Wednesday,
12/19/12
Both
readings today tell stories of women conceiving a child at an old age when such
a conception was impossible. Those stories are in the Bible to remind us that
all births are miraculous in that the souls are direct gifts from God.
God
spoke to Jeremiah, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” God could
say the same for reach of us.
When
I was young I always heard that our souls were in heaven before we were born.,
and I used to say, “Yes, I remember some of that, but not much.”
In
the first thousand years of Christianity the saints leaned on the teachings of
Plato who thought that our souls came down from heaven to be imprisoned in
bodies for a time. They saw
themselves as symbolized by sunflowers that keep turning towards the sun with
the hope of getting back to their
real home.
In
the second thousand years of Christianity we have seen more sense in
Aristotle’s teaching that God creates our souls at our moments of conception.
Whatever
your philosophical bent you can thank God for having made you wondrously well.
1 comment:
Amen Father, we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. Theresa Longino
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