Redeemer in the Womb - Review

Redeemer in the Womb
John Saward
San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993

This is a good book that I will read as part of my research in relation to Mary as the formator of our holiness. Mr. Saward gives good references and as Fr. Thompson quotes below
""We shall not see Christ's radiance in our lives yet; it is still hidden in our darkness; nevertheless, we must believe that He is growing in our lives; we must believe it so firmly that we cannot help relating everything, literally everything, to this almost incredible reality."

BOOK REVIEW:
BY Fr. Thomas Thompsen, SM
Catholic spirituality is centered on Christ. Whereas modern thinking strives to interpret the exact words and teachings of Christ, an older spirituality and theology concentrated on the interior dispositions of Christ--his poverty, obedience, filial piety, resignation--and the events of his life. These "mysteries" or "states" of Christ's life continue into the present, and the Christian spirituality consists in reliving and participating in these attitudes and events.

Formerly of Ushaw College, Durham, and now at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Philidelphia, John Saward presents a rich work of theology, spirituality, and ethics to consider one period of Christ's life--the nine months he passed within the body of the Virgin Mary. This "work of reclamation," as Professor Saward terms it, brings together "what early Christian writers, Christian philosophy, liturgy, poetry, and iconography" have said about this now forgotten period--the nine months of Jesus' embryonic and fetal life in Mary.

Central to the story is the Annunciation, "the chief feast of the Incarnation." Christ's birth is the manifestation to the world of what occurred at the Annunciation. Through Mary's Yes, the preexisting Son of God assumed a human flesh and a human soul. The Eastern writers, especially Maximus the Confessor, insist upon the inseparability of body and soul, the wholeness of Christ's human person from the very beginning.

Christian spirituality does not limit communication to the verbal. At the Visitation, Mary, the new Ark of the Covenant, bears within her the God-become-man who sanctifies his forerunner, John the Baptist. Jesus' mission of sanctifying others begins even before his birth. Both Elizabeth and Joseph are filled with reverential wonder in the presence of the divine within Mary. Elizabeth expresses amazement that Mary, "the Mother of the Lord" should come to her. Joseph wanted to leave Mary, not because he was ashamed of her conduct, but because he sensed the divine presence within her. Mary's Assumption is the final transfer of the Ark, the "shrine of the living God."

This indwelling of Christ in Mary's womb is a figure of Christian reality. The womb in which Christ now dwells is "wide as the world"--it is the Church, the Eucharist, the individual. In each case, Christ comes trusting and defenseless, present as an unborn child awaiting a birth.

Saward's book is the perfect Advent book--the Advent not limited to the liturgical season. Caryll Houselander, whom Saward regards as a prophet, saw Advent as a time of darkness, of waiting. "We shall not see Christ's radiance in our lives yet; it is still hidden in our darkness; nevertheless, we must believe that He is growing in our lives; we must believe it so firmly that we cannot help relating everything, literally everything, to this almost incredible reality."