Brian Jenkins

Sunday afternoon at the 40 Days for Life vigil site appeared propitious for prayer. It was a sunny afternoon, a picnic bench provided a spot to sit and meditate, and I was alone.   So, I turned to the daily Scriptural reading, the Transfiguration of Our Lord.   In no time, I was pulled out of my reverie not once but twice.  "You want to make God laugh, tell him your plans."

First, a diminutive young woman walked up to me, handed me a note, and left as quickly as she had arrived. My brief salutation - i.e., Bonjour, was returned in kind but no more was said for she had vanished. On the note carefully hand-written was the following message:

Mon corps

c'est mon corps

ce n'est pas le tien

tu as ton corps

alors laisse-moi

le mien

I read it, meditated some, and two insights came. First, I found it odd how infrequently the tiny human being growing within the womb is acknowledged as having its own body. Yes, I have a body as you do. Also, in the pregnant woman, there is a third body, developing and dependent, as we all are to one measure or another. This child has a distinct set of chromosomes from either his father or mother. Sadly this distinct little body is largely forgotten in contemporary discourse.

The second insight concerned how anthropo-centric the note was. My body and your body. Absent was any acknowledgment to the hand of our Divine creator. How sad not to give no thanks to our alpha and omega, our source and our destiny.

Eventually, I returned to my contemplation, but not for long. Again, I was pulled out my reverie though in a more confrontational manner. A young couple stormed upon the knoll where I was seated and began to assail me with diatribes, alternating between one another. She cursed me, he attacked the Faith, she slung a sexist comment at me - the typical ad hominem argument, and he again criticized the Faith.  Needless to say, I did not have time for any apologetics for the whirlwind that brought them quickly took them away.

An open docile disposition is a pre-requisite to learning. My prayer is that our society develops this virtue so that it may move out its moral torpor.