Signs?

For many months now I have prayed rosaries for my wife, though not nearly as often as I should, certainly not every day. When I have been strong enough to pray, however, I have most happily prayed the Joyful Mysteries: the Annunciation, the Visitation to Elizabeth, the Nativity, the Presentation, and the finding of the Christ Child in the Temple, for the obvious reason that they are about the miracle birth of Jesus, and we are in need of a bit of a miracle now. We prayed these mysteries in our Rosary on the drive out to Omaha, even though it was on a Sunday and it is suggested that one prays the Glorious Mysteries. When I told my wife we were praying the “wrong” Mysteries, she said, “Can you do that? Is it allowed?” I told her it would be fine.

I was prompted to mention this because, I discovered on the day of my wife’s surgery – yesterday, Tuesday the 24th of June – that three of that day’s scripture passages (the First Reading, the Psalm, and the Gospel) mention the role of God in forming us in the womb. Here are the relevant passages, with their locations:

The First Reading:
1 … The LORD called me from the womb, from the body
of my mother he named my name. 2 He made my mouth
like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me
away…. 5 And now the LORD says, who formed me from
the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him …
(Isaiah 49: 1-6)

The Psalm:
13 For thou didst form my inward parts, thou didst knit
me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise thee, for
thou art fearful and wonderful. Wonderful are thy works!
Thou knowest me right well; 15 my frame was not hidden
from thee, when I was being made in secret, intricately
wrought in the depths of the earth (Psalms 139: 1-3, 13-15).

The Gospel:
57 Now the time came for
Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a son. 58
And her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had
shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59
And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child;
and they would have named him Zechari’ah after his
father, 60 but his mother said, “Not so; he shall be called
John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your kindred is
called by this name.” 62 And they made signs to his
father, inquiring what he would have him called. 63 And
he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, “His name is
John.” And they all marveled. 64 And immediately his
mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke,
blessing God. 65 And fear came on all their neighbors.
And all these things were talked about through all the hill
country of Judea; 66 and all who heard them laid them
up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?”
For the hand of the Lord was with him. 80 And the child
grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the
wilderness till the day of his manifestation to Israel
(Luke 1: 57-66, 80).

That last reading is of course related to the Visitation – it is the birth of John, later the Baptist, the child who leaps in the womb of Elizabeth when the pregnant Mary visits her older cousin. I don’t believe in omens, and I doubt I am worthy of signs, but finding out that these were the readings for the day of my wife’s surgery, I hoped.

I had another moment, a possible communication through ordinary happenstance, of what might come of this surgery. Just before we pulled out of our parking spot at home to start off to Omaha, my wife asked me whether I had brought our “pod” – which is what we call our i-Audio mp3 player. When I said no, she said, “Go up and get it.” So I did, and as I came out to lock the door, I heard the new baby upstairs crying. It seems like nothing, but he’s been there for a month, and we’ve never heard him crying before. Again, I don’t believe in omens and I consider myself unworthy of signs (or perhaps I am simply weak in my faith), but some things make one wonder.