Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Blood, Sweat, Poop And the Theotokos

Blood, Sweat, Poop And the Theotokos

Last updated on: July 28, 2016 at 4:31 pm by Mary Pezzulo

Blood, Sweat, Poop And the Theotokos 2016-07-28T16:31:07-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“If they did it would be a relic,” my mother protested, and went on and on about how according to the visions of Blessed some sickly nun with three names, Mother Mary saved all of Jesus’s and her own dropped out hair and teeth as being too sacred to throw away, which seems a narcissistic thing for a perfect and perfectly humble woman to do. They also added that “Jesus and Mary had a very pure diet– they ate bread and vegetables and sometimes fish,” because according to the prophecies of Blessed some sickly nun with three names, Jesus and Mary never ate meat (other than fish, that ever-present Catholic paradox). Only worldly old Saint Joseph ate meat.

I pointed out that, with a diet like that, Jesus and Mary would go to the bathroom more often.

My parents were not pleased.

Never mind the implied allegation that Jesus and Mary, devoutly observant Jews, the Messiah and His pious Mother, disobeyed God the Father and didn’t eat a lamb dinner at Passover every year, but I’ll leave that little matter between God and whoever the nun was.

Thank God that Holy Mother Church has declared all private revelations, even the sensible ones, completely optional for the faithful to believe.

In any case, I believe that Christ and Mary had bowel movements. And I believe that Mary the blessed Theotokos and ever-virgin washed diapers while Jesus pulled up grass or sucked on his fist, and probably went and pooped the other diaper while the clean one was still too wet to wear. I believe that the Pure Virgin wiped His nose and cleaned dribble off of His chin. I believe she washed His hair before Shabbat and privately wondered how he’d managed to get crumbs in it, just as mothers have always done.

I believe that, when she breastfed Him, sometimes she leaked and sometimes she hurt, and sometimes He threw up milk on her.

I believe that, as He got older, He went out to play with friends or to help His foster-father in the shop, and came home with shockingly dirty and torn clothes she had to wash and mend.

And I know, because the Bible tells me so, that she was at the foot of the Cross.

You can’t stay clean at the foot of the Cross, not physically. If you draw near, you’re going to get smeared. There will be blood, and the blood will be ugly, and you’ll be stained red with the mark of a Man declared unclean and condemned by all. Everyone will know you were at the foot of the Cross, and they won’t like you for it. You’ll be stained for life.

It’s the stain that gets you clean, somehow. Mary was immaculate from the moment of her conception, but it was still Christ that did that for her, outside of time, with that same ugly blood. He’ll do it for all of us, if we’re willing to be dirty.

You can’t serve Christ without the mess. When you approach the pure white unblemished Lamb for cleansing, you’re going to get dirty. Christ became man, like us in all things but sin, and men are gross. He ate, He worked, He sweated, He went to the latrine. He needed His feet washed. He died covered in blood, tears and other men’s spittle. If you come to serve Christ, He will send you out to gather up the little Christs, all His precious icons in the world, and treat them as you would treat Him. That will look different for each one of us, because each vocation is different, but the people you serve are always Christ, and Christ will absolutely stain you. Babies will throw up breastmilk and need caked crap cleaned off their buttocks. Children will get into messes and ruin the carpeting. Adults will pretend to be self-sufficient and sanitary, but nobody completely is. And then, of course, they age, and suddenly they need someone to change their diapers and wipe up their slobber again. Next thing you know they die and need burial– the final corporal work of mercy that Christ demands of us, is that we bury the dead.

If you serve Christ, it will mark you. Men will find you ugly for keeping ugly company. They will laugh at you, mock you and crucify you, and you’ll die dirty and be buried in the dirty earth.

But you’ll die marked with the blood of the Lamb.

I pray for us all to have the grace of getting filthy, like Immaculate Mary. It’s the only way to ever be clean.

(Image: a detail from Henrique Bernadelli’s Mater, via Wikimedia Commons.)

Interpretation of Scripture

motherhood

mourn with those mourn

Previous Post

July 27, 2016

The Best Reaction I've Read So Far To The Horrific Knife Attack in Japan

Next Post

July 28, 2016 You Know What the Divine Mercy Feels Like?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What city did the walls fall down after the Israelites marched around it?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jerusalem Nineveh Nazareth Jericho