Joseph is loving, attentive, especially so on our forced journey. I am making the journey on the back of donkey and it is so very hard on my body. He is patient, tending to me every time I have to get off the donkey and attend to my body’s needs. He touches my belly and feels the baby moving. He sees me breathless at times and breathes calmly with me. He massages my legs when they cramp up and my back when I feel the strain. He puts my feet up wherever we camp for the night and gets me what I need so I can stay reclined. He especially prepares me food for I am hungry all the time and eat whatever I can. He keeps showing me and telling me how much he loves me. He has been distraught over the ruler’s command that we travel away from Nazareth. He is patient as we are turned away from yet another place of lodging. There are so many travelers and thus no room in this land to which we have journeyed. This night there is only a barn in which to lay our heads. I feel the time is coming. My contractions are stronger, closer. My Joseph has become my midwife. Oh God! In all my life, I have never known such pain as this. Oh God! In all my life, I have never known such joy as this. My baby! My baby! He is so beautiful. Beauty was given me and beauty I have given the world. Through me, through my many sisters, new life blesses all. My child is warm, soft, curled up in my arms. My Joseph is changed. He will be different now. He has bathed in fluid once thought profane. He now knows it is life-blood of all that is profound, as women always have known.
Prayer: Beautiful Spirit, we attend to the signs of pregnancy and receive the new life that emerges.
Question: To what have I given birth this Advent season?
December 25, 2022 Gospel John 1:1-18 Christmas