Thinking Out LoudMy refugee friend gave birth to her daughter in a Syrian hospital, knowing that there was a shooter on the roof, willing and waiting to take aim at her and her daughter. A hospital, set up to welcome life into the world, now converted into a hide site for a sniper.
Ukrainian poet Oksana Maksymchuk writes about the horrible “reconfigured connections” of war, and its impact on the sleeping routines of a baby:
“she used to be scared
of explosions —
now they lull her to sleep”.
As today is International Women’s Day, I have been reflecting on the conflict and uncertainty around the world that continues to take its terrible toll on women and children.
I believe that we are all knit together in our mother’s wombs with loving, divine hands. This position is given the label “pro-life”. But a consistently pro-life ethic isn’t just for life within the womb. I want our little ones to flourish outside it, too.
In our age, we may not have an angry and jealous king on a murderous campaign to kill babies, like King Herod in Jesus’ time, but millions of people are entering a world of great uncertainty.
I wonder whether Jesus’ childhood experiences, his family’s life in hiding to escape a murderous king, prompted him to turn his compassionate attention, even at the moment of his death, to his friend John and mother Mary. Jesus asked John and Mary to treat each other as mother and son, and from that moment John took Mary, a vulnerable woman, into his home as family.
I am grateful for those who work hard to create the conditions in which families can thrive. I pray that their work will allow women everywhere to welcome their children into a world that welcomes them back.
This Thinking Out Loud was first published on Facebook.