LIVING AND GROWING: Fingerprints

Published 4:30 am Saturday, October 3, 2026

“For in Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28

Years ago, when I was still working at the Juneau Pioneer Home, I attended training on how to use the new fingerprint machine. “Each person has their own unique set of fingerprints”, the trainer said. He added, “Even identical twins do not have the same fingerprints.” As of September 2026, the world’s population is around 8.3 billion. As I look intently at my fingers, it is impossible for a human artist to draw 8.3 billion unique fingerprints variations on a canvas the size of our fingers! By the grace of God, He gave us a unique set of fingerprints. Ah, how truly special we are, wonderfully and uniquely made by our loving God! Nothing is impossible with God. In the Scriptures, King David wrote in Psalm 139:13-14 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Our unique set of fingerprints is a living testimony of God’s unfathomable love for mankind, a love so great that He gave His only begotten Son to suffer and die on the Cross to save us, so that we, too, might return to our true home in Heaven and have eternal life, after our mission on earth is over.

Saint Paul said in Philippians 3:20 “But our citizenship is in Heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” French Jesuit philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said: “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” God the Father is our Father in Heaven, who sent us to earth with a mission. For many, this mission, which is so clear in Heaven, is often veiled upon arrival on earth until God unveils and it becomes crystal clear when we pray without ceasing for His will to be done; earth becomes our school while we temporarily live in this earthen vessel – our human body. While on earth, many souls get distracted, learn the ways of this world and become more attracted to it. By our own free will, we fall into temptations, we sin more and get deeper in it like the prodigal son who took his inheritance early, left his home, and squandered it on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck the country; hardships and humiliation made him realize his mistakes. Luke 15:20 says, “So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.” Father, thank You for your unfathomable love and mercy.

I believe that every human being’s God-given mission has one end goal: love, and only love, to allow love to grow and flourish, to grow in love and be love here on earth, for love to shine brightly as we carry God in the temple of our heart. For in God. Who is Love, we live and move and have our being.

When we love, we forgive. When we love, we take care of one another. When we love, we love our neighbors as ourselves.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” I will leave you with the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Message for the world given on September 25, 2026 in Medjugorje, Bosnia Herzegovina:

“Dear Children! May this time be a time of prayer for peace. I am calling you to renew in your families the prayer of the Rosary for my intentions, so that I may be able to multiply your prayers and intercede for you before the Most High, [for Him] to heed your prayers and to give you peace. I am with you, and like never before I pray for you and with you, my little children. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (With Ecclesiastical approval).

Gina Del Rosario is a Roman Catholic who was born and raised in the Philippines, and is a parishioner at Saint Paul’s Catholic Church in Juneau.

“Living and Growing” is a weekly column submitted by local clergy and spiritual leaders. It appears every Saturday on the Juneau Empire’s Faith page.