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[Human cloning] begins to turn inside out the notion that we are sheep and the Lord is our shepherd. Human beings are now capable of creating other human beings. More and more it is beginning to appear that the sheep are in charge now, and they have powers that once belonged to the shepherd....

The Acts of the Apostles describes an Easter people whose lives have been turned inside out by the death of their Lord and by their experience that even beyond death he was still with them. And we see in them a picture of the freedom, dignity and love of which human beings are capable. "They were of one heart and soul," Acts says. "And there was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold ... and it was distributed to each as any had need."

Here are people not made by calculation. They are aware of the sacred gift of their lives, and that they find their life in opening themselves to one another and taking responsibility for each other. They have a wisdom and a generosity we in our driven, calculating, designer-shaped lives are missing.

This is the Easter miracle, of a group of lowly, powerless, uncredentialed, uneducated people discovering in their life together the real power behind the universe -- the power of a life-giving welcoming, compassionate love. And this despite what must have been their very modest genetic make-ups!

Wisdom begins in awe and wonder. It begins in our awareness that life is sacred. And, therefore, each life is something of unspeakable dignity, and is not to be used, manipulated, or designed for other purposes.

The problem, the danger, is not scientific discoveries. It is that this kind of knowledge grants uneven power. And none of us is wise enough to wield that kind of power without finally beginning to use and control each other.
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07/16/02 10:02:32 PM