A Thursday Throwback: "The Gift of Life" (original publish: 10/4/2016)

(A meditation for the celebration of “Respect Life” month)
Composed by: Sr. Mary Magdalene

This post was originally written and posted in October 2016 in celebration of Respect Life month.  It is re-posted here as an opportunity to reflect and meditate on the Gift of Life in the days leading up to the 2019 March for Life.  We hope you find it fruitful!
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Each year the United States Conference on Catholic Bishops designates October as “Respect Life” month.  This year’s theme is “Moved by Mercy” and comes from a quote by Pope Francis during this Year of Mercy in which he encourages each of us by saying “We are called to show mercy because mercy has been shown to us.”

Enjoy the following meditations on the dignity of all life, our own and that of every human person!
 
First meditation:  The Gift of Life which is God Himself

Stop and listen! Of the Father’s Love Begotten   
   
…and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

The mystery of the Incarnation is this: that God so loved the world that he sent his only Son, our Lord Jesus, to save us.  In this ultimate humility, God the Son took on human flesh through the person of the Blessed Virgin Mary in order that He might dwell with us, be close to us, give Himself completely to us.  This is the Gift of God’s own Life.  God the Son had no need to take on our human condition but was instead compelled by love to do so.  He became one with us in our humanity that we might be made worthy to share in his divinity.

Pray—Lord God, Creator of the Universe, it is beyond my comprehension that You would choose to humble Yourself to dwell within our very human nature.  In “coming down” to our earthly humanity, You “raise us up” in all dignity.  Help my heart to be grateful for this Gift which is Your very being.

Ponder—God chose to “confine” Himself to a human body in the Person of our Lord, Jesus.  And yet, as God, He cannot be confined at all; not in our understanding, not in our limitations, not in our neatly packaged notions or preconceived little boxes.  Am I able to embrace God as the Creator, and embrace myself as a mere creature sprung from the love of God’s own heart?

Second meditation:  The Gift of Life which is our own life

Stop and listen! Holy is His Name    

 …Truly You have formed my inmost being; You knit me in my mother’s womb.
We were known and loved long before we were born.  This is the “Gift of our own life.”  That God, who is Sacred, has formed us in His image and wrapped us in His Holiness.
Beloved, you were on God’s heart from before the moment of your conception, cherished and given the dignity of human personhood and divine adoption.
It is a natural human inclination to desire to “know” and to “be known” intimately.  We long to be loved fully, even loved through our faults and failings.  It is this kind of Love in which Jesus embraces us.

Pray—Lord, as I sit quietly and allow You to gaze upon me in my brokenness, open my heart that I might know something of this unconditional love You wish to pour out on me.  I am Your Beloved child.

Ponder—Do I treat myself, my body and my soul, with the dignity of one who is greatly loved by God?

Third Meditation:  the Gift which is ALL life
Jesus, the very son of God, was born into the world as we all are: a baby formed in His mother’s womb.  I heard it once said that “Jesus became the lowest of the low, to show us that no one was beneath his dignity, that every human was worth saving, was of sacred worth.”

Every human….is of sacred worth
                —every race, every religion or no religion at all,
                    woman or man, imprisoned or free, rich or poor

 Every human….is of sacred worth
                —strong or weak, in illness or in good health,
                    the very old, waiting to meet their Lord
                    and the unborn baby, waiting to greet the world!

You are of sacred worth. I am of sacred worth.  Each and every one of us Divinely loved into being!

Stop and listen! How Great Thou Art   
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Pray—Lord, help me to realize my own worth in Your merciful eyes, and create for me “eyes” that see each and every human person with the love and compassion with which You see them.
Ponder—Am I able to see the “sacred”in myself?  Am I able to see the “sacred” in each human person?  This is the Gift of Life which is the dignity of all life; Sacred from conception to natural death.  Beloved, and written on the heart of God.
 
If you would like, you may end by praying one “Our Father,” one “Hail Mary,” and one “Glory Be.”

May we see one another with eyes of compassion and hearts moved by Mercy!



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