On Mother’s Day all mothers hold a special place in the heart of God, especially those who have lost their children. I, especially, grieve with mothers who have aborted their babies. Daily I pray that I be permitted to spiritually baptize all the children dying in any form of abortion with the Living Water that gushed from the open side of Jesus. These holy innocents are victims, too young to will, but not too young to suffer and die. Knowing God desires to bring good forth from evil, I widen my prayer to include their mothers and fathers, and all in their lineage, back to Adam and Eve, and to the end of time. I pray that God release from purgatory many of those in the lineage to accompany them to heaven in holy celebration, so that family always surrounds them. One day I hope to rejoice with all these children and those saved by the mystery of their short lives and deaths united to the Will of God.
I am the weaned child,
Upon Your knee.
Forgetful of time,
I curl Your hair about my fingers,
And tug at Your heartstrings.
My toys, the shiny objects of yesterday,
Lie by the stairs,
By which I began my ascent to You.
Comfort me.
Cuddle me.
Tickle me.
You spend Your universe,
As You had always planned,
Delighting one so small,
The least of the Children of Man.
© 2012 Joann Nelander
Today is the Feast of the Visitation. The Anchoress’ God is Not Sophisticated Enough and David Mills’ Spirituality Without Spirits got me thinking about of this Feast day in the light of the thinking or befuddled thoroughly modern Woman of our Day.
The Visitation recalls that Mary is inspired by God to visit her older cousin Elizabeth now in her sixth month, carrying John who would one day be called the Baptist and be precursor to Mary’s own Son, now gestating in the paradise that is her womb. What wonders are unfolding in the secret of these holy wombs. Elizabeth prophetically greets the Mother of her Lord. Her child leaps at the Christ’s presence. Mary affirms Elizabeth’s utterance with her Magnificat. Mary exclaims with all humility and awe the saving works of God who at her “Fiat” is now enfleshed within her humble willing being.
Can the women of our age appreciate these moments in time and history? Has the history of our age made it impossible to grasp them beyond quaint story and mere myth. How can a thoroughly modern, maybe “spiritual” woman relate? An untimely pregnancy – Mary’s or Elizabeth’s; how would the average working woman, school girl or college graduated woman proceed? Would wonder and awe best describe our modern attitudes.
The Anchoress writes:
“You can also safely assume that you’ve created a “spirituality” based on your own conscience (or your subconscious self) when it turns out that all God really wants of you is for you to do what makes you happy. Oh, and “love and forgive and stuff.”
David Mills writes:
“We want the spiritual-ish, because God made us to want him yet we do not want to want him, and we do not want him on his terms. If our hearts are restless without God, as St. Augustine argued, they can be tranquillized with substitutes, of which “spirituality” is easier to find and much less costly than the alternatives. Drugs and drink are bad for you, and wealth and sex are hard to get, and achievement takes work.”
Mary and Elizabeth were unabashedly “religious” woman who had the living faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They loved God with all their hearts, and souls and beings. Their faith made demands on them, touched the hearts and minds and when “choice” entered their mental framework, it was prefixed with the word’s of Deuteronomy, “Choose life then that you may live.” The “spiritual” Woman of Today is she free or frustrated? Does she know Who is present in the gift of a child?
Mt. 1:16, 18-21,24a
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.
From a sermon by Saint Bernadine of Siena, priest
The faithful foster-father and guardian
There is a general rule concerning all special graces granted to any human being. Whenever the divine favor chooses someone to receive a special grace, or to accept a lofty vocation, God adorns the person chosen with all the gifts of the Spirit needed to fulfill the task at hand.
This general rule is especially verified in the case of Saint Joseph, the foster-father of our Lord and the husband of the Queen of our world, enthroned above the angels. He was chosen by the eternal Father as the trustworthy guardian and protector of his greatest treasures, namely, his divine Son and Mary, Josephs wife. He carried out this vocation with complete fidelity until at last God called him, saying: Good and faithful servant enter into the joy of your Lord.
What then is Josephs position in the whole Church of Christ? Is he not a man chosen and set apart? Through him and, yes, under him, Christ was fittingly and honorably introduced into the world. Holy Church in its entirety is indebted to the Virgin Mother because through her it was judged worthy to receive Christ. But after her we undoubtedly owe special gratitude and reverence to Saint Joseph.
In him the Old Testament finds its fitting close. He brought the noble line of patriarchs and prophets to its promised fulfillment. What the divine goodness had offered as a promise to them, he held in his arms.
Obviously, Christ does not now deny to Joseph that intimacy, reverence and very high honor which he gave him on earth, as a son to his father. Rather we must say that in heaven Christ completes and perfects all that he gave at Nazareth.
Now we can see how the last summoning words of the Lord appropriately apply to Saint Joseph: Enter into the joy of your Lord. In fact, although the joy of eternal happiness enters into the soul of a man, the Lord preferred to say to Joseph: Enter into joy. His intention was that the words should have a hidden spiritual meaning for us. They convey not only that this holy man possesses an inward joy, but also that it surrounds him and engulfs him like an infinite abyss.
Remember us, Saint Joseph, and plead for us to your foster-child Ask your most holy bride, the Virgin Mary, to look kindly upon us, since she is the mother of him who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns eternally. Amen.
Be Holy! 