The Third Prayer

This morning I pulled off “pregnant women” from the Advent chain.  And what a fitting day to pray for pregnant women.  An hour later I found myself at Mass and the Gospel was Luke 1:39-45, the story of Mary visiting Elizabeth. 

And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. (Luke 1:41.)

Father Jay Harrington, the priest who baptized Beatrice last weekend, went on to give one of the best homilies I have ever heard.  He talked about pregnant women feeling their unborn baby kick and poke them throughout the pregnancy.  He talked about fathers who said they would put their face against their wife’s belly and the baby would bump them.  As I listened to him talk, I looked down at my little Mary Rene and instantly was taken back to when I was pregnant with her.  I remembered feeling her first little poke when I was sitting in the lobby at the dentist.  I remembered as the weeks went on, the pokes became kicks and head butts.  Soon, Frank was able to feel her too.  I remembered the countless nights that I would lift my shirt while I was laying on the couch and I would watch her move from one side to the other.  I remembered those last couple months when she would be squirming all over the place while I was trying to sleep (oh how things haven’t changed.)  And eventually all that kicking and head butting stopped because she was born.

My mind was filled with all those pregnancy moments until Father Jay said, “Elizabeth was far enough along in her pregnancy that she knew what her baby’s movements were…and when John the Baptist lept she knew she had never felt anything like that.”  And at that moment it really hit me…

John lept for joy.  They say that at a certain point in the pregnancy, an unborn baby can hear his/her mother’s voice and those that she is speaking to.  John the Baptist heard the mother of Our Lord, and he lept for joy.

So my thoughts shifted away from my pregnancy with Mary Rene to the birth of Christ.  We will be celebrating the birth of Our Savior, the tiny baby Jesus on Friday.  I’ve been so consumed with getting shopping done, taking care of Mary Rene, other little things, that I am wondering, is my heart ready to leap for joy?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot today and in order to prepare my heart, I will be taking a blog break.  Out of routine, I will write my Mary’s World Tuesday post and I’m sure I will be back on Christmas.  But for now I am going to prepare my heart so I can leap for joy.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 20th, 2009 at 9:18 pm and is filed under Baby P Pregnancy, Beatrice, Faith, Frank & Marriage, Mary Rene, Sweet Pea Pregnancy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.