CPTnet
15 December 2007
CHICAGO/TORONTO: "Mother and Child"--CPT Lectionary Reflections for Advent
Year A

[The following is fourth in a series of Advent reflections incorporating
experiences of Christian Peacemaker Teams and based on readings from the
Revised Common Lectionary, Year A.]

Fourth Sunday in Advent, December 23, 2007

Focus: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Readings: Isaiah 7:10-16; Psalms 80:1-7, 17-19; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew
1:18-25

Mother and Child

by Tracy Hughes

As a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team 2006 delegation to the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, I met a young mother and her child. We
were visiting the women who were patients at Panzi Hospital in Goma.
Militia or government soldiers brutally raped each of these women. The
women at Panzi Hospital were the women that survived these rapes but needed
medical care for the healing of extensive damage and destruction to their
vaginas, uteruses, colons, and other parts of their bodies. They were at
the hospital, sometimes waiting for over one year, to be reconstructed,
literally put back together by surgery to repair obstetric fistulas.

The young mother we met was among these women waiting for surgery. She was
holding her tiny baby-- limp in her arms, expressionless, undernourished.
We learned this baby was a result of rape and its mother was unable to
produce enough milk, perhaps from being undernourished herself or from the
trauma she experienced. We were told that there was a chance the baby would
soon die if the mother did not begin to produce milk. We will never know if
this baby lived or died. We will never know if the young mother was able to
receive the needed medical care and heal. We will never know.

Today we were introduced to the story of another young mother, Mary. The
gospel text tells the story of Mary and Joseph. We know the story well,
they were engaged; Mary got pregnant; Joseph was going to end the
relationship; God intervened via an angel and the wedding was still going to
take place.

All of this to get us ready to hear the real story: the birth of Jesus. As
we finalize our preparations for the birth of Jesus--the birth of Peace, the
birth of Hope, the Birth of Love--into our lives once again let us not
forget the young mothers and newborns who live in places of war and under
systems of injustice and cruelty. May we find prayers that connect us to
these women and babies and that challenge us to take action in Christ's name
for their liberation from injustice, cruelty, and war. May these prayers
also help us replace these evils with systems of justice, compassion, and
love.

Dear God of Advent Hope,

We give praise to your glorious name for the stories the Gospels tell, for
the preparation we have leading up to the birth of your Son-God with
Us-Jesus. Give us the strength and the courage to be actors for justice and
peace and for love and compassion. Amen.