welcome a new baby

¹⁷Every excellent gift and every perfect gift is from above, descending from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor any shadow of alteration.

⁵“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you went forth from the womb, I sanctified you. And I made you a prophet to the nations.”

³Behold, the inheritance of the Lord is sons, the reward is the fruit of the womb.

²⁷I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted to me my petition, which I asked of him.

¹⁴Yet truly, Jesus said to them: “Allow the little children to come to me, and do not choose to prohibit them. For the kingdom of heaven is among such as these.”

¹³For you have possessed my temperament. You have supported me from the womb of my mother.

⁴⁰Now the child grew, and he was strengthened with the fullness of wisdom. And the grace of God was in him.

⁵In the same manner that you do not know the way of the spirit, nor the way that bones are joined together in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you do not know the works of God, who is the Maker of all.

⁶The proverb is: A youth is close to his way; even when he is old, he will not withdraw from it.

²¹A woman, when she is giving birth, has sorrow, because her hour has arrived. But when she has given birth to the child, then she no longer remembers the difficulties, because of the joy: for a man has been born into the world.

¹⁰See to it that you do not despise even one of these little ones. For I say to you, that their Angels in heaven continually look upon the face of my Father, who is in heaven.

³Behold, the inheritance of the Lord is sons, the reward is the fruit of the womb. ⁴Like arrows in the hand of the powerful, so are the sons of those who have been cast out. ⁵Blessed is the man who has filled his desire from these things. He will not be confounded when he speaks to his enemies at the gate.

³Out of the mouths of babes and infants, you have perfected praise, because of your enemies, so that you may destroy the enemy and the revenger.

¹³For you have possessed my temperament. You have supported me from the womb of my mother. ¹⁴I will confess to you, for you have been magnified terribly. Your works are miraculous, as my soul knows exceedingly well. ¹⁵My bone, which you have made in secret, has not been hidden from you, and my substance is in accord with the lower parts of the earth. ¹⁶Your eyes saw my imperfection, and all this shall be written in your book. Days will be formed, and no one shall be in them.

¹⁶And embracing them, and laying his hands upon them, he blessed them.

²⁷I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted to me my petition, which I asked of him. ²⁸Because of this, I have also lent him to the Lord, for all the days when he shall be lent to the Lord.” And they adored the Lord in that place. And Hannah prayed, and she said:

¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think over you, says the Lord: thoughts of peace and not of affliction, so that I may give you patience and an end.

³⁶“Whoever receives one such child in my name, receives me. And whoever receives me, receives not me, but him who sent me.” ³⁷John responded to him by saying, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name; he does not follow us, and so we prohibited him.”

²⁴Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and your Maker from the womb: I am the Lord, who makes all things, who alone extends the heavens, who makes the earth firm. And there is no one with me.

¹⁰For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has prepared and in which we should walk.