With doctor visits, baby showers, swelling, stress, joy, and a growing belly that come with pregnancy, it’s easy to forget to prepare yourself spiritually to welcome your newborn little baby into the world.
That’s why Éline Landon crafted maternal reflections and Scripture passages. Her new book helps Catholic moms prayerfully live each month of pregnancy according to God’s loving plan.
As the birth of your child approaches, turn to these loving pages to refresh your soul, strengthen your faith, and gain inspiration from the example set by the many expectant couples in Scripture.
Here are nine passages of Scripture to reflect on during each month of pregnancy! For the full beauty of spiritually preparing for birth, pick up a copy of Nine Months with God and Your Baby by Éline Landon from your local Catholic bookstore or online through Sophia Institute Press.
1. Psalm 127:3
“Lo, sons are a heritage from the Lord, the fruits of the womb a reward,” the psalmist writes.
This psalm is “an invitation to measure the gift the Lord gives us by entrusting these precious children into hands,” Landon writes. “They are the real treasures of a family.”
2. Psalm 139:13-14
“You formed my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works! My very self you know,” the psalmist writes.
“This psalm tells us that God knits us together in our mothers’ wombs and that we were made in secret,” Landon reflects. “He is silently and patiently knitting us together. God’s work is not noisy or hurried. It acts calmly, without our even perceiving it.”
This is the perfect psalm to meditate on during the second month of pregnancy!
3. Isaiah 43:5-7
“Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, every one who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made,” Isaiah writes.
By the third month of pregnancy, mothers may question themselves. Will they be capable of loving their children? How will they provide?
“Let us, in all simplicity, repeat this to our children,” advises Landon. “‘You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you.'”
4. Matthew 18:3-5
“Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child in my name receives me,” Christ says in Matthew’s gospel account.
Even as mothers observe a child growing in the womb in the fourth month of pregnancy, they are also called to become childlike in their relationship with the Lord.
“When we consent to have God as our father and to be his children, depending on him for everything, we are like newborns,” reflects Landon. “He takes care of us and waits for us to hand our lives over to him. What can we do by ourselves? Nothing; he gives us the grace.”
5. Luke 1:46-48
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed,” Mary proclaims in Luke’s gospel.
Just like John the Baptist jumped for joy in Elizabeth’s womb, babies experience important events in the womb.
“They move and react to what is going on around them, particularly when their fathers, mothers, and siblings take the time to communicate with them,” Landon writes. “They curl up against the hand that gently presses against them from outside the womb; in this way, they set up an unusual contact between the outside and the inside worlds.”
The Visitation is the perfect meditation for the fifth month of pregnancy!
6. Genesis 17:15-16
“As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her,” the Lord tells Abraham in Genesis.
By the sixth month of pregnancy, parents may have a list of names they’re contemplating giving their child. Names are important, both in Scripture and in the lives of our children.
“A name is really a gift that we give this being who is coming into the world,” Landon writes. “Therefore, it’s important to make it meaningful.”
7. Matthew 8:24-26
“Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but Jesus was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ He said to them, ‘Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?’ Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm,” Matthew writes in his gospel.
The seventh month of pregnancy ushers in a season of preparation. It can be easy to get swept away in preparing for the arrival of a baby, and worried about the pain that could come with labor.
“We sometimes struggle in our trials and feel like giving up,” Landon explains. “May we not be afraid to be in the boat; our Savior accompanies us. Let us not be afraid of storm that is unleashing with more or less energy in our lives, the accompaniment of a child during his birth; Jesus is there.”
8. 2 Corinthians 12:10
“When I am weak, then I am strong,” Saint Paul writes in his second letter to the Corinthians.
The eighth month is the perfect time for a reflection on weakness and vulnerability.
“The birth of a child exposes us, in the literal as well as the figurative sense of the word. We do not give birth with our clothes on, right? Likewise, we must remove all the skins that we have put on to protect ourselves, like armor,” Landon encourages expecting mothers.
9. Psalm 131:2
“But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother’s breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul,” the psalmist writes.
The last month of pregnancy may seem to stretch on for much more than four weeks, but it provides a beautiful time to make the last spiritual preparations before birth.
“May we calmly welcome these babies; let us stop being agitated after the turbulence of the childbirth, contemplate our newborn children, and take the time to welcome them,” Landon encourages new mothers. “Let us stay calm, and may this peace enlighten us about the surrender of our lives into the Lord’s hands.”
Nine Months with God and Your Baby by Éline Landon makes the perfect baby shower gift for the new Catholic mom in your life. Pick up a copy today!