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.