“And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.  And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of his father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end.’

‘And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God.’

“Now at this time Mary arose and went with haste to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it came about that when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb…”

Luke 1:30-33, 36-37, 39-41

Aside from the earth shaking glory, various angel sightings, and the plentiful miracles taking place around the conception of Jesus Christ in the womb of a virgin, the account of Jesus’ and John’s life as pre-born children itself, written here in Luke’s Gospel, should fill our hearts with wonder.

Suffice it to say that the scriptures revere the Christ child to be the Christ child while still in His Mother’s womb.

While thinking on and celebrating and remembering Christ’s coming into the world this year, my mind has been taken up with these verses. And my recurring thought is this:

If the most important reason to esteem the sanctity of human life in the womb is that we are made in God’s own image, and I believe it is, then it must be of equal or greater value to the cause of the sanctity of human life in the womb that God’s own Son Jesus took on our flesh an became one of us.

I know that God loves pre-born children because He became one of them. God has forever associated Himself with humans at all stages of life, even the weakest children still in their mother’s wombs.

This fact is filling my mind with wonder at the goodness of God this Christmas season and I hope it will do the same for you.

Merry Christmas.