Wednesday
of the 16th Week in Ordinary Time
July 23, 2014 8:30am
This morning’s first reading is from
the very beginning of the Book of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah recalls God’s words to
him: “Before
I formed you in the womb in knew you, before you were born I dedicated you.”
So Jeremiah has this sense, this
awareness that God knew him even before he was conceived and born.
And beyond knowing him, God had
already dedicated Jeremiah and given him a purpose, a mission, a vocation in
life.
I see these words as highlighting
how sacred human life is.
Our being, our life comes from
God.
God fashions each one of us and
brings us into being.
The result is that we are to value
the life of each person.
We value that life from even
before birth.
And we value that life in childhood,
in adolescence, in young adulthood and adulthood and senior years, right up to
the time that we return to the One who knew us even before He formed us in the
womb.
This deceptively simple message
in Jeremiah has far-reaching ramifications.
It calls us to a total,
consistent ethic of respect, even reverence for human life – as the saying
goes, from womb to tomb.
There will be temptations to shy
away from this – when it is challenging to bring a baby to term, or when it
seems too expensive to provide health care for everyone, or when we think that
the putting to death one has taken the life of another will in some way even
the score.
But this sentence from Jeremiah reminds
us that life is always from and of God and that the life of each person has a dignity
and purpose that cannot be taken away.
So, some thoughts from the Lord’s
words to Jeremiah: “Before I formed you
in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you.”
