Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I dedicated you, a prophet to the nation I appointed you. I want to reflect on what it means for all of us in our faith; before we were born in the womb, God already had this plan for us. He allowed and brought us into the world through conception out of God’s love for us and humanity. When the soul is created at that moment, the two cells or the sperm the add come together, and they create one new cell, a human cell that God has a purpose and a plan for that person. Before you were born, God chose you; now that you live, it’s our opportunity to choose him. So before you were born, God chose you, and now during the time that we live, we have the chance to choose him. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard somebody say this before or have said it before in your own life the phrase “I wish I had never been born.” I wish I had never been born. Especially when we’re going through difficult times in our lives. We feel rejection or so much pain that the question or a statement that sometimes people make is, I wish I were never born. Sometimes people will even say God, did you even ask me if I wanted to be born? Why would you let this happen? Because life sometimes can be so difficult. St. John Chrysostom says about God, “I am the one who knit you together in your mother’s womb. Your life is not a work of nature nor the fruits of suffering. I am the original and the cause of all things. You should obey and offer yourself to me.” Then he adds. It does not begin with I consecrated you.
First, I knew you. Then I consecrated you thus the original choice shown, and after the initial selection is the particular calling. God is the one that brought us into the world; he’s also the one that gives us that original calling. In 1994, Mother Teresa was invited to give the invocation at breakfast before Congress, and I’m sure everybody was expecting her to provide a beautiful, pious prayer. She ended up talking for 20 minutes, actually 30 minutes in front of all of Congress. I want to read a few lines about what she said about an infant in the womb. But it’s cool if you have a chance to look it up on YouTube because you can see it. Mother Teresa is pretty short, right, so she comes walking out, and as she comes up to the microphone, she’s like this.
Not only that, but there are two big microphones here, so you could barely see her face she’s, but she went on and just she right and gave this powerful speech, so I’d like to just read a couple of the paragraphs from that as we reflect on the beauty of life and in life in the womb. This month we do celebrate Right to Life month. Last week was the march in Washington DC. So it’s a beautiful time to reflect on life in the womb. Mother Teresa said that she invited us to give up everything for God. To do God’s will, to love one another as he loves us. If we are unwilling to give up whatever it takes to do good to one another, sin is still in us. That is why we must give to each other until it hurts. Did you ever hear that phrase from Mother Teresa, “Give until it hurts”? That’s from this speech right here. That we must give until it hurts. That means love, ultimate love, will cause some hurt in us. It will cause difficulty for us.
True love is not easy. She said that it hurt Jesus to love us. We’ve been created in this image for greater things. We must put on Christ as scripture tells us to love and be loved. We have been created to love as he loves us. Jesus’ love ultimately was expressed when he suffered and died on the cross. That’s the same kind of love that God wants. You must love him back in the same way. Mother Theresa said that I could never forget the experience I had visiting a home where they kept all these old parents, sons, and daughters of God. They just put them there into institutions and forgot about them. She talked about some of the things that she saw in America that she just found disbelief in. But then she says that I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion because it is a war against the child. Direct killing of an innocent child. If we accept that a mother can kill even her child, how can we tell other people not to kill each other? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? Good question. She says, as always, we must persuade her with love. We remind ourselves that love means being willing to give until it hurts. We have to be willing to give that mother and father everything we can to help them raise that child. So the mother who is thinking of abortion should be supported by love. That is to give until it hurts her plans. That mother, too, is choosing to suffer. She’s choosing that her life will change dramatically by bringing this child into the world. God has called her from the very womb to be someone that is self-sacrificial in their love. The same with the father, too, is called and must give until it hurts. She says many people are very concerned with the children in Africa and India, where quite a few die of hunger. Many people are also worried about violence in this great country. These concerns are outstanding, but often these same people are not concerned with the millions who are being killed by the deliberate decision of their mothers. The greatest destroyer of peace is today abortion, which brings people such blindness.Â
And then she says for this; I appeal you in India, I appeal you everywhere, let’s bring the child back. This child is a gift of God to their family. Each child is created in the image and likeness of God, the creator to love and to be loved. This year, the family must bring the child back to the center of our caring and spirit. This is the only way that our world can survive. Because our children are the only hope for the future, she asked, what does God say to us? He says that if a mother could forget her child, I will not forget you. I think ultimately when a woman or a man or anyone is faced with this situation, and they choose abortion ultimately, it’s because they don’t trust enough that God will provide. They don’t trust enough that the church will provide. They don’t trust enough that God does have Providence and plans. Sometimes children grow up in very bad situations.
I wish I would never have been born? The answer is to come to know the love of God. Until we see the love of God, we may ask that question. Once we see the love of God, we’ll never ask that question to God because we know his love, and we know and believe that we have a purpose. Because children are sometimes brought up in an abusive family or an alcoholic family, or divorced family or whatever that may be, their image of God is significantly tarnished or even destroyed. Because of growing up in that situation. But even if a mother or father should forsake their child God, I still love you. It’s how do we then discover the love of God? How do we change our lives not to continue the original sin we were born in? I know there’s an author year back that said you could blame your parents until you turn 28 years old, and then once you’re 28 years old, you can no longer blame your parents for your behavior. Once you turn 28 years old or an adult, something like that, it’s time to stop blaming your parents and to take responsibility for your own life.
And that again only comes through the transformation that we hear in the second reading. If we indeed come to know God the father’s love for us. And what is his love? It may not be the love your parents show to you. The father is patient. Maybe your parents weren’t all that patient with you. The father is kind. Your parents weren’t always kind to you. The father is not jealous; he’s not pompous, he’s not inflated, he’s not rude. The father does not seek his interests. Our God, the father, is not selfish; he’s not looking out for him. He’s always looking out for you. The father is not quick-tempered, and if you have quick-tempered parents, God is not like that. He doesn’t brood over injury; he doesn’t rejoice in your wrongdoing but rejoices in your truth. When we come to know the father’s love, we know this: his love bears all things, his love believes all things, his love hopes all things. God, the father’s love, will never fail you. So before you were born, you may not have chosen to be paid, but God chose you, and hopefully now, as we continue to grow and to live in his love, we can make a choice to choose God. To choose life and to choose love.
