If I had to pick my favorite post from the past year, I think it would be Jennifer Fulwiler’s (of Conversion Diary) post, How I Became Pro-Life. In it, Jen shares how, though recognizing the life of the child in the womb initially got her to think twice about her pro-choice position, she wasn’t fully able open her heart and mind “to the wonder and dignity of even the tiniest of my fellow human beings” until she “understood the nature of the act that creates these little lives in the first place.”

The root of the abortion problem, as I’m sure I’ve said here before, is a misunderstanding (if not a total rejection) of the truth and meaning of human sexuality. People did not wake up one day and decide they had the right to kill their own offspring. But they did progressively decide that it was their right to have sex without meaning, limit or, most importantly, consequence. Because of this, I want to make sure I touch on the Theology of the Body, JPII’s vision of the human person and what it means to be male and female, on a more regular basis – if only to share an article or a simple quote. I hope I can keep this up…

Since it is still Christmas, I thought I’d start by sharing Christopher West’s recent column on The Spousal Mystery of Christmas. Enjoy:

God sent his angel to Mary “in order to win her heart.” And on account of the “hidden delights” of his divine proposal, “she gave her consent.” He [St. Louis de Montfort] describes this glorious moment – when God proposed and Mary said “yes” – as “joy for the angels,” as “a sweet melody,” as the “Canticle of the New Testament, a delight for Mary, and glory for the Most Blessed Trinity.” This divine song is”a pure kiss of love” given to Mary, “a crimson rose, a precious pearl.” (True Devotion 252-253).

Then, groping for images to describe the invisible, immortal, eternal seed of God given to Mary (see 1 Pt 1:23), de Montfort writes of “dew falling from heaven” to make her fruitful. In this astounding moment, God poured a “chalice of ambrosia” into the virginal womb of his mystic-bride and, receiving this “divine nectar,” she conceived God’s own Son (see True Devotion 253)…

The Song of Songs teaches us – as does the spousal imagery throughout all of Scripture – that God wants to “marry” us. Furthermore, through this mystical marriage, the divine Bridegroom wants to fill us, “impregnate” us with divine life. In the Virgin Mary, this becomes a living reality. And this, as the Catechism says, is why “Mary goes before us all in the holiness that is the Church’s mystery as ‘the bride without spot or wrinkle’” (CCC 773).

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