Editor's Note
Wonderfully Made
As I’m writing, the Summer Olympics are in their second week, and I’ve been pulled in by the drama – or the hype – once again. And there have been moments, as there always seem to be in these games, of courage and beauty: Shalane Flanagan gutting out a bronze medal in the 10,000 meters; the Chinese divers; swimmer Dara Torres contending at 41.
The first time I noticed the Olympics at all, I was probably ten. But I can still remember being transfixed by the image on our black-and-white television of a woman running like I’d never seen anyone run before, her long strides impossibly graceful, her speed seemingly effortless as she flowed ahead of her competitors. So Wilma Rudolph gave me my first “Olympic moment.”
The psalmist wrote:
You formed my inmost being;
You knit me in my mother’s womb.
I praise You, so wonderfully You made me;
wonderful are Your works!
Ps. 139: 13-14
That Olympic athletes are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (to quote another translation of the Psalm) is obvious, because our attention, the attention of the media en masse, is so focused on their efforts and triumphs. But if we paid that kind of attention to any one of our brothers and sisters, the psalmist’s words would ring just as true.
The Church reminds us of this in its efforts to reverence and protect all human life from conception to natural death. That the unborn, the sick, the elderly, the poor, the mentally ill, even those imprisoned for crimes, are “wonderfully made” is a profoundly counter-cultural message in a society obsessed with appearance and celebrity. But the consistency and force with which the Church preaches that truth is one reason to be proud to be Catholic.
Catholic pride was a feeling that ran strong at World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, Australia, according to the WYD pilgrims from our Diocese. You can read about their experiences in this month’s cover story. Also, don’t miss our interview with Bishop Emeritus F. Joseph Gossman starting on page 5.
Thank you for your letters and emails! You can write me at 715 Nazareth Street, Raleigh, NC 27606 or reece@raldioc.org.