WONDERFULLY MADE

One car after another, after the other - three brand new cars, highly polished, squeaky clean, brought to me to be blessed. They were truly works of art, wonderfully made. The proud owners were obviously delighted, and so were the passengers – excited young children.

In prayer and song we asked God to bless those who had used their creative skills to design these vehicles, as well as those who had manufactured and assembled their many parts. Everything was wonderfully made! We prayed that these cars would not suffer from mechanical failures, or be the victims of mindless, dangerous, users of the roads.

And then, most importantly, I turned to the owners, the drivers and asked each one of them to make a pledge that they would drive their cars carefully and responsibly so as not to be a hazard to themselves, their passengers and other users of the road.

I pointed out to them that what WAS WONDERFULLY MADE WAS MADE FOR A PURPOSE…to be useful in taking people to work and the children to school and to be sources of delight when travelling to see friends or going on an outing - just for the fun of it!

Sadly, I felt the need to remind them that what was delicately fine-tuned could also be lethally powerful – a source of exceeding joy could also be the cause of inconsolable regret. I advised them, "Don’t drive your car faster than your Guardian Angel can fly."

I’ve described these brand new cars as "Wonderfully Made" and "Made for a Purpose." In truth and in fact these are the titles of the two volumes of "A Syllabus for Family Life Education in Catholic Schools in Grenada." What a marvelous thing to give to young children, right from their earliest days, the idea that they themselves and everyone around them were ‘wonderfully made’ by a clever Creator God who is their loving Heavenly Father. They would do well to admire themselves, their ability to walk and to talk, and to thank and to praise God, perhaps in the words of Psalm 139,

For it was you who created my being,
knit me together in my mother's womb.
I thank you for the wonder of my being,
for the wonders of all your creation.

Beautiful cars were not made to remain idle, to be admired, in the sales’ room of a car dealer. They were made for a purpose…as we have already seen. You and I, all of us, were not made for idle, foolish, meaningless lives. Creator God made us for a purpose. For starters, we were made for love…to love and to be loved…to love God, other people, and even to love our own selves...and to be loved by God and by other people.

More important than anything else is the conviction, perhaps the discovery, that we are lovable and that we are cable of loving others…good to other people, good for other people. Not one of us is worthless, not one us is useless…God did not make us so. We must not think it so…about ourselves or anyone else.

As I ponder the very thought of being made for a purpose first of all these words of St. Paul crowd in upon me.

^{Though I command languages both human and angelic -- if I speak without love, I am no more than a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. 2 And though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith}

^{necessary to move mountains -- if I am without love, I am nothing. 3 Though I should give away to the poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to be burned -- if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever.(1 Cor. 13).}

^{The love I’m thinking of is not cozily comfortable. It is unendingly demanding…and yet rewarding, as in the song,}

^{If I can help somebody as I pass along, If I can cheer somebody with a word or song, If I can show somebody he is trav’ling wrong, Then my living shall not be in vain.}

^{Wonderfully made! Made for a purpose!}

^{How better can we thank our Creator than by following this exhortation of St. Paul. "Whatever you eat, then, or drink, and whatever else you do, do it all for the glory of God," (1 Cor. 10.31)?}




Peter Clarle, OP
Look out for the next Blog 10th May 2013