16 June to 23 June

'MUMMY WHERE DID I COME FROM?'
Every child asks his Mother this question and it cannot really be answered with a basic introduction to the facts of life. This will never really satisfy the child at that deep level at which the question is asked.  This question is really a deep ontological question; a question about 'being' rather than about 'biology'. It represents a most precious moment in our childhood, when we first become reflexively conscious of ourselves; when God first taps us on the shoulder, and whispers our name in our ear: 'Hello Johnny'. At that moment we suddenly wake up to the reality of our personal identity. - 'Gosh, it's Me!  But where did I come from?'

The only really satisfactory answer to this primordial, 'gut' question is, of course: 'You came from God, dear.'  That  is the only answer that meets the question at the same depth as that at which it is asked;  the only answer that fully satisfies the child's mind; that gives it a proper sense of direction and purpose in life; that gives it a sense of security and self-worth.  Instinctively any child knows that God doesn't make rubbish.  'And God looked and saw that it was good, and saw that it was very good.'

Father Raymond Jaconelli is Abbot of Sancta Maria Abbey, a Cistercian Monastery at Nunraw in East Lothian, Scotland.