Joyful Mysteries (for an End to Abortion)

The Annunciation

Mary, in a mystical but real experience, hears an angel telling her that some Power from on High will cause her to conceive a life within her womb. This is not just any life. It is Life itself, in human form, and will change the world forever. The only thing Mary has to do is accept this new Life with a simple, yet universe-changing, motherly “yes.” And she does. With little wealth, not yet married, so very young, and living in a world where the Empire of Rome could legally announce life-ending decrees at a whim--decrees like the one that would soon happen when Herod declared the slaughter of all children two and under. For worldly empires do not want to share their power and authority with the King of Life. Still, Mary said yes. May that moment--that world-changing, miraculous brief instant in time--may it transcend all time to the moments of all human conceptions. May all of our miraculous fraction-of-a-second beginnings be somehow re-conceived, with Mary standing beside our own biological mothers at their moment of “yes” as we seek to re-create the world around us. As our world is made new again, may all mothers have Mary at their sides as they bring new life out their power to conceive. And may all new life, begun mysteriously by a power we human beings do not “own”, may that new life come to its earthly ending only when the Power from on High chooses to bring us to Himself.

The Visitation

How sad that our world no longer admires the awesome wonder of motherhood so openly and so joyfully. A reluctance to offer help or hope for our mothers today comes from the bitterness our world tastes because it accepts abortion. Yet Mary is there for each mother. She, along with all of the queens of creation who have ever experienced life in their wombs, is the Queen who walks among her people. She stood with her pregnant cousin Elizabeth. Two mothers. And two sons. Four humble, selfless people who would live their lives as a connected family, so history could record the joy they shared for life. One boy leapt in his mother’s womb at the presence of the other, greater One. May we begin to feel the joy of Life as Mary brings it back into our world. She walks among us, her people. She asks all mothers to join her. Herod--the symbol of emperors, regimes, governments and courts who want to silence Her Son’s prophets as they leap for joy because the King of Life is returning--that fearful, cowardly Herod has no more power over the life within. That life within, joined to the Life in Mary, is ours to joyfully enthrone as we bring help and hope to women whose children will make them like queens.

The Nativity

In a small barn, at night, without a midwife or nurse, and after a long, difficult trip--a young woman in labor lays on a blanket spread out over some fresh straw. The man with her is not the father. Yet there they are, in this man’s hometown where a decree has forced them to go. There, with a bright star--an actual, historical celestial event--shining down on this village… here, all of the prophecies that ever foretold the victory of Life over death are being fulfilled. The blanket, and the straw, and the simple barn, and the humble man who helped bring this woman here--all of it, and all of creation too, under this star, receives this Child in this silent, holy, calm, bright moment. May that saintly man, and this Child, and the Child’s loving Mother, be with all children as they leave their mothers’ wombs. May they show mothers how to love and hold and cherish their children. And when mothers are led into those places where no woman ought to bring her child, may those two loving parents and their Child quickly snatch the pieces from the evil one who tries to destroy life. May they immediately erase the terror of the moment, and the memory of a far too early exit from this world. May they wrap the little one--whole now, and Home--and embrace its once unwanted body, holding him or her in the love of a new Holy Family. And with all the little ones who have returned Home too soon, may they shine down their light to our darkness. With every little one taken, may heaven grow. And may the prayers of all those in heaven soon open all hearts to receive Life.

The Presentation in the Temple

Can we hear the prayers in Mary’s heart as Joseph presented their new Child to the priests in the Temple? “Here, heavenly Father, is the fruit of your mysterious love for us.” Imagine the inability to comprehend it: how can this, a young mother, present to Yahweh the greatest gift that could ever be offered to Him in His Temple? All of the world’s gold could not surpass in value what was being presented to heaven that day. And what was this presented offer? A baby! A fragile, completely dependent, innocent baby! Here He is, shared now with us from His Father; then shared back to His Father from Mary. Proof that Life is to be shared by all. Please, God, let all mothers know that the child within is hers to be shared--and not destroyed. And let our nation know that if we continue to share in the acceptance of abortion, we are sharing the one thing that ought not be shared--for we are sharing death. We are offering to You, oh Father, an abomination when we present these millions of deaths to You. Quickly turn us around. Wake us up! Show mothers the gift that is within them. Then shower all of your blessings on the mothers who share their children with the world.

Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple

Mary hears the words, “Don’t you know that I must be about my Father’s business?” and kept those words in her heart. Now, may she share the meaning of her Son’s question with us. May she show each mother that her child--from his or her very first moment--is destined for something greater than any of us can imagine. Each child has a purpose, a reason, a place. We see it in each child when we look or listen: a smile that says, “I love you.” Or an “I love you” that makes us smile. That purpose begins in a mother’s body--a true temple of the soul--where personhood is found. There, in the mother’s temple, another temple is made. Temple after temple after temple. Our mothers build something no man could ever make. For our mothers build our world, then fill it with goodness--with the warmth that comes from their smiling children, and with the love that comes from our Father through each child. May all pregnant mothers--especially those considering abortion--hear this secret whispered in their hearts. And may they find their new purpose within them.

Luminous Mysteries (for an End to Abortion)

Jesus Baptism

May all people hear the Voice from our Father as it tells us that all of His sons and daughters in the womb are His beloved children. The people who saw Jesus being baptized could not see His divinity. But He joins our humanity with His, and is washed with earthly water at the hands of a good man, his holy cousin John. May the mothers who are now carrying sons or daughters in their wombs see the beloved humanity within them that eyes cannot yet see. May those same mothers find good doctors, that is, good men and women who want to safely bring their babies out of the watery place they now live so they can continue their young, fragile lives in their mothers' embrace. May our Father show all mothers how pleased He is when we join in helping them, as we cry out in this desert where we live, saying that human life from the very beginning is eternally beloved. Because with all human life, God is well pleased.

Wedding at Cana

So many women who are considering abortion do not have loving, strong men in their lives who are willing and proud enough to say, “This is my child, too.” The perfect man is hardly around in their time of need. But Jesus is the perfect Man, and with Mary’s motherly direction, He can work miracles in our lives. May all pregnant women, married or not married, who are feeling empty at a time when they should be feeling the fullness of life inside them--may all of them find Jesus’ transforming power. With Mary’s help, may they see how God has filled them with the miracle of life, a life that is meant to be lived and shared with others--especially within families, and most especially between mothers and fathers as they both bring life into the world.

The Proclamation of the Kingdom

Any nation that allows abortion is hardly a powerful nation. Such a nation is the exact opposite of the Kingdom of Jesus, for His Kingdom will make princes and princesses out of the powerless and the least among us. May we proclaim our sadness for the millions of acts of evil perpetrated against the powerless unborn, asking our King for mercy, for healing, and for reconciliation. Our King came to save all sinners, and to satisfy our thirst for justice for all of the wrongs done to our little brothers and sisters. May the world see that all of us--from the very moment that our King elevated us to personhood at the time of our conception---all of us, everywhere, are destined to inherit the Kingdom he planned for us. He planned it for us--all of us--even before we were made in our mothers’ wombs. And in that plan, we are, we always were, and we always will be, made for that Kingdom.

The Transfiguration

Jesus is man. Our world wants us to think of Him only as man. But our world does not understand that something (or someone) can be two things at the same time. Jesus is man. But he is also God. A newly conceived thing is a collection of cells. But it is also a human person. May those who see only the lump of cells or tissue in the womb also begin to see that it is--at the same time--a brother or sister of ours. May they see the new, living, growing figure as it truly is: a dazzling and magnificent work of nature. But not a work just of nature. It is also a work of something (and Someone) far greater than nature. For our little brothers and sisters--and all of us, too--are works of the Divine. Two cells, once separated and alone, find each other in the womb where they are transfigured into a person. After Jesus’ transfiguration, he told us (as he told his disciples): “Do not be afraid.“ May all mothers be comforted by these words as they carry the awesome, new, transfigured life within them.

Jesus Gives the Eucharist

Jesus broke the bread and said, “Take this, and eat, for this is My Body.” Then He took the cup and said, “Take this, and drink from it, for this is the cup of My Blood.” With those words, He began His walk toward his crucifixion where He would die, just as all of us must die. Many of us die after experiencing years--sometime many years--in this world. But many--too many--of our brothers and sisters will die before they are born. When we go to Mass, and drink His Blood and eat His Body, we join with all of God’s children. And in His suffering, we join with the suffering experienced by all of the victims of abortion. The mothers, the unborn children, families, friends--all suffer from abortion. But the Sacrifice of Jesus is greater than abortion. May we pray for the day when all persons celebrate with joy the ending of abortion. Until then, may we receive Him--and all of the little ones--in hearts that are open to the sacrifices of love.