I'm Pregnant!

Okay I am not exactly pregnant.  I am 19 years old and I am in college, but do I long to be pregnant in a different way? Yes! Not in the kind of way where I eat for two, or glow from excitement, or gain weight, or receive gifts from my loved ones for my child, but in the kind of way where I eat the everlasting food of Christ, glow with God’s joy, gain people for the Lord’s army, and recognize the beauty and gifts the Lord gives to all of His children.  I long to be impregnated in this way and in the kind of way Blessed John Paul II talks about in Mulieris Dignitatem where he says:

But the hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of woman is being achieved in its fullness, the hour in which woman acquires in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved.  That is why, at this moment when the human race is under-going so deep a transformation, women impregnated with the spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid mankind in not falling.

WOW! Women, yes, women have the power to keep mankind from falling.  This beautiful imagery Blessed John Paul II gives is a lesson for us all: the world needs women. Women who are at peace with themselves and know with all their being who the Lord is. This joy and love for the Lord is no doubt contagious and intriguing for those around us and by that very nature we can save our world.  

We live in a culture of death.  A culture that kills over 3,000 innocent babies each day, a culture with a divorce rate of 45.8%, a culture that says euthanasia is acceptable and encouraged, a culture where our religious freedom is being attacked and culture that promotes so many more evils.  To combat these evils we need to cultivate life.  

We live in a truly scary time. But there is hope.  We as women are that hope.  Jesus Christ has already saved us from death, but He is counting on us to bring people to His Kingdom.  Women have an irreplaceable role to play in the world.  Women are unique because we can bear life - no man has this power or this gift.  Inside every little girl and every woman we have an inherent long to bear life, to nurture it and watch it grow.  Whether that means taking care of our baby dolls when we were five years old, loving a child of our own, or nurturing all of God’s children through different acts of service.  

For this reason alone Satan hates women, he despises them.  Satan hates life and we are the only ones who can create life with God’s power.  This is why Satan first tempted Eve rather than Adam in the Garden of Eden - he knew of her power. It says in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”  This means there is enmity between the woman (Mary) and the serpent (Satan) and she crushes his head.  Woman has a special role in God’s saving plan.  

We as women have so much God given power that we can influence good or evil.  Our very feminine nature and our internal beauty can aid in mankind not falling, but we can also aid in the fall.  We can affect our work places, our schools, our churches, our families, and our friends. We have serious questions to ask ourselves.  Can we take on this tough, yet rewarding challenge?  Do we love the Lord enough to say “no” to ourselves and “yes” to God’s beautiful mission?  Do you want to turn this culture of death we are living in to a culture of life?

To say “yes” to these questions you must read the Word of God and go deeper with the Lord so you too can be impregnated with the Spirit of the Gospel.  But how do we make that happen? Who should we look to as a model for our lives when all we see are women disrespecting themselves, disrespecting men and disrespecting the Lord?  Look to the women of the Gospel and most importantly to Mary, the one who was literally impregnated with the Spirit of the Gospel, Jesus Christ Himself.  She needs to be the model of our lives.  After Jesus Christ, Mary was the most important person on earth.  If your desire is for Heaven, you MUST desire to live a life like Mary. Before she could receive Christ in her womb she had to receive Him in her heart.  Luke 2:19 says, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Mary is perfect and yet she still put thought into her “yes.”  That is what we must do. We must be docile and open and reflective just as Mary was.  Let His word take root so it can bear fruit in our lives.

I pray for all of you sisters.  I pray that as women we can be strong and realize how important and necessary we are for God’s saving plan on earth.  The Lord is counting on YOU. He is calling you to take hold of your femininity and your uniqueness and reverse the culture of death we are living in.  We have been given the gift to create and love life, whatever your vocation may be.  Nothing else sanctifies your womb better than His Word, so allow yourself to be impregnated with the Spirit of the Gospel. You won't regret it. 

In Him,

Olivia Cundiff