Luke 18:1-8 The Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge

A few years ago I had a situation happen to me that was rather funny. I had been praying for a family member who needed to change. I actually had prayed about this situation for over nine years. I finally got a bit frustrated and started to complain to God about it – I reminded him about the widow and the unjust judge. I pointed out to him that I had been praying for nine years and this situation hadn’t changed. One week later, through an unusual set of circumstances this person revealed to me that they had made the change I was praying for - a year earlier -  but for their own private reasons never told anyone.

I know that many of us are frustrated about the situation in our country over abortion. We pray fervently, we wonder why! But we need to pray and keep praying. There is a new project called Luke 18:1 (yes, the parable mentioned above.) Click here to see their website.

What they want to do is begin a prayer campaign on March 25, 2010 (the feast of the Annunciation, when Our Lord was conceived in Mary’s womb). They want people to sign up to pray for an end to abortion. The idea is that individuals would sign up for a 20 minute period during the year and that hopefully they would get enough people so that someone was praying at all times during the year to end abortion. I urge you to check out the website.

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

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.