A Womb with a View

Over the course of my life, there have been many times when I have leaped for joy.
For example:

• When my parents agreed to let me play the guitar as a child
• When Stephanie agreed to marry me 30 years ago
• When I learned that she was pregnant with our 1^st child
• When Stephanie told me two years later that we were having twins
• When I was ordained a deacon some 9 ½ years ago

There are so many reasons why we have leaped for joy:

• When we hear our favorite song on the radio
• When we are leaving work/school to go on vacation
• When the Bears beat the Packers & won the division
• When the election was finally over and there were no more political ads
• When we realize that Christmas is less than two days away

Bottom line: we have all leaped for joy at one time or another.

In today’s gospel, we hear the story of Mary and Elizabeth, and the emphasis is on Elizabeth’s womb. The child growing there is sensitive to the greeting of Mary that arrives at the ears of Elizabeth. In fact, we are told twice that the greeting was so well received that the child leaped for joy.

The leap of John the Baptist inside of Elizabeth is very significant. His leap in her womb symbolizes the change in our life and a break from the “same old-same old.” And that’s exactly what our Advent journey has been all about.

For the past three weeks, we have hopefully been moving from the darkness into the light, from the hidden to the revealed, from the invisible to the visible, and from being unready to being prepared. In essence, we have been living the image of the womb.

When we think of a womb, most of us probably think of a woman’s reproductive anatomy. But we can also see the womb in a more spiritual context.

The womb also represents God’s knowledge and guidance for us. In other words, the womb is where human life begins. Therefore, God is completely committed to each one of us because He knew us from the very beginning.

The womb also reveals a spiritual reality. In the early poetic centuries of the church, it was said that Mary conceived through the ear, because it was the Word of God spoken by the angel Gabriel and heard by Mary that initiated the pregnancy. It was also said that Mary conceived in her heart because she pondered the Word of God in the space where the human person is connected to both God and the world. It was also said that Mary conceived in the womb because the Son of the Most High became flesh in the human condition. So Mary heard the Word in her ears, pondered its meaning in her heart, and embodied it in action by conceiving the Word in her womb by giving birth.

So if we really think about it, you and I also have the ability to conceive Jesus into the world! Just follow me on this…

Like Mary, we conceive through the ear. The Word of God is spoken to us and we hear it right here – week after week. It is essentially our faith-call to action.

Like Mary, we conceive in our heart. We ponder those words that we hear, and we take it to prayer and we let it sit in our hearts – right where we are most connected with Jesus. It’s where we deepen our personal relationship with our Lord and Savior.

And then like Mary, we conceive in our womb – the place where we give birth to Jesus – and we do this by the way we live our lives; by sharing his gifts of love, peace and joy, by giving freely of ourselves to help those in need, and by sharing our talents for the good of others. When we truly love from the heart, we are conceiving Jesus into the world!

In these remaining hours of Advent, let us break away from our daily routines and become more immersed in the God who loves us so much that He came to be one of us and to be one with us. Let each of us be a “womb with a view” so that everyone can see the joy of Christ in our hearts. And may we always leap for joy as we prepare ourselves for the One who is to come.