A Father's Love Letter

Words of Saint Padre Pio
"Listen carefully. There is a mother who is embroidering. Her son sitting on a low stool sees her work, but upside down. He sees the knots of the embroidery, the tangled threads and says, "Mother, what are you doing? Your work is not at all clear." Then the mother lowers the embroidery frame and shows the good part of her work. Each color is in its place and the variety of threads form a harmonious design. We are seeing the reverse side of the embroidery; we are sitting on the low stool."

Human beings are God's tapestries. Psalm 139 is a psalm that reveals God and His Divine attributes. The psalmist did not use God's creation of mountains, seas, or the galaxies. He expressed the wonder of God's unparalleled creative power in the fashioning of the human in the womb.

The Hebrew word used to express God's forming of us in the womb, raqam, is the same term for needlework or embroidery. In other words, we are a tapestry that displays God's artistic mastery. Like the artist who knows his creation down to the last detail, God intimately knows us. This reality provokes the writer to awe and wonder. He proclaims, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." What is true for this psalmist is true for each human being. Each is fashioned by God and known by Him and we can proclaim on behalf of each, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."



May the Mother of Jesus, and our Mother, obtain for us from her Son the grace to live a life according to the heart of God, a life that is entirely interior and hidden in Him. May God help us to appreciate the wonder and beauty of His creation. May the knowledge that we are intimately known by God shape our lives and actions.