Thursday, January 22, 2015

Revisiting My Tiny One

My "snapshot" this time is several years old. It's a moment from our archives, a tender memory from 2012. It is, however, more than a memory. By the grace of God, I keep on holding, keep on loving, keep on swaddling with prayer.....

"As my lectio drew to a close this morning," I wrote in 2012, "something happened.

I felt a desire to hold a tiny, tiny newborn.  Being well beyond the age of giving birth myself, I attributed this longing to the fact that my youngest grandchild is now two.  And yes, I think that's part of it.

But it hit me:  this 'call to hold' may well be a nudge from God. I think it is a spiritual call, not a physical one.. and certainly it's in line with the call each of us has (to some degree or other) to pray for and help those in need.

So today I am saying yes, as an act of faith, and I'm 'spiritually adopting.'  There are so many little ones in imminent danger, ones so tiny that some dismiss them as not human.  There are infants whose parents have been told 'there might be something wrong with the fetus.  Our advice is to abort.'  There are newborns lying on cold metal tables, their skin burned with saline, ignored because their mothers, after all, did not want to carry them to term. Leave it alone, a nurse is told, forget it.  It's not a baby.

Not-A-Baby utters a pitiful cry, flails its little arms, reaches out with tiny fingers to grasp its gift of life. It IS a baby - a tiny, helpless, wounded baby who needs someone to care, to love, to hold. 

Perhaps I am adopting all of them, perhaps there is someone(s) specific, but today I hold out my 'arms.' I pray for mothers, fathers, grandparents, doctors, government leaders, voters, nurses, abortionists. I pray for the parents who have just been told their unborn child has an abnormality.  I pray for the unmarried teenager, and her boyfriend, and her frantic parents. I pray for a change in laws, I pray for a change in hearts.


I swaddle in prayer.  I cuddle with intercession. I hold a tiny one in my heart, and I say yes. I will work for you, O tiny one, I'll be your advocate however I can. 
  
And when they come for you to take your life, I will be at your side in prayer... 

'The mere probability that a human person is involved would suffice to justify an absolutely clear prohibition of any intervention aimed at killing a human embryo.'  Pope John Paul II (Evangelium Vitae)





Painting: Gabriel Cornelius von Max


7 comments:

  1. Nancy, how beautiful! I love the idea of swaddling the unborn in prayer. Surely our Good God will multiply the fruit of our prayers and truly save some of these precious lives. Every January, our parish offers spiritual adoption of a baby in danger of abortion. I always participate, but usually forget the poor little one after a few weeks. This time, I named her Theresa Grace, and I am determined not to forget her. I just know God takes us seriously when we pray like we mean it. Thank you for this beautiful and gentle idea of swaddling these precious ones in prayer. <3

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    1. I hadn't thought of actually naming the spiritually adopted child! But of course, and I love it. Since I know there are many more babies in danger of abortion than there are adopters, I am hereby adopting two. Stephan Aloysius and Stephanie. The "Aloysius" just came to me as I typed that... so now I'm going to look up St. Aloysius. Maybe I will name a new one every month or so. Thank you!!!

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    2. And I know the idea of swaddling came to my mind because my youngest granddaughter had always wanted to be swaddled when she slept as a baby. :)

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  2. Oh Nancy, what a beautiful post. I'm glad you reposted it for your newer readers to see. (And share. And participate in.)

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  3. This is powerful and beautiful. I love the comments here. To give name to the unborn child and to swaddle them closely in prayer and love . I want to spiritually adopt a baby too. Thank you for this Nancy and for remembering in prayer all the unborn in danger....

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