psalm 139 - who am I? - 27th week tuesday 2016

Psalm 139 our responsorial psalm today answers the questions who am I, who are you, who are we?  The answer to these questions are the basis for my identity, it is the basis for every morality.  Change the answer, gloss it over, belittle it, apply it to some and not to all, and we will have a totally different world, a totally different morality, a totally different society.

Who am I, who is every man woman and child?  I am created by God on purpose and with love.

You have formed me; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I am fearfully, wonderfully made; When I was made in secret, when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth you know me.

We are all made by God, we are not accidents of nature, there is a purpose why God made us so and it is up for us to discover and fulfil it in our lifetime.  God owns us, he owns our life, he alone can give it, he alone can take it back.  It is my task, the task of each person who were fearfully and wonderfully made by God fulfill in his lifetime the vocation and responsibility God has given to each one, to live this life so as to glorify the creator so as to live with him forever in the life to come.

Why can we not kill, why can we not take away life of another human being even our very own life, why do we have to treat each other justly, why must I condemn the sin but never the sinner, why must I feed the hungry and clothe the naked, why must I love even the imprisoned and the criminals; why must I respect, why must I not discriminate because of race, color or belief or gender?  Why must I love even my enemies and even those who will not agree with me? Why must I forgive those who wronged me, why must I pray for others even for those who persecute me?  Why must I appreciate myself, the good in me, the giftedness in me?  Why?

Read psalm 139 and the answer is there.  It is called human dignity – you knit me in my mother’s womb.

Today our gospel reminds us that our doing does not define us. What we do, what we have achieved, our positions, our capacities, does not define us, does not make us greater and superior than the rest.  We may be up and about like Martha or we may be just sitting down like Mary.  But what makes me who I am in the eyes of God is the fact I am his child, I am fearfully and wonderfully made and nothing, not even sin, can change that fact.