Thursday of the Third Week of Advent

Readings of the Day

Today’s readings share a similar story of women unable to conceive.  In biblical times, the inability to conceive a child would have been a source of shame for married women.  But as we see in both stories, God intervenes to remove the shame that these women feel.  On the surface, we might read this as a story of God answering a prayer by providing each woman with what she desires.  But I would suggest there is something deeper happening here.

Dr. Brené Brown, a research professor of social work at the University of Houston, defines shame as “the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging.”  Understood in this way, God’s response in these stories is to restore the dignity of the women, to show them that they are loved.

At Catholic Charities, we regularly encounter people who are overcome with shame and doubt their own goodness.  This could be as a result of past decisions they have made or because of things outside their control.  Regardless of the reason, they feel they are unworthy of being loved or that they deserve the bad things that have happened to them.  While we may not be able to change the circumstances that produced these feelings of shame, we do have the opportunity to remind each person we meet of their dignity that comes from being loved by God. 

When we help another person discover how much they are loved, we participate with God in the work of redemption.  What a privilege this is! May we never take for granted our ability to impact another person’s life.

Peter Weiss has been the Living Justice Advocate with Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Green Bay in 2017.  Peter’s role is to promote justice and Catholic Social Teaching throughout the Diocese of Green Bay.

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