“As persons created in the image of a good and loving God, we are called to have a profound reverence and respect for all living things and, indeed, for all of creation—both the visible and the invisible realities in our universe. All life is sacred, but especially all human life because every human being is a mirror of God and an irreplaceable person endowed with dignity, rights and an immortal soul.
Our Church rightly insists that human life must be respected at every stage of existence—from the moment of conception until the time of natural death. Every form of deliberate killing—including abortion, euthanasia, suicide, capital punishment and genocide—is morally unacceptable. We may have sincere compassion and understanding for the reasons why individuals and societies commit these acts, but we can never approve of the actions themselves. Indeed, it is our solemn duty as followers of Jesus Christ to do everything in our power to prevent the deliberate taking of human life whenever and wherever it is threatened.” (Archbishop Charles Thompson, Leadership Briefing, 21 Oct 2022)
For 40-years, this weekend has had special import in our Catholic Christian, and indeed human, efforts to uphold the dignity of All Human Life – especially the smallest of human life, the unborn. With the overturning of the Roe v. Wade case by the Dobbs v Jackson decision last summer, this year’s anniversary comes with both joy and continued concern. While overturning Roe has opened the way forward for greater protection of unborn life, it has also moved the front to the local state level. In many ways, it places the onus more our personal shoulders than ever. Now we are tasks with making the case for life in our own state, our own town, our own community. The struggle to defend unborn life has never really been about legal matters; rather, it’s always been about hearts and heads and hands. It is about opening lives up to the loving the child as much as we want to love the mother (and father). It is about enlightening the mind on the true, scientific, biological fact that life begins at conception. It is about being the ever-supporting hands for parents faced with the challenging realities of an ‘unexpected’ pregnancy. Until our hearts, heads, & hands have been configured to Christ and then in turn those of every person in our community, the struggle, effort, & work of defending All Human Life will persist.
Without a doubt, Abortion is not the only threat to life. And others too must be addressed. We are not a single-issue Faith. Yet, the subtle nature of abortion makes it so paramount. No victim is as helpless, defenseless, or in need of protection than an unborn child. No victim seems to go unseen as this tiniest of life within the mother’s womb. No threat to life is as numerous as the millions of abortions taking life each year in the US and around the world. No affront to life tears at the fabric of human relationships like destroying that of mother for child or parents for each other. Life is a precious, fragile, and precarious thing. Threats to its dignity, respect, care, and love are legion. Yet, we Catholic Christians must be at the forefront of its protection in our communities, our vote, our ministries, our works, our relationships, our speech, our thoughts, in our love.
+ Nothing Less than saints
for the Holy Family of God. +
Holy Family, restorers of fallen families, Pray for us.
~ Fr Jeremy M. Gries