The Gift of Love

“When Jesus saw his mother

and the disciple there whom he loved

he said to his mother,

Woman, behold, your son.

Then he said to the disciple,

Behold your mother.”

John 19: 26-27

My niece Tracy gave birth to her beautiful little baby boy this past Tuesday. Pictures of this blessed gift of God have been flying all over Facebook the past few days. I am here and he and his happy parents and first-time grandparents are in Mississippi, but thanks to social networking I feel I am already making connection with little Gunnar. I see pictures of Tracy holding and admiring him and I speculate they were taken just minutes after his birth since Tracy still has the blood pressure cuff on one arm and an IV in the other arm. The picture of him naked with only a warming cap on his head and screaming his lungs out puts me at the scene of the delivery. I even see a slightly bluish hand which tells me he just came into the world. Subsequent pictures show a deep pink complexion which reassures this nurse that he is healthy and right on target with his Apgar scores.

The above posted picture is my favorite. Tracy is crying tears of joy and overwhelming gratitude for the gift of little Gunnar. Her whole pregnancy was one of joyful anticipation and generous preparation for this beautiful child of God. He will dwell in the most beautiful and unique nursery in all the world and will be loved by the most loving parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents in all the world.

I knew yesterday that I had to write a blog about this picture. But this is Good Friday, so I pondered all day how I could connect it with the liturgy of today. As I was listening to the Gospel at our service for Good Friday, the above words hit me like a thunderbolt and this picture of Tracy and Gunnar jumped into my awareness. That’s it!!! Tracy’s intimate encounter with the face of her newborn son, her tears of joy and her overwhelming sense of “Wow, Luke and I really did this!” somehow reflects Mary and Jesus’ loving relationship also. Mary held Jesus also in her arms after his birth, she picked him up whenever he fell, she looked for him when he was lost, she was with him all the way to Calvary and helped him up when he fell due to the weight of his cross. She was there at the foot of the cross when he gave his last breath and again held him in her arms when he was taken from the cross.

I pray that Mary will be a source of grace for Tracy and Luke as they hold Gunnar when he is crying, as they hold him and teach him to walk, fish and hunt, as they take him to the doctor for all his routine check-ups and hold him close during all his immunizations, as they hug him good-bye on his first day of school and on and on and on. I know that Gunnar will be loved and cared for just like Jesus was.

The Gift of Love

My thoughts of you are fair as precious stones

out of the memory’s deep mysterious mines.

I cut and polish, hold the gems to light-

color of sea water, color of wines

coaxed from the earth’s sweetest fruits.

I drop them down

into my heart, into the lifted hands

of love whose lone concern is your renown.

~Jessica Powers