned Parenthood and the pro-choice movement, they are shaking in their boots…. They are terrified because there are so many more pro – life young adults than pro – choice young adults….You guys 30 years of age and younger, you guys, you’re the movement. You’re the next generation. This is our time; make it count.”
Filed under: Pro-life
A young woman was walking along the public sidewalk towards one of the city’s assembly line abortion facilities. Her head was bowed beneath the double burden she was carrying; 1.) she was pregnant and felt completely incapable of continuing on with the pregnancy and then caring for this unplanned baby, and 2.) she had refused to listen to her conscience during this time of stress and confusion. And she was frightened.
Her boyfriend had soured on their relationship soon after he found out she was pregnant. She had confided in a longtime friend about her dilemma, but the friend had a meeting to go to and just told her to do whatever she thought was best for her future. She phoned her brother and he immediately told her to abort ‘it’. She contacted Planned Parenthood and they told her it would be over in an hour and she would be back to normal within a few hours. Finally, she called her aunt – who she suspected may have had an abortion many years ago. Her aunt couldn’t say enough good things about abortion, and also encouraged her to abort ‘it’.
So the young woman approached the abortion facility, ill at ease (not from morning sickness, but due to heart sickness). Suddenly she heard a soft voice calling out to her, “There’s a better way you know…” Startled from her sad misgivings, she looked up and saw a teenage girl – younger than she was – standing by the sidewalk’s edge and looking straight at her with a tempered, tender smile. She stopped, and without thinking replied “What do you mean?”
The teenager answered, with a little more enthusiasm than may have been ‘appropriate’ for such a delicate situation, “I know a whole bunch of people who would love to help you! We would consider it an honor if we could be of help…” The young woman froze, she tightened, then a tear trickled down her cheek, immediately followed by a stream of quiet tears. The teenager leaned forward and hugged her…. and…. She hugged back.
A hundred yards away, they sat together sipping coffee. The teenager had one character trait, a gift, that was rather striking – sincerity, a loving, caring sincerity. She explained to the young woman that she knew of a Pregnancy Counseling Clinic nearby with medical personnel on staff who could meet with her anytime – right now if she liked – and that the charitable organization that operated this clinic helped young woman with unplanned or problem pregnancies… right through the nine months and even after, as needed.
The young woman listened in awe, for as the teenage girl spoke, she could also hear her conscience breaking free, longing to assert itself. Here was the first person who had reached out to her, to help. A complete stranger, but a caring person.
“Which of these…proved neighbor to the (young woman who was pregnant)”?
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)
“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.
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
Filed under: Advent, Evangelium Vitae, Pope Benedict XVI, Prayer, Pro-life
Mary Kept All These Things and Pondered Them in Her Heart by Robert Anning Bell from Mary, The Mother of Jesus (Alice Meynell)
On the eve of the first Sunday of Advent – Saturday evening, November 27, 2010 – the Pope will lead a VIGIL FOR NASCENT HUMAN LIFE at St. Peter’s in Rome, and he has asked the world’s Bishops and priests to do the same in their own dioceses and parishes.
The Pope describes the intention of the Vigil as follows:
“The time of preparation for Holy Christmas is a favorable moment to invoke Divine protection over each human being called to existence, also as thanksgiving to God for the gift of life received from our parents.”
Americans please note the appropriate theme of thanksgiving which also relates to the national holiday weekend.
The call for this worldwide Vigil by our Pope is a breakthrough of momentous proportions for many reasons. But one not so obvious reason is that the Church tends to lean on her traditions, perhaps at times being slow to implement brand new ones. The Church has stood prophetically, time and again, for respect for human life from conception to natural death. But the Church has been slow to turn her coordinated worldwide liturgical prayer directly at the worldwide scourge of abortion. No longer!
Benedict’s Pro – Life Prayer Vigil is to prayer, what John Paul II’s encycylical Evangelium Vitae “The Gospel of Life” is to teaching. Our U.S. Chairman for the Catholic Bishops Committee on Pro – Life Activities, Cardinal DiNardo, says this Papal request is “unprecedented” – but that is an understatement.
By making this worldwide Vigil an Advent event, the Pope has now linked in our Catholic Christian consciousness the concept of the solidarity between Unborn Jesus and all unborn children. There is no turning back now!
Filed under: Biblical Reflections, Inspirational Pro-life leaders, Pro-life, Thriving Not Just Surviving!
Unborn Word of the Day has received permission to post Visitation by Bradi Barth* copyright “BRADI BARTH” and “@HERBRONNEN vzw {www.bradi-barth.org) Click on painting for full view.
“…God loved the world so much that he gave his son – it was a giving – it is as much as if to say it hurt God to give, because he loved the world so much that he gave his son, and he gave him to Virgin Mary, and what did she do with him?
As soon as he came in her life – immediately she went in haste to give that good news, and as she came into the house of her cousin, the child – the unborn child – the child in the womb of Elizabeth, leapt with joy. He was that little unborn child…was the first messenger of peace. He recognized the Prince of Peace, he recognized that Christ has come to bring the good news for you and for me.”
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, December 1979
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*We would encourage our readers to visit the Bradi Barth’s website: Bradi-Barth.org. Bradi Barth (1922-2007) was an amazing Catholic artist. She was born in Switzerland but lived most of her life in Belgium. Her art is rich in tradition, amazingly unique and awe-inspiring.
In October 2000 Bradi Barth started her foundation “HERBRONNEN vzw”, fixing clearly its mission and goals:
- Evangelization in the largest sense – Support for the missions – In Union with the Pope of Rome – In Union with Christ – Under the protection of the Holy Virgin Mary
Michele Tosini (1503-77) St. Luke
October 18 is the feast day of St. Luke.
In chapters One and Two of the Gospel of St. Luke we have 127 verses of narrative concerning the infancy and childhood of Jesus Christ and mysteries surrounding His infancy (Lk 1:5 – 2:52). These verses are unique to Luke and outline the earliest vignettes known about the childhood of Jesus Christ. The verses restricted to the infancy period are slightly less: 114 verses (Lk 1:5 – Lk 2:39).
The extraordinary account of the Annunciation to Mary by the Archangel Gabriel, for example, is presented only in Luke and no where else. Likewise, the remarkable Visitation event (and Magnificat “song”) and Bethlehem birth saga are Lukan treasures only. Which might lead us to wonder how would Christianity be different if there was no Luke? Would we celebrate Christmas? (Matthew also provides 47 verses of invaluable introductory information as well concerning Mary, Joseph and Jesus, before and after the birth. Mt 1:18 – 2:23)
We are indebted to Luke in a thousand ways, but especially for the first two chapters of his Gospel which are in a way a “prologue”, comparable to the famous “Prologue” to the Gospel of John (Jn 1:1-18): “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God…” But while the Prologue of John is about Mysteries and realities concerning the Word Incarnate, this “prologue” of Luke’s is focused on biological and historical events which reveal the Child Incarnate. While John is mystical, Luke is highly personal yet supernatural. All of this is to say that, the Incarnation Mystery of faith is so wondrous, that we need both Luke and John to unfold for us its beauty and reality. We can listen to John’s Prologue and see it with the eyes of the heart, but Luke’s we visualize all in fabulous images.
But it is only Luke who reveals to us the babyhood of Jesus and the attendant mysteries thereto. Luke is one of the Church’s great “Pro – Life” saints! There is no way around it. He alone tells of the conception of Jesus Christ, paints for us the tender mother who opens up her heart and soul to God’s plan and Spirit, then recounts the mysterious encounter between pregnant mothers and unborn children and finally recounts in all its poverty and glory the birth of humankind’s Savior in a manger.
St. Luke we thank you for the little details you carefully recorded about our Savior’s first nine months in the womb and then in the manger. You, St. Luke, have brought more tears of joy to human eyes than any other author in human history. You have revealed to us the mother of the baby Jesus and have transported us in our thoughts to kneel beside the beasts and shepherds, beneath the angels’ meditative gaze. It was first your descriptive words which gave rise to those Christmas hymns we sing now that cause our hearts to bow down in adoration again.
St. Luke, when we see you in heaven, we will get in that very long reception line of pro-life Christians who want to shake your hand, the hand which wrote down the sacred events of our Savior’s babyhood, events which gave us hope for all our earthly days.
El Greco (1541-1614) St. Luke (detail)
