On Wednesday this week the Church recalled and celebrated the birth and naming of John the Baptist, the greatest of the Old Testament prophets whose mission was to prepare the way for Jesus.

When the Angel appeared to Mary to ask her to be the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God she was told that her cousin in her old age was pregnant to show that nothing is impossible for God. Mary went straight away to visit her cousin Elizabeth and we read that the greeting caused the baby in Elizabeth’s womb to leap for Joy. (Luke: 1. 41)

This greeting was special in the story of Salvation. John’s role was to be of paramount importance in God’s plan.

What happened is also instructive for all pregnant women and for the whole world because it proclaims that each and every pre born child is aware of the external world from within the womb; able to pick up on the mother’s feelings, to hear music, to feel a loving hand on the mothers tummy, to feel pain, to suffer when the mother abuses herself through smoking, drinking and drugs but most importantly that the baby from conception is a son or daughter of God and has the supreme dignity of being formed in in God’s image and likeness.

John at a spiritual level detected the presence of the Son of God in Mary’s womb so much so that he leapt for Joy.

Taking the life of a baby in the womb is a violation of a woman and her motherhood but also the ending the human life of a son or daughter of God made in His very image. A baby able to sense at a spiritual level.

Moreover, a woman’s body, emotions, psychology are geared to giving birth and welcoming into the world and nurturing her child thus achieving the apex of her womanhood according to the immutable laws of nature. No wonder post abortion women suffer so much.

Each child is a one- off, unique, with gifts and talents undiscovered, unrealized and with unknown potential.

A baby is body, mind and spirit.

John paved the way for Jesus by offering a baptism of repentance – a complete change of heart – without which a full relationship with Jesus is not possible. (Mark: 1. 1 – 6)

God is a God of mercy and His mercy is greater than any sin. There is a way back for women who go down the path of ending the life of their child prematurely. Repent, become a warrior for the unborn, come to Jesus, know and accept him as Lord and Saviour. Be open to receive his love which brings a new beginning.  

See “The Secret Plague” by Tom Caluori

www.goodnewsbooks.co.uk   

A futuristic pro life fiction set in 3020 which looks back at a black hole in history for which no information is available.  

When we say “Give us this day our daily bread,” in the Lord’s Prayer or “Our Father,” we can be asking God for what we need for the day. But we especially ask for the Bread which is Jesus himself – the “Body of Christ received in the Eucharist.”(See Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1384)

This Sunday is the feast of Corpus Christi. For Catholics this is the greatest treasure, the Body and Blood of Christ, the Holy Eucharist- regarded as the source and summit of all we have and do as Catholics. So this Sunday Catholics reflect on the meaning of the Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion.

Jesus says, “I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (John 6:51)

In this passage Jesus is preaching to the crowd who were so taken by the miracle of the feeding of the multitude that they went to find him.  

Jesus tells them that anyone who eats his flesh will have eternal life and he will raise them up on the last day. But many just walk away.

At the Last supper Jesus changed the bread and wine into his body and blood. This happens at each Mass. Catholics receive Christ in Holy Communion and we welcome him into our lives. In the Eucharist we are united with one another present and the whole Church. Catholics are sent out from the Eucharist to bring Christ to those we meet and into the world through our actions and words and the way we live.

“Give us this day our daily bread” also invites us to bring bread to our brothers and sisters in need.