Rejoice, rejoice! The solstice is past.
Here comes the sun.
14 responses to “Breastfeeding in church?”
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I’m OK with breast-feeding. But is that a tambourine I see in the background?
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Oh, she likes her tambourines and guitars does Herself.
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It’s a lute. Pronounced lyoot by all the best choirs.
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It is a lutenist angel playing Shine, Jesus Shine.
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That might be the only time “Shine, Jesus Shine” would be appropriate to sing.
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I fear the tambourine might disturb the feeding child. Trust me. I know about this.
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Is the picture of Madonna and Child in the chapel at the Cathedral of the Isles in Millport not showing Mary breastfeeding, not too ostentatiously?
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Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore. -
Christine is right: a rattling tambourine would distract a nursing child, particularly one as old as this appears to be! Lute music would be soothing though. Mary’s anatomy is distinctly odd. She seems to have no shoulders, and her breast is in a very peculiar place on her chest. However, we get the point: how could something ordained by God, or “nature” be offensive to anyone? When babies need feeding, they won’t wait; should mothers not go to church or to restaurants for up to two years after a birth? If page 3 type breasts loom from every newsagent’s shelves, what could be so disturbing about breasts being used for their other function?
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Er … I think you’ll find, Gay, that breastfeeding is the primary function of a woman’s breasts; any other is a creation of male fantasies.
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Interesting point, Christine. Although I said “other” not “secondary”. You know that tee shirt for pregnant women that goes “it began with a kiss”? When most of us got pregnant one of the two functions came into it, I’ll bet, male fantasies or otherwise! Breasts have two functions; what is extraordinary is that one is designated as so disgusting that it has to be performed in private, in a corner, or hidden under a napkin – but it’s the wrong one… Bring on the lutes and adoring angels!
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Hey, Jesus was breast-fed.
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‘Is the picture of Madonna and Child in the chapel at the Cathedral of the Isles in Millport not showing Mary breastfeeding?’ Yes, I think it does, Kennedy. It’s also the only Madonna and Child painting I like, as it shows Mary, realistically, as a bedraggled, just-delivered 16-year-old single mother. I wish it were better known.
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There is nothing better than these comments and this beautiful meme today. 🙂
-a mom who nursed 2 children for 4 years total
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