Daily Gospel Reflection for December 22, 2018

Today's Gospel: Luke 1:46-56 It was on this day two years ago that I gave birth to our “rainbow baby”, our first living child after a miscarriage. And it was just a few hours after her birth that we learned our precious rainbow baby had a severe heart defect--one that would require an immediate heart catheter procedure with additional procedures and open heart surgery within her first few months of life. It was a terrifying time. A time filled with anxious moments, the constant yearning to hold and nurse my wired-up tube-filled baby, and sleepless nights spent watching monitors as I willed her numbers to normalize. But, in spite of all the struggles, and in spite of what I knew her future held for her, I was still immediately drawn into the halo of new motherhood every time I gazed at her tiny, perfect face. My soul proclaimed the greatness of the Lord as her delicate fingers wound around mine. And my spirit rejoiced, even as she lay crucified to her tubes and monitors. So, too, did Mary rejoice not only in her own blessings, but as she met Elizabeth, her cousin’s greeting shed light on how those blessings would affect the rest of the world. The timelessness of God’s mercy, the infinite reach of His love, the eternal gift of His Son--all from within Mary’s womb. And she knew that, in spite of all the struggles that lay before her, she was blessed.