Recognizing Him...

I say at least one Rosary every day, as a member of the Blue Army, but I have been in the habit lately of saying the entire 20-decade Rosary. Consequently, I have been meditating on all 20 Mysteries...from the Annunciation to the Coronation. Earlier, I was also thinking back to Tuesday's election results and the whole abortion debacle, the passing of laws in our near future that will completely destroy whatever progress made in the last 40 years of the pro-life movement. 

First of all, let me say that it all makes me want to be sick. There. I said it ~ out loud. There are those out there who might not care to hear that I am sick at heart over the whole thing, but that's just too bad. I would hate to be them. For myself, I want to scream, I want to run away and hide, I want to throw things! I, like so many of the Moms who post in their own Catholic Blogs, want to cry out to the heavens for the injustice of it all! I want God to come to our voting polls and "knock some sense into the pro-abortion voters" ~ and then some...

And then, as I was beginning my Rosary for the day, it suddenly occurred to me: "How would we recognize Him if He came again? As a tiny Baby, a new Life in the womb of His Mother, and a Person with the right to life?!? ...as He is ever-present in the least of His brethren??"

So, onward to the First Mystery went "yours truly" ~ the Annunciation.

St. Gabriel appeared to the Mother of God, before She was the Mother of God, in Her room, at prayer (go figure), humble and obedient to the words of the Angel ~ no matter what it would cost Her personally! What of the snide remarks of family, friends, neighbors? What of the secret decision of her betrothed to quietly divorce Her? What of being cast out to the streets of the town and stoned to death as a harlot?!?

What of all this?

Quite simply, Our Lady, being the smart young woman that She was, had no qualms ~ "Yes! Let it be done to me according to your word!" 

The Word of God's Will...recognizable to the one Woman of the Old Testament, the one who agreed to help usher in the New Testament ~ all by Herself, with a little help from the Holy Spirit, of course ~ and narry a thought for Herself!

She knew for Whom to go searching, just as the pro-lifers look for Him in the unborn, the newborn, the children, from conception to the elderly, the natural ending of life in all of us! And She recognizes in us, Her faithful children, the Light of Her divine Son, the Word of Life Himself!

Then, on to the Second Mystery ~ the Visitation.

Our Lady, her husband St. Joseph, traveling all the way to the town where Her cousin St. Elizabeth was also pregnant with St. John the Baptist...just to help her with her daily duties until her son would be born, six months before the Birth of Our Lord.

From the first moment of Her arrival, Elizabeth recognized the Person Who was brought to her humble home ~ and how she fell at the feet of the most Holy Virgin! "Who am I," she cried, "that I am deemed worthy for the Mother of my Lord to come to me?!?"

You see, she recognized Him!!! ...right away...

Her own son John, in her womb, jumped at the knowledge that the Son of God was before him; even as an unborn infant, John recognized the Son of God!!!

Onward once again, to the Third Mystery ~ the Nativity.

From the announcement to the shepherds to the adoration of the Magi, even the lowly animals in the stable recognized their Creator, Who had come to them on the first Christmas Night! The Angels told them all for Whom to look and they found Him, in the manger...recognizing in Him the Son of God, the Messiah, the Promised One.

From here we move on to the Fourth Mystery ~ the Presentation.

This one is easy...Simeon recognized the Babe immediately, exclaiming to the Father, "Let me go in peace now, o Lord! Dismiss Your servant, for my eyes have seen the Glory of Israel!"

In his recognition of the Messiah, he tells Our Lady that Her beloved Son is the Reason for all Seasons, so to speak...just like He was @ His birth...for the rise and fall of many, and I daresay, not only in Israel, but even to this day!

And this brings me to the Fifth Mystery ~ the Finding of Jesus in the Temple.

After Mary & Joseph realized that they had left Jesus behind, they went frantically searching, as we all know ~ and we all know how the story ended. Happily, they found Him and that was that, right? 

Wrong.

What of the men who were left behind in the temple that day, after the Holy Family left once again?!? Did they realize Who He was? Did they believe that this was possible in their own lifetimes? Did they recognize Him??

Now, after all this that I have written, any readers might well be wondering, "Ok ~ what is the point to all this? Cut to the chase!"

And I will tell you quite simply that the reason for my entry is this: How will we recognize Him when He comes again? How will we be able to save the unborn, the newborn, the ill and disabled, the poor & helpless, the elderly?? Are we like any of the characters in these five Mysteries? Do we recognize Him in any of these poor ones? Jesus didn't just come to the ones who didn't need Him ~ He said so Himself. He came to anyone and everyone who would believe in Him, would follow Him ~ would RECOGNIZE Him!!! Whatever we do to the least of His brethren, we do to Him, right? I seem to remember Him saying that, too.

I realize that I only covered the first of the Mysteries here ~ with 15 more to go, I have plenty of material for meditation ~ but you get my point. 

Every time we pray the Rosary, every time we say even one "Hail Mary," we must remember where this prayer comes from: the first moment of the Conception of the Lord of all life! We must keep fighting the good fight if we are to win the war against the pro-death movement. Not only must we work to convince them that He is present and recognizable in His least and lowliest, He is here for us all...as long as we all recognize Him when He comes!!!