This letter, by Fr. Lombardi, which is written
to the 7 billionth baby, is truly beautiful. I just had to share it. You can
read it at source or read it below.
Dear
baby number seven billion
I don’t know if you are a girl or a boy,
whether you are Indian or Chinese, born in a great city or a tiny village. I
don’t know if you were born in the fertile South American lowlands or under an
igloo above the Arctic Circle.
I don’t know if you were born on a remote
island, or in a refugee tent. I don’t know whether you are healthy or sick or
handicapped. I don’t know whether both your parents were there to embrace you
at your birth, or whether your mother alone was there to hold you. I don’t know
whether people will say there are too many or too few of you and your
contemporaries. Today, I don’t care about that.
This world you are coming into is a bit
complicated and it’s not friendly for everyone. We haven’t done a very good job
preparing it for you. The leaders of the richest and most powerful nations are
sitting around a table, struggling to find a way forward. We too are asking
ourselves about your future.
But today I want to tell you that you are
unique and special, that you are a wonderful gift that you are a miracle, that
your spirit will live forever, and so you are welcome. We hope that when you
smile someone will respond to your smile, and when you cry someone will caress
you. We hope you can go to school and that you won’t go hungry. We hope that
someone will answer your questions wisely and encourage you as you find your
place in the world. We hope you will be able to love others that will be able
to grow, and work, and live among your family, with many friends, in a nation
and in a world that is free and at peace. We pray that you can understand that
your life will find its fullest meaning not in this world but in the next.
Because this is what you were born for. Your
Creator and Father made you for this. We will do our part to make this
possible; but you will have to do your part, too, because your future will also
depend on you and the choices you make—and it will be up to you to welcome baby
eight billion.
No comments:
Post a Comment