To Give Life

Yesterday I had the privilege to join a community located in a favela here in São Paulo as they celebrated a relationship of mutual support and love in the mystery of the Eucharist.  My fellow missioners and I went to the church located in the favela located on a hill directly overlooking the homes of their neighbors below.

I learned that the community on top of the hill had water before the community below them.  I am not sure of the details but somehow the two groups developed a way to send some of the water from on top to the people below.  And in doing so they gave life to their neighbors.  I was so impressed with the generosity of this gift.  Sometimes in this world we get so concerned about our own resources that we store them up for ourselves so we do not have to do without.  And yet these folks did not act in fear, they acted in love.  In doing so they nourished life not only for their neighbors but for themselves.

Water is life.  Without water we cannot go on.  Water to me is one of the most sacred gifts one can give.  During the Mass water from both communities was poured into a bowl and blessed.  Then we were all sprinkled with the water as a reminder of our Baptism.  The day our life began in Christ.  What a witnessed these folks were to me about the respect for life for all people.

Today Katie and I gave a health class to 9 pregnant woman in prison.  Our topic was delivery.  All of the woman have had children already.  Katie set up the stages of delivery and had the woman place things that happen in each stage in each category.  For example, the water breaks, you start to push, etc.    Some of the woman were very knowledgeable and others were still uncertain of what really happens and when.

In full disclosure I have to admit Katie and I have been reading up on this topic and asking a lot of questions to make sure our assumptions are correct since neither of us has given birth.  One of the questions that came up today was concerning the umbilical cord.  A few of the woman believed that the cord connected to the mother was cut and them placed back inside the mother.  I was surprised that more than one woman was under this impression.  We explained to them about the placenta and it helped that we had pictures in a book to back up our explanation.

I share this because I am constantly surprised by the difference that education makes.  It is a resource that I have been given.  I am sure these woman are good mothers and that they know a lot of things about life that I do not know.  But they are poor and not all of their education has prepared them to understand some things that I consider as basic.  Things that would ease some of their anxiety and fears.

We talked about fears today.  Fear of giving birth while in prison.  In Brazil their is an expression that goes "Dar a Luz".  To give a light or give birth.  In the coming days these woman are going to give a light to the world, they are going to be part of the process of giving life. What a beautiful gift they give to their child, their families and the world.  I ask that you think of them and pray for them as they struggle with their fears now and for them and their babes as they bring new life into our world.