This morning, on the way to mass, I thought I felt the baby move, little butterfly flutters in the belly. It’s still pretty early to be feeling the baby so at first I wasn’t sure if it wasn’t just rumblings in my digestive system. But they were too constant, too localized and too distinctly other. I remember when I was pregnant with Bella how long I felt those flutters before I finally realized what they were. Yep, I finally concluded, that’s the baby. And they kept going and going and going. Evidently it was calisthenics hour.
What a delight, then, a few minutes later when the priest read from today’s gospel for the feast of the assumption:
When Elizabeth heard Mary�s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
�Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.�
I hadn’t read the readings ahead of time and was taken by surprise. Little tears appeared in the corners of my eyes and I gazed across the chapel at the beautiful statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and whispered a silent: “Thank you, Blessed Mother, for this wonderful gift on your feast day, the first sensations of my infant leaping in the womb.”
I think it’s important not only for our children, but for visitors to see that they are entering a Catholic home, where Christ is foremost on our minds (or ought to be) in all the activities that take place in the home.
We have crucifixes in most rooms or children’s crosses in the kids’ rooms for now. In our kitchen we have a framed print of St. Paschal Baylon (San Pasqual). He is known, especially in the southwest, as the patron saint of cooks. I think he’s more of a cultural icon in that capacity, but I did a little reading and found that in the Catholic Church he is best known for his devotion to the Eucharist. Here’s a link; we have the third one down. http://www.santafeschoolofcooking.com/On-line_Market/San_Pasqual/