When the soldiers who write our history tell us of the “shoot that shall develop from the stump of Jesse,” they are telling us of a warrior, David. The warrior is proclaimed as our savior. The man of war will fight for justice, slay the wicked, and thus save us. But warriors will never save us. They will only damn us, to more war. The time is long past to tell of the sprout that will grow from the womb of peacemakers; from so many unnamed women, from my mother Anne, from me, Mary, and from so many more yet to come. Always we peacemakers will grow up human beings to live in communion, to love, and to act as a creative healing power. I have been feeling the humanity of my child growing within me. I have been feeling whole of late, as does my little one. As if all the little organs and systems are in place – but needing to grow in weight and strength. The cord between we two is growing stronger. My overall tiredness and breast tenderness are lessening. Increasing is my appetite, my feeling of the baby’s movement, and increasing too is an ache to my belly where I feel I am being stretched too far and to my back where I feel the baby’s extra weight. My child is growing, with delicate fingernails and toenails forming with the baby’s unique fingerprints and toe prints set. Together we will pass through the halfway point of growing life, the 20th week. My baby is learning so much in this time. Simple things like to swallow and suckle and so much more from a brain growing phenomenally over the next few months. My baby will keep growing, especially in peacemaking. For I am the peaceful womb from which my baby will grow. I am the peaceful mother who will nourish my child. I am in communion with peaceful souls who will help create a village and a world where it shall be proclaimed, a peacemaker shall sprout from the womb of Mary.
Prayer: Spirit of Growth, keep nourishing us all with the adventure of being a life-giver.
Question: What do I feel is growing within me and how am I nourishing this new life?
December 04, 2022 Gospel Matthew 3:1-12 Second Sunday of Advent