'The babe in my womb leaped for joy'

By -
The Visitation, El Greco, painted 1610-13

El Greco captures the swirling dance of life in today's gospel. When the babe in Elizabeth's womb, St John the Baptist, leaped for joy upon the arrival of his cousin Jesus, in the womb of Mary. St Luke tells us twice that the infant in Elizabeth's womb leaped.

My friend Lala below, feeding her friend Jordan, wasn't a source of joy to her mother when she was born 31 years ago. Her mother, probably in great distress but perhaps with hope in her heart, left her newborn baby in a garbage pail where she was found and taken to the orphanage of the Daughters of Charity in Cebu City. today she lives in the L'Arche community in Cainta, Rizal, part of the great urban sprawl of Metro Manila.

Lala is certainly a source of joy to all who know her. Jordan, born with multiple disabilities, has been in the L'Arche community for most of his life.

While Lala didn't have to go 'with haste into the hill country' to take care of Jordan, she shows the same love that Mary did for her elderly cousin Elizabeth, gifted with a child long after she had thought this possible.

On one feast of the Visitation I celebrated Mass in a home for girls. One was a teenage mother-to-be who could not accept that the child in her womb was hers. Before the final blessing I gave a special blessing to her and her child. She told me after Mass that the child had moved in her womb during the blessing and that she was now at peace with her situation. She later delivered a healthy son.

Lala and Jordan

Today's Gospel, Luke 1: 39-45 (RSV, Catholic Edition)

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."


Comments

  1. Anonymous12:49 pm, December 21, 2011

    I loved the first part of this post, El Greco is one of my favorite artists but the incredibly moving picture of Lala and Jordan moved me far more.True charity.What a blessing to be allowed to see them.Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fr Seán Coyle7:10 pm, December 21, 2011

    Thank you, Diddleymaz. Though I meet Lala only very occasionally she has been a great blessing in my life, a person I find myself telling others about. 'God takes delight in his people' (Ps 149).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous9:17 pm, December 22, 2011

    thanks Fr Sean for sharing the story of Lala's big heart. She's well loved and cared here in the community and we really treasure her presence. In spite of her intellectual limitations, she shows and teaches us the values of the heart that sometimes blocked /filtered by the minds. She's a good model on how we give the cares to others with Joy and unconditional!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Memorare

By Helen Gonsalves -
Image
This popular prayer, a favorite of many Catholics, dates back to the 15th century and takes its name from the first Latin word of the prayer, "memorare," which means "remember." The Memorare is of unknown authorship, although it has been attributed to St. Augustine (354-430), St. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407) and, with more reason, to St. Bernard of Clairvaux (c. 1090-1153). St. Bernard's sermons on Mary were famous, and it was his Cistercian monks in the monastery of Citeaux in the 12th century who popularized the name "Our Lady" for Mary. The Memorare has also been attributed to the French cleric Claude Bernard (1588-1641), known as the "poor priest" of Paris, whose homilies contain passages that echo its words. No matter who wrote this prayer, it was Father Bernard who did much to popularize it, teaching it in hospitals and prisons, where Mary's intercession was effective in working miracles of grace. The first manuscript of the Mem
Read more

'Greater Love: Richie Fernando SJ', a joy-filled Filipino missionary

By -
Image
 I haven't been able to post for more than a week as I was giving an eight-day directed retreat to eight sisters of the Missionaries of Charity near Manila. While I had some access to the internet it was rather slow. I had intended to make a post here on the murder of Fr Fausto Tentorio PIME , a 59-year-old Italian priest, in the Diocese of Kidapawan, Mindanao, on Monday 17 October. I will save that post for a later date. As I was looking for a video about Father Fausto I came across one about Brother Richard Michael 'Richie' Fernando SJ, a Filipino Jesuit scholastic who died while trying to prevent a troubled and disabled young man in Cambodia from throwing a grenade. That was in 1996 - on 17 October. Father Fausto gave his life exactly 15 years later. I remember the mixture of sorrow and pride I felt when I read of the death of Brother Richie, pride as a missionary in the Philippines that a young Filipino seminarian had given his life so spontaneously in order to sav
Read more

Why Modesty Is Not Subjective

By -
Image
Hi there, ya'll!  The modest fashion world is one very diverse place.  Even among Catholics, the definition of "modest apparel" can vary greatly from person to person.  Recently I joined a Facebook group that advertised itself as a haven for Catholic women of all ages to share ideas for modest style and makeup and was hoping to learn more about modesty from my fellow Catholic sisters.  After a few days of being a member, though, I sadly left the group feeling a bit discouraged.  No two members seemed to agree on ANY aspect of modesty whatsoever, and the prevailing theme of the whole group was that modesty is subjective, it means something different for each woman and each woman gets to decide what she considers is "modest".  One woman very emphatically declared that she wears bikinis every summer to the beach and doesn't feel that this violates the virtue of modesty in the least.  The same woman also announced that she was never going to caution her d
Read more