Oct.. 18, 2023 - Pastor Brian Hamer
Yet she will be saved through childbearing.
1 Timothy 2:15
1 Timothy 2:15
When I first began recognizing Child-Loss Month and sharing the healing power of sacred music at my Naval duty station in central California (2015–2018), I was pleased to happen upon a two-sided, laminated card in a Roman Catholic bookstore, “Litany of the Unborn Christ Child.” Consider a few versicles from this litany, which apparently presumes the congregational response “Thank you for the gift of life” to each petition:
| Jesus, conceived in love by God’s Spirit and the Virgin Mary, Jesus, beloved son of a humble carpenter, Jesus, source of immeasurable joy for Mary and Joseph, Jesus, the aging Elizabeth rejoiced in Your presence, Jesus, You filled the unborn Baptist with gladness. . . . [Thank you for the gift of life.] |
This prayer, intended to accompany the blessing of unborn children and their parents (courtesy of www.UnbornWordAlliance.com), expands on an aspect of the life and work of Christ that I had not considered in detail until I entered this small bookstore in Cambria, CA. We are all familiar with Luke’s infancy narrative, but have we stopped to consider that Jesus first came among us as the unborn Christ? How He was fully human, fully divine, and entirely unborn? And yet, the unborn Christ was no mere fetal tissue or clump of cells in the womb of the God-bearer. Rather, the yet unborn Christ was mighty to save us through childbearing. The Litany of the Unborn Christ Child concludes with three prayers, which will serve as the structure and musical inspiration for this issue of “Lifted Voice.”
I.
| Lord, thank You for first coming among us as the Unborn Christ Child. Today, untold numbers of our tiny sisters and brothers have been abandoned by the world’s leaders, by the traditional defenders of justice, by the healing professions and even by their own parents. But You are their Savior–You have not forgotten them. Savior, rescue and protect these little ones from the neglect and violence of an uncaring world. |
The petition to “rescue and protect these little ones from . . . violence” reminds us of gun violence, especially school shootings. See how we have transitioned in just a few decades from children being afraid of monsters and the dark to the pervasive and legitimate fear of active shooters entering what should be kindergarten, i.e., “a child’s garden” of safety and security.
In the spring of 1996, several primary children were slaughtered at Dunblane in Stirling, Scotland. The shooter killed sixteen students and one teacher and injured fifteen others before killing himself. James MacMillan (b. 1959), one of England’s most prominent choral composers, wrote the following work in their memory, using words that he remembered from childhood. Is it possible that the text was a prayer for the Rite of Confirmation? It speaks of the oneness of the body of Christ (the church) with her Head (Christ), and therefore is fitting for Baptism, for sacramental participation, and as a prayer for eschatological hope in the midst of death. His music is a simple yet immensely moving tribute, first performed in Westminster Abbey in July 1996, just a few months after the shooting. The work is scored for two treble soloists and a cappella choir. The soaring sopranos, also fitting for children’s voices, seem to depict the souls of the righteous ascending to heaven, turning even aimless violence into a “glad Communion and sacred day.”
In the spring of 1996, several primary children were slaughtered at Dunblane in Stirling, Scotland. The shooter killed sixteen students and one teacher and injured fifteen others before killing himself. James MacMillan (b. 1959), one of England’s most prominent choral composers, wrote the following work in their memory, using words that he remembered from childhood. Is it possible that the text was a prayer for the Rite of Confirmation? It speaks of the oneness of the body of Christ (the church) with her Head (Christ), and therefore is fitting for Baptism, for sacramental participation, and as a prayer for eschatological hope in the midst of death. His music is a simple yet immensely moving tribute, first performed in Westminster Abbey in July 1996, just a few months after the shooting. The work is scored for two treble soloists and a cappella choir. The soaring sopranos, also fitting for children’s voices, seem to depict the souls of the righteous ascending to heaven, turning even aimless violence into a “glad Communion and sacred day.”
| Welcome Jesu, Deep in my soul forever stay, Joy and love my heart are filling On this glad Communion and sacred day. |
II.
| Merciful Lord, Your tiny infant heart, which was later emptied on the cross, offers the world its only hope. Forgive us our sins against the unborn, against their parents and against all Your children. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. |
It is common in the litany format to follow each petition with the Kyrie. This prayer connects the heart of Jesus in Mary’s womb to the heart “later emptied on the cross,” from whose tender mercies (misericordias Domini = “the merciful heart of the Lord”) we receive forgiveness for our own crimes against the unborn. How fitting for the country where Roe v. Wade (sixty million babies slaughtered) created a holocaust that makes Hitler’s efforts (six million Jews murdered) numerically tame by comparison! And so penitent sinners everywhere, confident in God’s merciful heart rather than their own sinful hearts, pray, “Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.”
Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986) was a French composer, organist, and teacher. His vocal output is a case of quality over quantity, with but a handful of choral works to his credit: one Requiem, four motets, one Mass, and one setting of the Lord’s Prayer. And yet, every single note is important, pregnant with musical merit and compositional genius. His setting of the Kyrie from Requiem, Opus 9, is based on a plainchant, heard here in augmented or long form in the brass section. The choir sings the melody, which is adapted from the plainchant. In my estimation, his use of the plainchant is liberating, rather than restricting, producing one of the most lyrical and captivating settings of the Kyrie in the history of sacred music.
Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986) was a French composer, organist, and teacher. His vocal output is a case of quality over quantity, with but a handful of choral works to his credit: one Requiem, four motets, one Mass, and one setting of the Lord’s Prayer. And yet, every single note is important, pregnant with musical merit and compositional genius. His setting of the Kyrie from Requiem, Opus 9, is based on a plainchant, heard here in augmented or long form in the brass section. The choir sings the melody, which is adapted from the plainchant. In my estimation, his use of the plainchant is liberating, rather than restricting, producing one of the most lyrical and captivating settings of the Kyrie in the history of sacred music.
| Kyrie eleison; Lord, have mercy; Christe eleison; Christ, have mercy; Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy. |
III.
| Prince of Peace, through Your healing Spirit, help us to lovingly accept every conceived child created in Your image and likeness, as a messenger of peace and good will towards all people. |
The language of this prayer echoes the content of Luke 1 and 2, including the good news that John and Christ were conceived in miraculous pregnancies (1:39–45) and that John would proclaim the salvation that would be fulfilled in Christ (1:76–79). Here is the antithesis to Eve giving birth to a murderer. Now, after long ages, life had come to Israel, even as all of Israel was reduced to two pregnancies. This message of peace and good will is for all men and is now proclaimed by all Christians, even when the unwanted are left on the door steps of Notre Dame Cathedral, as was the case with baby Quasimodo in Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame.
The themes of peace and goodwill are evident in musical settings of Simeon’s canticle, which is sung as the Canticle at Vespers and Evening Prayer, after the Lord’s Supper, and of course within the Rite of Christian Burial. How important for grieving parents and communities to join Simeon to depart (i.e., to die) in peace, knowing that the deceased and the grieving have beheld salvation in the Christ child, and now rest in Him. Paul Smith’s setting--dissonant, ethereal, and sublime--captures the quiet confidence that the dying Christian has been granted in Christ alone.
The themes of peace and goodwill are evident in musical settings of Simeon’s canticle, which is sung as the Canticle at Vespers and Evening Prayer, after the Lord’s Supper, and of course within the Rite of Christian Burial. How important for grieving parents and communities to join Simeon to depart (i.e., to die) in peace, knowing that the deceased and the grieving have beheld salvation in the Christ child, and now rest in Him. Paul Smith’s setting--dissonant, ethereal, and sublime--captures the quiet confidence that the dying Christian has been granted in Christ alone.
| Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace: Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum: Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel. Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto: Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen. Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace: according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared: before the face of all people; To be a light to lighten the Gentiles: and to be the glory of thy people Israel. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen. -- St. Luke 2:29-23 |
The Bible verse quoted at the head of this article, “She [i.e., woman] shall be saved through childbearing,” has been the source of much debate through the centuries, for obvious reasons. Is St. Paul saying that only mothers can be saved? Or is he talking exclusively about the virgin birth? Consider the verse in the context of St. Paul’s first letter to young Pastor Timothy:
| ... and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control. |
That is to say, Eve is an icon of the consequences of the fall into sin, that is, pain in childbearing. In contrast to the first Eve, salvation arrived through the new and greater Eve, Mary, who gave birth to the Creator, who ushered in the New Creation. Thus woman is saved through the virgin birth of our Lord, to which all childbearing bears resemblance. Every child conceived in the womb has inherent worth and dignity every child is made in the image of God, which is mirrored in the face of Christ. The loss of a child is devastating to the descendants of Adam and Eve. But in Christ alone there is hope and healing, for He rescues our children from eternal death, grants the gifts of His mercy to all who grieve, and proclaims the message of peace and good will, even out of the mouths of babes.
+ Jesus, conceived in love by God’s Spirit and the Virgin Mary / Have mercy upon us! +
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