Women inherit stem cells from their children

The other day, I was sorting through some old files on the computer, and came across a link to an article that intrigued me, "Pregnant Women 'Inherit' Some Charactistics of Their Children." It stated in part...

Mothers undergo permanent changes during pregnancy, in which they "inherit" some characteristics of the child they carry and, through the child, also receive some characteristics of the father...

...it has also been discovered that the embryo sends stem cells that, thanks to the mother's immune system tolerance, colonize the maternal medulla, and adhere to it. What is more, lymphocytes are born from here and remain with the woman for the rest of her life...

...the child's stem cells pass to the mother in great quantity, both at the moment of birth, whether spontaneous or Caesarean, as well as at the time of abortion, whether spontaneous or voluntary. These cells are implanted in the mother's medulla and produce lymphocytes, which have a common origin with the cells of the central nervous system; they have receptors for the neurotransmitters and can make messages pass that the maternal nervous system understand...

...When asked how long the fetus' influence on the mother lasts, the professor answered: "Stem cells have been found in the mother even 30 years after the birth. It could be said, therefore, the pregnancy does not last the 40 canonical weeks, but the woman's entire life...

...Moreover, the hematopoietic [blood-producing] stem cells go to the medulla and produce offspring cells, lymphocytes and neurotransmitters with the capacity to dialogue with the maternal central nervous system. It is somewhat as though the 'thoughts' of the child pass to the mother, even many years after his birth.

This single article contains a wealth of information to meditate on...

• Mary, herself, was and is, fully human. Mary is not divine, nor is she to be worshipped, But we do honor her above all other saints, by virtue of her status as Jesus' mother. How much more so is she worthy of honor, if she, and she alone, has been graced with the unceasing Real Presence of her Son. We receive the Eucharist, and enjoy the Real Presence, as long as the form remains intact and uncorrupted, perhaps 15 minutes or so after receiving Communion. For Mary, does this mean there was no end to her Communion with her Son?
• Mary was not just the New Ark of the Covenant during her 9 months of pregnancy, but during her entire life thereafter. And, as she was assumed into heaven, body and soul, she continues to be the New Ark into eternity.
• We pray "Hail Mary, the Lord is with thee," not "Hail Mary, the Lord was with thee." We acknowledge that Mary was and is ever in the presence of the Lord, in a way we cannot fathom. Perhaps the presence of her Son's stem cells is not the same as Jesus' presence in the Eucharist, but even at the cellular level, can we separate Christ's humanity from His divinity? How many cells must be amassed before minute particles of Jesus' Body are "enough" to be adored? Does the revealed truth of the Hypostatic Union apply to individual cells, or just to the body as a whole?
• The cells transmitted from Son to mother were blood-producing cells - so they were both her Son's Body and Blood, just as the Eucharist is Body and Blood. The effects of this were that mother and Son were, and continue to be in true Communion.
• Mary was gifted with extraordinary graces, so much so that she was saved through the merits of her Son with her Immaculate Conception. Blessed with the Real Presence thoughout her life, and into eternity, does that indeed make her singularly qualified to be Mediatrix of All Graces? All grace comes from God, though Christ, the Sole Mediator. But if Jesus was and continues to be present in Mary in a unique intimacy unknown before or since, then is not her role as Mediatrix valid and justified?
• Does this hint at the reason behind the very real power of the prayer of the rosary? With every Hail Mary, we acknowledge the Communion between Jesus and Mary, which gives glory to Jesus as Lord, and honors Mary, His mother. With Jesus as head of the Body of Christ, and we the members of that Mystical Body, acknowledging the union between Jesus and Mary, we acknowledge our communion with Mary, our mother. "Am I not here, who is your mother?" And as the sole human who has been blessed with unceasing communion with the Lord, it is apt and fitting for us to approach her, our mother, to intercede for us in prayer. When we approach Mary, we are approaching Jesus. They are not one and the same, as the Trinity is one and the same. But they are in true Communion.
• God is frugal. No word or action is useless or wasted. I've heard it said that the only word that is not in God's dictionary is "Oops." All is used for our good, and to His Greater Glory. So, when Jesus' first public miracle was performed through the intercession of His mother, what does that say? If intercessory prayer is not in God's will, why did Jesus honor it in such a way, and not just any intercessor, as we all are, but through the intercession of His mother. Jesus said He only does the will of the Father. So, in honoring Mary, He was doing the will of the Father.
• Mary is not just in Communion with Jesus, but with the indivisible Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. She is Spirit-filled, a true charismatic, in Communion with the Spirit before Pentecost, just as she was in Communion with the Lord before the Last Supper. So, when she was in the upper room, praying for the coming of the Advocate, she was praying not for herself, but for the others. God did not need Mary's intercessory prayer to send the Holy Spirit, just as He did not need Mary to bring His Son into the world. But He listened.
  
  I was not present at Pentecost, so I am only speculating. But, after the nine days of prayer, the first novena, did the Holy Spirit descend on all equally? Or, did the Spirit of God first touch Mary, who was already Spirit-filled, and then radiate out to the others, as in her Magnificat, "My soul magnifies the Lord."

See, once you start meditating on the Communion between Jesus and Mary, in conjunction with what we now know of the physiology of communion between mother and child, you can really get lost in thought. The quote from Pope John Paul II, The Power of the Rosary, brings this into focus, and shows us that we can unleash a torrent of graces, simply by acknowledging Jesus through Mary, in the simple prayer of the rosary.