Born to Bless the World

On the subject of babies

Have you ever wondered if Our Lady let people simply hold baby Jesus? Surely she let the Kings hold Him, and Simeon, and the shepherds.

All the hands that touched Him and held him close. Perfumed and ringed hands; rough, dirty, though gentle, sheep smelling hands, and so often very old and wrinkled hands. Perhaps a few sticky kisses by younger shepherds in the bargain.

And later, when living in Egypt, I am sure Our Lady let all sorts of people hold Him. Egyptian mothers who admired him, perhaps other Jewish mothers who found themselves in the same exile as she and Joseph. Old widows dressed in black and saddened by loneliness, young girls dreaming of husbands and a home and a baby of their own. She let everyone hold Him With her generous trust.

Oh, the beauty and the scandal both. God so close as to be held and squeezed and kissed and burped and admired, and talked to with loving sounds. What LOVE she had for the human need to have Him that close. And what LOVE He had to come to us in a bundle not much longer than 25 inches.

Being the youngest of eight children, I never had babies around me. And when I grew up and got married, I loved my babies, held them, kissed them and hugged them. But I never sought out other people's babies. I am not a “baby finder” at parties like some people I know and love. I never met moms at the door with open arms to hold their babies. It is just not something I ever did.

So, I found it a bit surprising that people wanted to hold all my babies. And I learned to LET them. My children have an uncle who simply loved newborns. He greeted me at the door of every family party with that question in his eyes: “oh, may I hold them?” And when I placed the baby in his arms, his face would transform and he would gently rock them. They each fell in love with him. We took to calling Uncle B. the baby whisperer after that.

Old ladies at showers wanted so much to hold my babies. Teen aged boys in their awkward stage would tentatively hold my babies and suddenly become transfixed and genuinely surprised that the baby actually smiled up at them “just because” and not because they had done anything. The look of gentleness on a 16 year old boy's face holding a baby is a gift of precious value.

Babies are magical. They feed the lonely heart, they bring beauty to those who need to see a human face up close; a face that asks for nothing and gives only trust. They make people laugh who have not laughed in a long time. They fill the arms of grandmothers who suddenly see their own child's face once again looking up at them. They make dignified grandpas turn into a pile of googly-goo that they would never be caught doing at any other time or place.

God bless babies. And let them be held and squeezed and laughed at. They don't mind. And when we hold them, let's recall that if Mary were here today in front of us, SHE would let us hold HIM. And what would that be like, I wonder? Blessed be the Humanity of Jesus. Blessed be every single baby. And let them ALL BE BORN to bless a world that oh so needs to be blessed.

My thoughts and prayers are with the pro-life marchers this week - wherever they may be.