A reflection on the uterus, the crucifix and the seminary: Part 1

By Sharina Gerald

Last week I attended the ordination of Fr David Mark Villafana and while seated, during one of those deliberately silent moments, something beautiful happened in my mind that caused me to ponder on the beauty of the cross, the womb and the priesthood.

It happened during the Rite of Ordination. I sat to the left on one of the chairs there and before me was this very large crucifix. Without warning, the form of a uterus appeared to me superimposed on the crucifix. I was quite stunned by that happening and asked myself, “How could this be?” I am here minding my business and all of a sudden the image of a uterus stands on the crucifix.

I asked myself, “Is my mind playing tricks on me?” I prayed, “Lord Jesus, what is this?” I blinked; I looked again but I could not unsee it. I said maybe it’s the shape of the cross. But because of my background in biology and knowing that God speaks through His work I thought to myself that they both represent something to do with new life and, in both cases, there is blood being shed so there is something of redemption in there.

When I got home the image returned to my mind while chatting with my friend and I mentioned what happened to me. He encouraged me to discern further what God was saying. The next morning, I saw that the Seminary of St John-Marie Vianney and the Ugandan Martyrs had posted on Facebook that “the womb of the seminary has just delivered another son to serve Holy Mother Church” . I was consoled by seeing this for I knew that I wasn’t seeing things (I laughed joyously at this).

I was led to further contemplate and research and to share the fruits of my contemplation and research. Three common ideas emerged: receptivity, transformation and mission.

Receptivity(Conception)

A fertile womb is receptive to new life in the form of a zygote. So much so that the embryo becomes implanted into the endometrium. The developing baby and the mother’s uterus interface at the placenta. Even the zygote is receptive to this process. Even before the zygote was, the ovum and the sperm were receptive to each other.

A young man who positively responds to the call of priesthood is receptive to God’s call. His mind and heart are postured towards God. In the same way, the seminary is receptive to him. The seminarian is a seed in the womb of the seminary, and the call of God is a seed planted in his own heart and mind. The seminary is going to nurture this man in the same way that the man nurtures (meditates and contemplates) the call of God upon his life. As a matter of fact, the word ‘seminary’ comes from Latin seminarium which means ‘seed bed’. Seminarium is derived from semen which means ‘seed’ which comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *sē- which means ‘to sow’.

The crucifix is God’s invitation to us. We receive Him and He receives us. We grow in communion with Him and He grows in us. We become rooted in Christ and He becomes rooted in us. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” (Jn 1:14). This is the Incarnation. Mary the mother of Jesus, Mother Mary was receptive and open to God’s will in her life and she cooperated in the work of God in her fiat: “Let it be done to me according to your word, ”(Lk 1).

The Catechism tells us that Mary’s pronouncement of her fiat at the Annunciation was her giving her consent to the Incarnation and thereby collaborating with the whole work her Son was to accomplish (CCC 973). In Matthew’s Gospel (Chapter 13), Christ tells us in the Parable of the Sower that the seed is the Word that grows in receptive ground. To say ‘yes’ to God is to receive His Word into our innermost being in the same way that Mary received Him into her being. Mary’s ‘yes’ is a response for all humanity. We can see also that when a man says ‘yes’ to becoming a holy priest for God that, like Mother Mary, his response is for all humanity. We are called to be receptive and vulnerable to grace. To be like Mother Mary, like the saints, joining Jesus as he unequivocally says ‘Yes’ to God the Father.
Continued next week.