Walking with Mary in Advent

Caitrin Bennett reflects on how being pregnant during Advent helps her bond with Our Lady. 

For the third time in my life, I am spending the Advent season great with child. At this posting, I am 30 weeks (and more than 30 pounds) along. It is beautiful and exhausting, and I’ve never felt closer to our Blessed Mother. Each day, I ponder important questions like, “Did baby Jesus ever wake Mary up at 3:00 AM by kicking her in the ribs?”  

For Mary, He Was Already There  

I hope Jesus was gentler with Mary than my babies have been with me, but certainly His movements would have been welcome signs of His physical presence. That very first Advent, the rest of the world was still waiting and longing for its Savior, only able to dream of all of the moving and shaking He would do. But for Mary, He was already there. She had been feeling that moving and shaking for months. 

A certain sense of possessiveness always strikes me late in pregnancy. Thus far, I alone have felt my daughter stretching; I alone have cradled her with my body. While I can’t wait for her to be born, I know that once she arrives, I will suddenly have to share her with others. Mary must have cherished those final days of having Our Lord all to herself. More than any other mother, she would soon be sharing her precious Son with the whole world.  

Walking with Mary During Pregnancy  

Mary has been called the first Christian because she was the first person to have Christ within her. Today, millions of Christians are blessed to have Jesus dwelling in their hearts. As I journey through another Advent season pregnant, I want to walk with Mary: anxiously anticipating Christ’s birth while simultaneously rejoicing in the knowledge that He is already here, moving within me. 

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Copyright 2025 Caitrin Bennett
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