Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
July 24, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072424.cfm

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Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I dedicated you,
a prophet to the nations I appointed you.
“Ah, Lord GOD!” I said,
“I know not how to speak; I am too young.”
But the LORD answered me,
Say not, “I am too young.”
To whomever I send you, you shall go;
whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Have no fear before them,
because I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.
Jeremiah 1: 5-8

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This passage recounting the call of Jeremiah is full of tenderness and encouragement. God assures Jeremiah that the world is bigger than his present hesitations, fears, and inadequacies.

God has known him and been with him even before he was born.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We give thanks that God has been with us always, even before we were born. God accompanies us through whatever fears and hesitations we have in living a good and holy life. Trust is the key that opens our hearts to this blessed truth.

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Poetry: Before the World Was Made – W.B. Yeats

In this intriguing poem, Yeats writes from the perspective of a woman whose efforts at physical beauty leave her unfulfilled. She longs for the spiritual beauty she possessed “before the world was made”.

If I make the lashes dark
And the eyes more bright
And the lips more scarlet,
Or ask if all be right
From mirror after mirror,
No vanity’s displayed:
I’m looking for the face I had
Before the world was made.

What if I look upon a man
As though on my beloved,
And my blood be cold the while
And my heart unmoved?
Why should he think me cruel
Or that he is betrayed?
I’d have him love the thing that was
Before the world was made.

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Music: I Have Loved You – Michael Joncas