MARY IS PRO-LIFE BY ACCEPTING TO BE THE MOTHER OF THE CHILD JESUS   The word "Navidad" – which means Christmas in Spanish – has its origins in the words "nacimiento" (birth) and “nacer” (be born). It is the world's number one and most celebrated Holiday. The true reason for the celebration is that the Savior of Humankind came to this world and was born of the Virgin Mary, who courageously said “Yes” and gave birth to her only son to fulfill the saving plan of God for the world. Therefore, Christmas should also be a celebration of life and of all women who, like Mary, say “Yes” to the lives being formed in their wombs as mothers. So, this Christmas, let us give thanks to Mary for through her “Yes” "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14) for the redemption of the entire world. In the world today, millions celebrate Christmas but also support abortion, not life. It is even sadder to realize that some Catholics support abortion. This means that they support the death of innocent life based upon the excuse that women should "decide freely what to do with their own body". And I would agree, but for the fact that the life that is developing in their wombs is human, created in the image of God, and should be respected, not destroyed. We must respect and protect life from conception to natural death as the Church explains in the Catechism 2319 "every human life, from the moment of conception until death, is sacred because the human person has been willed for its own sake in the image and likeness of the Living and Holy God." Abortion is real to me; it is a part of my story. My mother told me that after being separated from her husband for many years because she suffered domestic violence at his hands, she decided to move to Northern Mexico. One day in Tijuana, after work, she visited her best friend, Eloisa, who lived with her husband and brother-in-law José, an older bachelor, over for some drinks after dinner. The next day, my mother woke up next to José. And she said to him, “there is nothing between you and me, just forgive me and forget this ever happened. Even though I have been separated from my husband for many years, I am still a married woman." A few weeks later, my mother began to feel strange and, with great surprise, discovered that she had become pregnant that night. My mother, a woman from Colima in Southern Mexico who lived alone in Tijuana, in Northern Mexico, with no family members to rely upon, only her friend Eloisa. As the months passed, people advised her to get an abortion, arguing against letting a baby be born into a life of instability and poverty.  Things were different then. Abortion was not legal in Mexico and was done clandestinely. I thank God my mother realized she was carrying a life in her womb…