Honouring the Courage of Newborns

By -

Catechism of the Catholic Church:
III. THE DUTIES OF FAMILY MEMBERS
2222 Parents must regard their children as children of God and respect them as human persons.

I read this WordPress writing prompt yesterday. October 16th is officially declared “Person   Day” — and you get to pick Person X. Tell us about someone who deserves to be commemorated. The first person to pop into my head was my five-week old granddaughter, not some famous person who has accomplished great deeds. 
My new granddaughter is an old soul.
What I find most startling about this little person called  Lila is this look of utter surprise as she surveys the world. When Lila,  turned at the sound of my voice and looked at me for the first time, her eyes widen suddenly in recognition. It was if she thought,
“Ah, so this is what you look like. I remember your voice.”
She remembered the sound of my voice from when she was in the womb and at 6 hours old, finally put a face to that voice. Lila has been thrust out from the safety and security of the womb into a huge, cold world with bright lights and loud abrasive sounds. She is wise, an old soul who connects with my spirit when we look at each other. It would be an unnerving experience if it were not so profoundly sweet. CONTINUE READING.

Comments

  1. Fr Seán Coyle9:36 pm, October 18, 2013

    Thank God that your granddaughter was born safely. Congratulations to and God’s blessings on all concerned in her coming into the world. Here is what Pope Francis said on 20 September to a gathering of gynecologists about Lila and others while she was waiting to be born: ‘Every unborn child, though unjustly condemned to be aborted, has the face of the Lord, who even before his birth, and then as soon as he was born, experienced the rejection of the world. And every old person, even if infirm and at the end of his days, carries with him the face of Christ. They must not be thrown away!’ [http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1303991.htm] Thank God that in the photo of Lila we can catch another glimpse of ‘the face of the Lord’.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Melanie Jean Juneau9:39 pm, October 18, 2013

      Pope Francis’s words are powerful and they bring tears to my eyes..they should be shouted from the rooftops to the world

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SAINT ELIZABETH, MOTHER OF JOHN THE BAPTIST- Feast: November 5

By -
Image
Elizabeth appears in the Gospel of Luke, where she is described as “righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly,”.  I imagine that she was warm, loving and obviously a safe harbour for young Mary, who was not married when she conceived.  When Mary came to visit her, Elizabeth was pregnant with St. John the Baptist and in her sixth month: “Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And how have I deserved that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, the moment that the sound of thy greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who has believed, because the things promised her by the Lord shall be accomplished.” 
Read more

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