Of Cells and Science

“Every person on this planet leaves behind them a material imprint of their existence. Among them is a man who arguably exerted the greatest influence on the history of humankind.” 

...Witnesses to Mystery, Investigation into Christ’s Relics, Gomy and Roesikon, Ignatius Press

See the shadow in the upper right portion of the picture of the Virgin Mary statue taken by Frank when he was in Rome.

I read the book, Witnesses to Mystery...  this past month.

I found the book, which has really good photographs of Christ's relics, to be a solid history of them over the past 2000 years, and a good survey of where Christ's relics are now and how they've been scientifically studied, usually by scholars that are not Catholic.

Rather than being a defense of the Faith, this book sets out to be a valuable encyclopedia of Christ's relics, and what has happened to them over the years and as well as where they are now. It also  outlines what studies have been done on each relic and what they have shown. There are also short forays into subjects and people related to the main relic story like St. King Louis IX, or the various Crusades,  how St. Helen found the True Cross and other relics, and much more. Very easy reading probably because there are so many pictures! It would make a good coffee table book.

Another 'Frank in Rome' photo.

Reading Witnesses... brought back to my mind another scientific study and small article about it I had read just before we moved.  I decided to search for the study and found the paper online without any trouble. 

The far reaching, and I think, the amazing, results of this study show that even years later, the living cells of a mother are found in the body of her offspring, and the live cells of every pregnancy of the mother's has been found in her body (fighting injuries and cancer, in her blood, bone marrow, organs, etc.) Scientists used to believe that the offspring cells which were found at injury or cancer sites, were responsible for creating the tumors or cancers - now they believe these cells are, in fact, surrounding these sick cells to keep them from traveling or getting worse. One study found cells of a woman's only child - and her only known pregnancy -  a son, who was 51 years old at that time, in her body. And, when the mother dies, the offspring cells die also.

Aside from the various medical implications of this finding, there's the comfort of knowing, for mothers who lose their children, that their live cells are still 'with them'.

 This is also meaningful for the Church's teaching on Mary's Assumption, by Christ, her Son, into Heaven upon her death, keeping her body (and His Holy live cells) from earthly decay and corruption. A Relic of her body or a burial site for her have never been revealed. If either had, it would have been venerated heavily all of these years! Others, according to Holy Scripture and Church teaching, have also been Assumed into Heaven: Moses and Elijah come to mind.

Where there will probably be a lot of impact from this study is against the arguments in support for abortion. Hmmmm... maybe that's why we haven't heard much about this….

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