OU are getting grown up now, so there are one or two things I want to tell you.

1. How a baby is born
You know from your catechism that you have a body and a soul. The soul of a new baby is made by God Himself, but its body comes from its mother. It begins to grow from a tiny little speck, an egg the size of a pin-point. But before this tiny egg can begin to grow into a baby, it has to be joined by a special liquid called 'seed'. This comes from the father, and is passed into the body of the mother when they join their bodies together. The part the father uses to give her this seed is the part from which his water comes; and the part the mother uses to receive the seed is inside the outer opening from which her water comes.

There may not be an egg ready to grow inside the body of the mother. But if there is, and if it meets some of this seed, the life of the baby begins, because at this same moment God Himself creates a soul for the child, and sends an angel to guard it all its life and to help it to get to heaven. This first moment is called the conception of the baby. We often talk about the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, don't we?

For nine months after this the baby goes on growing inside its mother, in her womb. Then it is born, and comes out through the same opening through which she received the seed. This birth of a baby nearly always gives the mother a lot of pain, but she puts up with it out of love for her baby.

After it is born, the mother feeds it with the milk from her