Why Christ's Inauspicious Start Comforts Me

What are the chances that an unwed teenaged girl from a no-name place like Nazareth would give birth to the Savior of the World? Seriously? But that is what happened. As Christmas approaches, the truth of this improbable story comforts me. You see, we all have the odds stacked against us.

Some of us grow up in lousy neighborhoods, or have inept parents or struggle with addiction or mental illness or a loss so big we can hardly put it into words. And yet, we all, every stinking annoying hypocritical disappointing one of us, were summoned into being by a Presence, a Beauty, a Something that is the ultimate answer to all our human longing.

Happy Birthday Honey!

This is the last day our son will be 11.  Lucas spent the night curled in bed next to me, along with the puppy. Today he is home sick, and I was able to take a "family sick" day to take care of him. We two have spent most of the day sleeping; this fall virus caught us both.

He was born after 20 minutes of hard labor, emerging bloodied and purple and red at 9 pounds, 13 ounces after a speedy trip down the birth canal. It feels as if he couldn't wait to be born and he has been running every since.

Contemplating The Birth of the Mother of God

Today is the feast day of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Take a good long look at this painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. He was a 17th century Baroque artist from Seville whose paintings depict the joys of spiritual life. This one, displayed at the Louvre in Paris, shows the birth of our Blessed Mother. She is being cared for by angels and servants while her mother, Saint Anne, rests in the background.

We don't know much about the early life of the Blessed Mother. We don't know where she was born or where she died. Her parents' hometown is Nazareth. Most likely, she was born in Jerusalem. We know she was Jewish of the tribe of Judah and the lineage of David. Her cousin, Saint Elizabeth, was of the lineage of Aaron.

Among the things we don't know is whether the Blessed Mother grew up in a household with servants. But what draws me to this painting is the exquisite care the painter took to show how the birth of Our Blessed Mother happened; surrounded by immeasurable love, by angels who cared for her from the moment of her birth. I love that our Church honors the Blessed Mother. Hers is one of just three birthdays we celebrate: Christ and Saint John the Baptist are the others. Today, let us remember that our Blessed Mother served as the temple of Christ.


This post appeared in a modified form one year ago at yimcatholic.blogspot. I wanted to give it another look. 

Unexpected Birth

During my eighth period hall-walking duty, I heard a commotion in the downstairs hallway by the gym. The school nurse, who was standing with the school's security officer and a local police officer, told me a deer had given birth to two fawns in an outside alcove. Staff and students had watched while the new mom hustled into the woods with one of her newborns, leaving the other fawn in the shade of our concrete building. Worry filled the air: what would happen to the new fawn?