What was Jesus' life in the womb like?
From the first moment of his human existence, Jesus saw us and loved us.
From the first moment of his human existence, Jesus saw us and loved us.
Editor’s Notes
In this part, Fr Coleridge tells us…
How the soul of Christ began at once a perfect life of knowledge, love, and offering
That even in the womb he saw God, mankind, and the whole work of redemption
Why obedience, humility, and silence marked this hidden beginning of his earthly life
He shows us that, before he ever appeared among men, Christ had already begun the work of their salvation.
For more context on this section, see Part I.
The WM Review produced an audio meditation based on parts of this chapter as a part of the Preparing for Total Consecration series:
Our Lord’s Life in the Womb
The Nine Months
Chapter VII
Burns and Oates, London, 1885
Headings and some line breaks added.
The Life of our Lord in the womb
We must next pass on to the Life of our Lord in the womb of His Mother. It was a Life that began at once in full vigour of mind and heart, a vigour which was to last on throughout all eternity.
It was a Divine Life, wholly directed to the glory of God, a Life of merit in His sight so great as to suffice for the redemption and glorification of a thousand worlds. It was a Life which was not His own, inasmuch as it was from the first devoted to God and to us.
The Soul of Jesus was perfectly conscious of, and took immense delight in, its own elevation, its union with the Divine Person, its immense gifts and privileges, its prerogative as the source of all spiritual blessings to our Lady, St. Joseph, all the saints and all the faithful, the possible source of infinite blessings to infinite numbers of souls that would never actually enjoy them.
All the blessings, actual and possible, and all the souls to whom they were to be given or might have been given, were perfectly present to it from the first moment.
Interior work for God – Vision of God, and all things
It began at once its Life of interior work for God, with the utmost fervour, with unrelenting perseverance, with the utmost purity of intention, and with the full, tranquil, and deliberate purpose to gain all the holiest ends for which such actions could be offered.
The Soul of our Lord at once saw God perfectly with the plenitude of Beatific Vision, and here again it had this not only for itself, but also for others. To see God was to understand His infinite greatness, to adore Him with the most perfect worship as a creature, to love Him most intensely, and all creatures in Him and for Him, and especially men who had been made our Lord’s brethren by the Incarnation.
Then followed gratitude, thanksgiving in His own Heart, and in the heart of His Mother. For the Magnificat reveals to us, as we shall see, what it was that our Lord inspired in her at that time. And, as far as was consistent with God’s decree, and in due time, in the hearts of the other Saints of the Incarnation, Joseph, Elisabeth, Zachary, John, the same holy exercise was kindled into life by the presence and grace of our Lord.
This blessed Soul also saw and understood the human world into which He had come, Mary, His own Mother, Joseph, whose office was to be His father, St. John His Precursor, and the whole race of man, past, present, future. Then came the vision of the miserable state of the race of which He was now one, its need of redemption and restoration, and the will of the Father that this should be His work.
This led to His oblation of Himself for this purpose, of which St. Paul speaks in the Epistle to the Hebrews, to His renouncement of the rights of His Body, in order that He might suffer, and the rest. The whole of His own future on earth and in Heaven, as well as that of all souls, was clearly manifested to Him.
Special virtues at this time – obedience
There is another head of consideration on this subject which is found in the virtues which were especially practised by our Lord in this Life of His in the womb. He was of course, at this, as at all times of His Life, the pattern of all virtues, but there are some which seem more particularly to belong to this period, on account of the conditions under which His marvellous existence was carried on, as there are other similar circumstances in His Life in the Blessed Sacrament, to which this Life in the womb of Mary bears so much resemblance.
Thus it may be said that our Lord was Incarnate at the bidding of obedience, inasmuch as it was an act of obedience on the part of His Mother that made the Incarnation possible in the counsels of God and actual when it took place. Our Lady’s words, “be it done to me according to thy word,” were the signal for the Incarnation. He remained in the womb, notwithstanding the perfection of His Manhood both in Soul and Body, for the full natural space of the nine months, out of obedience to the usual laws in such cases.
And one of His occupations in the womb was to offer Himself continually to be obedient, not only to His Eternal Father for Whose love He became Incarnate, but also to all who in any way or measure represented Him, as our Lady His Mother, St. Joseph who was to be in the place of His Father, and even to all authorities lay or ecclesiastical who had derived their power from Him.
Humility
In the same way, when we consider the perfection of our Lord from the moment of His Conception in intelligence and the use of His faculties, we cannot but be astounded at the extreme lengths to which He went in His humiliations during this interval before His Birth.
The Church sings of Him, “Thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb,” and although those words of hers may have more than one meaning, they seem to express her sense of the depths of His humiliation. It did in a manner befit the ways of God and the character of our Lord, that when He had received in His Human Nature the very highest possible exaltation by the union with the Divine Person of the Word, He should at once seek to humble Himself to the very utmost, by His imprisonment in the womb of His Mother.
And yet this does not adequately express the humiliation of our Lord, on account of His perfect consciousness and possession of all His faculties. For these enabled Him to surpass the actual humiliation of His sojourn in the womb by the affections of humiliation which His Sacred Heart conceived while there, in which He desired and decreed to humble Himself not only before God His Father and Lord, but beneath the feet of the lowest and vilest of His creatures.
Meekness and patience
Another special virtue of this period of our Lord’s Life is His marvellous meekness. God has become Man, but He has laid aside the majesty and the mightiness in which He appeared of old, as when He gave the Law on Mount Sinai. He is especially, as He delights to call Himself, for our sake, meek and humble of Heart, and He begins the practice of this virtue in the womb of His meek and humble Mother. He begins at once to appease the anger of His Father towards men, by this extreme meekness, and He prepares Himself, as it might seem, by the practice of this most beautiful virtue from the beginning, for that exercise of it towards men in His later life which made it His most characteristic virtue.
The same may be said of His practice of the love of poverty. For He is here entirely dependent on His Mother for sustenance, and He has, as the Apostle says, being rich, made Himself poor for our sakes, that He might communicate to us the true riches of Heaven. And this poverty which He began to practise now He continued throughout His whole Life.
Patience, the suffering of all inconveniences and incommodities, is another of these virtues of this stage of the Infancy. This again was more to Him than to others, on account of the perfection of the use of all His faculties which was from the very beginning, and even this suffering of confinement and straitness and darkness and the like He increased, by the interior acts of His patience.
For in the womb itself He was continually looking forward to the torments which He was to undergo, far greater and more painful than those sufferings which He then actually experienced, and His Heart stretched itself also to that tender sympathy which led Him to make His own all the sufferings of others in the world, especially those which were to be undergone in any way for His sake, or by those who specially belonged to Him.
Prayer and silence
There remain a few other virtues more particularly practised in the womb by our Lord. Such was in a special manner the exercise of prayer and contemplation, which formed the most direct occupation of the Sacred Heart during these months, in which our Lord engaged Himself in the contemplation of His Father’s greatness, and also in the prayerful compassion for our miseries.
Such was also the practice of silence, the inseparable companion and guardian of prayer and the spirit of prayer, in which, it is needless to say, the time of our Lord’s existence was entirely spent. Such was the love of perfect retirement for the sake of being alone with God, a virtue of which we have many examples of our Lord recorded even in His most active Life, but which belongs in a special manner and degree to the Holy Infancy all through, though particularly to the Infancy before the Nativity.
Our Lord’s Life in the Womb
Read Next:
Here’s why you should subscribe to The Father Coleridge Reader and share with others:
Fr Coleridge provides solid explanations of the entirety of the Gospel
His work is full of doctrine and piety, and is highly credible
He gives a clear trajectory of the life of Christ, its drama and all its stages—increasing our appreciation and admiration for the God-Man.
If more Catholics knew about works like Coleridge’s, then other works based on sentimentality and dubious private revelations would be much less attractive.
But sourcing and curating the texts, cleaning up scans, and editing them for online reading is a labour of love, and takes a lot of time.
Will you lend us a hand and hit subscribe?
Follow our projects on Twitter, YouTube and Telegram:
Twitter (The WM Review)
Our Lord’s Life in the Womb
The Nine Months
Chapter VII
Burns and Oates, London, 1885
Headings and some line breaks added.
The Life of our Lord in the womb
We must next pass on to the Life of our Lord in the womb of His Mother. It was a Life that began at once in full vigour of mind and heart, a vigour which was to last on throughout all eternity.
It was a Divine Life, wholly directed to the glory of God, a Life of merit in His sight so great as to suffice for the redemption and glorification of a thousand worlds. It was a Life which was not His own, inasmuch as it was from the first devoted to God and to us.
The Soul of Jesus was perfectly conscious of, and took immense delight in, its own elevation, its union with the Divine Person, its immense gifts and privileges, its prerogative as the source of all spiritual blessings to our Lady, St. Joseph, all the saints and all the faithful, the possible source of infinite blessings to infinite numbers of souls that would never actually enjoy them.
All the blessings, actual and possible, and all the souls to whom they were to be given or might have been given, were perfectly present to it from the first moment.
Interior work for God – Vision of God, and all things
It began at once its Life of interior work for God, with the utmost fervour, with unrelenting perseverance, with the utmost purity of intention, and with the full, tranquil, and deliberate purpose to gain all the holiest ends for which such actions could be offered.
The Soul of our Lord at once saw God perfectly with the plenitude of Beatific Vision, and here again it had this not only for itself, but also for others. To see God was to understand His infinite greatness, to adore Him with the most perfect worship as a creature, to love Him most intensely, and all creatures in Him and for Him, and especially men who had been made our Lord’s brethren by the Incarnation.
Then followed gratitude, thanksgiving in His own Heart, and in the heart of His Mother. For the Magnificat reveals to us, as we shall see, what it was that our Lord inspired in her at that time. And, as far as was consistent with God’s decree, and in due time, in the hearts of the other Saints of the Incarnation, Joseph, Elisabeth, Zachary, John, the same holy exercise was kindled into life by the presence and grace of our Lord.
This blessed Soul also saw and understood the human world into which He had come, Mary, His own Mother, Joseph, whose office was to be His father, St. John His Precursor, and the whole race of man, past, present, future. Then came the vision of the miserable state of the race of which He was now one, its need of redemption and restoration, and the will of the Father that this should be His work.
This led to His oblation of Himself for this purpose, of which St. Paul speaks in the Epistle to the Hebrews, to His renouncement of the rights of His Body, in order that He might suffer, and the rest. The whole of His own future on earth and in Heaven, as well as that of all souls, was clearly manifested to Him.
Special virtues at this time – obedience
There is another head of consideration on this subject which is found in the virtues which were especially practised by our Lord in this Life of His in the womb. He was of course, at this, as at all times of His Life, the pattern of all virtues, but there are some which seem more particularly to belong to this period, on account of the conditions under which His marvellous existence was carried on, as there are other similar circumstances in His Life in the Blessed Sacrament, to which this Life in the womb of Mary bears so much resemblance.
Thus it may be said that our Lord was Incarnate at the bidding of obedience, inasmuch as it was an act of obedience on the part of His Mother that made the Incarnation possible in the counsels of God and actual when it took place. Our Lady’s words, “be it done to me according to thy word,” were the signal for the Incarnation. He remained in the womb, notwithstanding the perfection of His Manhood both in Soul and Body, for the full natural space of the nine months, out of obedience to the usual laws in such cases.
And one of His occupations in the womb was to offer Himself continually to be obedient, not only to His Eternal Father for Whose love He became Incarnate, but also to all who in any way or measure represented Him, as our Lady His Mother, St. Joseph who was to be in the place of His Father, and even to all authorities lay or ecclesiastical who had derived their power from Him.
Humility
In the same way, when we consider the perfection of our Lord from the moment of His Conception in intelligence and the use of His faculties, we cannot but be astounded at the extreme lengths to which He went in His humiliations during this interval before His Birth.
The Church sings of Him, “Thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb,” and although those words of hers may have more than one meaning, they seem to express her sense of the depths of His humiliation. It did in a manner befit the ways of God and the character of our Lord, that when He had received in His Human Nature the very highest possible exaltation by the union with the Divine Person of the Word, He should at once seek to humble Himself to the very utmost, by His imprisonment in the womb of His Mother.
And yet this does not adequately express the humiliation of our Lord, on account of His perfect consciousness and possession of all His faculties. For these enabled Him to surpass the actual humiliation of His sojourn in the womb by the affections of humiliation which His Sacred Heart conceived while there, in which He desired and decreed to humble Himself not only before God His Father and Lord, but beneath the feet of the lowest and vilest of His creatures.
Meekness and patience
Another special virtue of this period of our Lord’s Life is His marvellous meekness. God has become Man, but He has laid aside the majesty and the mightiness in which He appeared of old, as when He gave the Law on Mount Sinai. He is especially, as He delights to call Himself, for our sake, meek and humble of Heart, and He begins the practice of this virtue in the womb of His meek and humble Mother. He begins at once to appease the anger of His Father towards men, by this extreme meekness, and He prepares Himself, as it might seem, by the practice of this most beautiful virtue from the beginning, for that exercise of it towards men in His later life which made it His most characteristic virtue.
The same may be said of His practice of the love of poverty. For He is here entirely dependent on His Mother for sustenance, and He has, as the Apostle says, being rich, made Himself poor for our sakes, that He might communicate to us the true riches of Heaven. And this poverty which He began to practise now He continued throughout His whole Life.
Patience, the suffering of all inconveniences and incommodities, is another of these virtues of this stage of the Infancy. This again was more to Him than to others, on account of the perfection of the use of all His faculties which was from the very beginning, and even this suffering of confinement and straitness and darkness and the like He increased, by the interior acts of His patience.
For in the womb itself He was continually looking forward to the torments which He was to undergo, far greater and more painful than those sufferings which He then actually experienced, and His Heart stretched itself also to that tender sympathy which led Him to make His own all the sufferings of others in the world, especially those which were to be undergone in any way for His sake, or by those who specially belonged to Him.
Prayer and silence
There remain a few other virtues more particularly practised in the womb by our Lord. Such was in a special manner the exercise of prayer and contemplation, which formed the most direct occupation of the Sacred Heart during these months, in which our Lord engaged Himself in the contemplation of His Father’s greatness, and also in the prayerful compassion for our miseries.
Such was also the practice of silence, the inseparable companion and guardian of prayer and the spirit of prayer, in which, it is needless to say, the time of our Lord’s existence was entirely spent. Such was the love of perfect retirement for the sake of being alone with God, a virtue of which we have many examples of our Lord recorded even in His most active Life, but which belongs in a special manner and degree to the Holy Infancy all through, though particularly to the Infancy before the Nativity.
Our Lord’s Life in the Womb
Read Next:
Here’s why you should subscribe to The Father Coleridge Reader and share with others:
Fr Coleridge provides solid explanations of the entirety of the Gospel
His work is full of doctrine and piety, and is highly credible
He gives a clear trajectory of the life of Christ, its drama and all its stages—increasing our appreciation and admiration for the God-Man.
If more Catholics knew about works like Coleridge’s, then other works based on sentimentality and dubious private revelations would be much less attractive.
But sourcing and curating the texts, cleaning up scans, and editing them for online reading is a labour of love, and takes a lot of time.
Will you lend us a hand and hit subscribe?
Follow our projects on Twitter, YouTube and Telegram:
Twitter (The WM Review)