I PRAISE YOU, 

FOR I AM WONDERFULLY MADE 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is today’s psalm response, “I Praise You, For I Am Wonderfully Made.”

As I read today’s readings for this feast of the Birth of St. John The Baptist - I was wondering what to preach a short homily on. It has lots of threads to pull, themes to look at.

The psalm response from Psalm 139 grabbed me: “I Praise You, For I Am Wonderfully Made.”

BABIES

Babies - seeing a new born baby - brings automatic prayers - prayers of wonder and surprise, awesomeness and wow: “Praise you God!” How many people seeing a baby’s face, smile, eyes, ears, nose, fingers, toes praise God for new life. Awesome.

How many people spontaneously say a prayer when they see a pregnant woman?

I picture a pregnant woman knitting a blanket for her upcoming baby and composing Psalm 139 - especially these words, “Truly you have formed by inmost being. You knit me in my mother’s womb. I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully, made….”

In the gospel accounts of Mary and Elizabeth in both their pregnancies as well as their bringing forth new babies, we hear two women praying and praising God.

I did two baptisms on the weekend and as I stood there I saw both babies staring into space or somewhere and I thought to myself, “Where are they? What’s going on in their minds?”

They won’t remember their baby years and baptism - but when they have kids or see kids - they will be getting a glimpse of what they experienced as a baby.

Thinking about that, touch your hands and your face and ears and nose and say in prayer, “I Praise You, For I Am Wonderfully made.”

NAME

In today’s first reading from Isaiah we heard that God has a name for us, “… from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.” I’ve been on several retreats when the retreat master asked us to take a ballpoint pen and jot down God’s name for us. Then if we wanted to announce them out loud, with eyes closed, people said names like, “Beloved …. Precious …. Wonderful …. Selected …. Beautiful…. Grace …. Gift …. Sacred …. Unique!”

So we have two names - God’s name for us - and our parents name for us - and many people pick up a third name - a nick name from friends - from life - or the name our beloved gives us. Then there are all those varities of sounds for grandparents. Jot down the ones you have had - recall them - and bring them to  prayer.

Say again today’s Psalm Response: “I Praise You, For I Am Wonderfully made.”

OUR LIFE

Next we can look at our life - and we can answer the question we heard in today’s gospel, “What, then, will this child be?”

At the birth of a baby, at the baptism of a baby, at the first steps of a child, the first words, the first personality expressions, parents and others look at the child and ask that same question, “What, then, will this child be?”

In prayer we can just sit there and look at how our life has unfolded since our first words, our first steps, our first adventures outside our home, then school, dates, marriage, children, life.

In prayer and in time, we can answer for ourselves the lifetime question, “What, then, will this child be?”

And then we can thank God and say for ourselves, today’s psalm response, “I Praise You, For I Am Wonderfully Made.”