“And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes…” (Luke 2:7) All of the details of Christ’s birth – including his first baby clothes (which foreshadow Christ’s winding sheet) – have significance. In the same sermon quoted in the first article in this five-article series, St. Francis de Sales interprets Christ’s swaddling clothes as an outward sign of the Savior’s humility.
“He certainly does not need to be bound thus,” St. Francis writes. “Infants are wrapped in swaddling clothes because, being still tender, if they were not thus bound they might make a false turn and so become maimed. They are also bound so as to prevent injury to their eyes or face. Were their hands free they might strike and harm themselves. After all, they do not yet know any better. Why fear that this might happen to Our Lord, since He had the use of reason from the moment of His Conception? He could not make a false turn, being Uprightness itself. O God! What goodness in this lovable Savior! He submitted to doing as other children in order that He might appear as any other poor little baby subject to the necessities and laws of infancy. He truly weeps, but it is not from tenderness over Himself, nor from bitterness of heart, but quite simply to conform Himself to other children” [Wis. 7:3].
And yet, well Christ might weep for the innocent loss of life which took place at the order of Herod soon after His Holy birth – and the slaughter of innocents which continues to take place at the hands of secular leaders today through taxpayer-supported abortion here in the U.S.
Yet, according to the American Life League (ALL), one sign of hope that prayers are being answered comes in the form of a bill passed last week by the U.S. Senate. Through the reconciliation process, which prohibits filibusters and calls for a simple majority vote in the Senate, the bill “takes the overwhelming majority of taxpayer funds away from Planned Parenthood, by name,” according to a Dec. 4 ALL press release.
“The bill now goes to the House, where passage is expected to happen quickly, and then to President Obama, where it is expected he will veto it,” the presser says. “Regardless of what Obama does, the precedent has been established. In future years, the Reconciliation Process can be used and bills defunding [Planned Parenthood] can more easily pass the Senate. With last night’s victory, it is very possible that taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood could be ended by 2017. Praise God!”
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Joseph O’Brien is a Catholic Business Journal correspondent. This is the second in a Catholic Business Journal exclusive five-part daily series of Make Advent Count: Five Ways to Approach the Manger . For more information about pro-life action, go here: www.POP.org
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