seasons of motherhood | pray the rosary | Behold Your Mother
Today we will pray the Third Joyful Mystery: The Nativity.
A lot of anxiety surrounds the delivery of a new baby. Whether this is our first pregnancy, our third, or our eighth, different variables make it impossible to know for certain what is going to happen in the delivery room. We can read articles, watch videos, take classes, and make birth plans to try and cope with the uncertainty, but there is no guarantee that things will happen exactly as we intended.
If the Blessed Mother could have chosen the circumstances for Jesus’ birth, it is unlikely she would have asked to travel for miles on the back of a donkey during the third trimester and then deliver her baby in a shelter made for animals. When she assented to carry the Son of God, she probably was not expecting His first bed to be a manger. Yet this was God’s plan for His son, and it would be difficult to argue that it was not a beautiful one.
Reflecting on our Lord’s humble birth can help assuage our worries as we prepare to deliver our baby. Though Mary faced unexpected and difficult conditions, she trusted in God. When Jesus was born into her loving arms, there was great rejoicing, not only for the little holy family in the stable, but for the shepherds in the fields, the angels in heaven, and for us each time we hear this most wonderful of birth stories.
Whatever comforts Mary may have expected to have were not necessary for this joy to be possible. As we address our concerns surrounding birth, let us place our trust not in plans that might fall through, but in God’s plan for us and our babies. Trust that the birth story He will write for each of us, however it unfolds, will ultimately lead to great joy.
The writers of Catholic Mom enthusiastically gathered to share meditations on each Mystery of the Rosary in a special way for pregnant mothers. We invite you to join us throughout the month of May as we pray together each day, and to share these reflections with other moms who will enjoy them.
Images: created by Ted Schluenderfritz for Holy Cross Family Ministries