The world begins today March 15, 2022By Rita Buettner Catholic Review Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window It started as an ordinary enough day. I was just starting the workday at my office when my cell phone rang. It was my mother. I knew why she must be calling, and I couldn’t answer quickly enough. My new nephew had been born! My mother was full of news. The baby had arrived at 2:30 in the morning, he had a first name but not a middle one yet, he was 9 whole pounds, and mom and baby were both doing well. As I listened to the proud grandmother giving me all the details, I looked out my office window and realized how brightly the sun was shining. The sky was a soft blue. The winter grass was taking on that green of a new spring. Suddenly, the whole world looked different. Everything about this day seemed remarkable—and new. A child had been born. A little life had begun. A brand-new baby boy was opening his eyes in this magnificent world, with a whole host of opportunities ahead for him. It can be easy to get bogged down in the heaviness of life—here and far away from here. Watch the news unfolding around the world, and you can feel helpless and uncertain about the future. But there is something so special about the birth of a new baby. Today is a new beginning. Today, life is new. Today, the world begins again. Limitless opportunities await. Who knows what this little one will accomplish or discover or experience? Who knows who he is and who he will become? I can only guess. I can only imagine. But God knows, and I feel so blessed that He chose our family to have a front-row seat to this child’s story. What joy! What hope! What love! What a beautiful reminder during Lent that each one of us has value and purpose, that each one of us is created for a reason, and that each of us is celebrated and loved. And, so an ordinary day becomes extraordinary, and a new chapter begins. Welcome, baby boy. We love you so much already. Photo by Dominika Roseclay from Pexels. Copyright © 2022 Catholic Review Media Print