Saint Margaret of Cortona began her life on earth in the 13th century. Let us go back to that time, to a little farmhouse in Laviano, in the province of Tuscany. There was a flurry in the quiet kitchen. Dusk had no sooner settled into night, when dawn was desperately trying to break through.

Water was boiling; the midwife was there to assist the bringing into the world of a new life. It was a girl! The pain of childbirth soon disappeared, as the mother held her new baby in her arms. We can just picture baby Margaret’s eyes opening to this new world outside of her mother’s womb.

Did you cry, Margaret? I wonder if babies cry upon leaving the security of their mother’s womb because they have been whacked on the bottom, or are they whacked as a reminder of what life has in store for them?

I have always been affirmed by loved ones, maybe, that’s why the vision of a Loving Father in Heaven is so easy for me to accept. I have always believed that God loved me. My parents showed their love in word and deed. They always made me feel special. My father said that I was the only one of his children that did not cause my mother pain when she gave birth. I do not know what that means, but maybe, that’s one of the reasons that I tried never to hurt my parents.

Do we call our children by loving names, affirming complementing them, telling them how very beautiful they are? We cannot tell you how many wounded adults, children in grown-up bodies, are scarred because their parents did not affirm them.