Whose Life Should We Respect?

Photography: Kelli Ann

While writing this article, many are preparing for the anniversary of Roe vs Wade on January 22, 2015.  Many of us are preparing for rallies and marches for life. We may have our signs ready to go and our buses packed for a journey to stand beside others, shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart, in solidarity for life. The blogosphere is preparing to light up with articles about life, “reports” from the field, and perhaps even arguments, as those who are opposed to abortion are challenged about their stance by those who are for abortion. It is a very volatile time. Tempers can flare when such an important subject is at the heart of the discussions and arguments. It’s easy to get sucked into the combox responses, the Facebook posts, the Twitter wars, and even into face to face arguments with people who seem to be so different from us.  It is also easy to forget that standing for life means respecting life – even those opposed to our mission.

As faithful Catholics, we are called to respect all life. We know the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us:

2319 Every human life, from the moment of conception until death, is sacred because the human person has been willed for its own sake in the image and likeness of the living and holy God.

We often use this reference when we “fight the good fight” against abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, and stem cell research involving aborted fetal cells. We know that each life, from the time of conception all the way to natural death, is important! We are encouraged by this teaching to respect the poor, the widowed, all children, the mentally unstable, those who fight health conditions, and many others who are struggling in their everyday lives.  However,  we fail to recognize is that this simple line in the Catechism tells us how we should interact with everyone we come in contact with, even those who may hold views contrary to our own.

More often, we view respecting life as an abortion or end of life issue. Yet, it encompasses so much more. Respecting life means that we look at others for what and who they really are- children of God. That coworker who steals all your ideas and passes them off as his own. He’s a child of God. That woman who has more money than she knows what to do with and looks down upon those who don’t have enough. Yes, she’s a child of God, too. The thief that broke into your house and stole all that you worked so hard to earn.  Guess what? He’s child of God. The pro-abortion advocate that is working hard against the pro-life efforts. As hard as it is to admit, she is a child of God as well.

What does this realization mean for us as we prepare to pick up our signs and make our voices heard? It means, as Catholic Christians who believe that each and every person is worthy of love and respect, we must extend that love and respect to those who are fighting so hard against protecting life. It means that while we may degraded, spit on, yelled at, baited into arguments, laughed at, and hated by those opposed to protecting all life, we still must show God’s love and respect to each and every person we encounter.  When we consider what it really means to respect life we suddenly understand that it is a lot harder than just standing with a sign that says, “All life is sacred”.

It is good to go and protest abortion. It is also good to silently stand for life, march for life, and to wear those tiny baby feet pins on our lapels. We are called to do so. We are called to protect life from the moment there is new life in a mother’s womb to the moment that God calls a person home. But in between those moments is a lifetime of opportunities to show how much we respect all life. Some of those opportunities will be easy to embrace – feeding the poor, tending the sick, helping a neighbor, uplifting a friend, or taking care of our loved ones. Other opportunities to respect life will be harder to accept – showing kindness to those who hurt us, forgiving those who trespass against us, respecting those who look down upon us and who refuse to show us respect. But as hard as it may be, God continues to call us to show love and respect to each and every person He has created.

So on this anniversary of Roe vs Wade, as we seek to show our support for all life, I pray we will remember to practice what we are preaching. It is difficult to understand how someone can look at an unborn child and not see how beautiful and perfect that child is, regardless of the way he/she entered the world and regardless of his/her physical imperfections. It’s even harder to look at those who hold these views and respect them when they are shouting at us, calling us names, or degrading us. But if we are to truly stand for life and respect all life as we are taught by Christ and His Holy Church, then we must also extend respect to those who stand opposed to our beliefs and our work. They are, after all, children of God too, made in His image and likeness. They are fearfully and wonderfully made. God knew them before He knit them in their mothers’ wombs. They are loved and cherished by our Father every bit as much as we. They deserve our love and respect, too.

As we prepare to stand for life, I pray we show respect for all life. How we conduct ourselves and how we treat those who are against us often will have a greater effect than the signs we carry.

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3 thoughts on “Whose Life Should We Respect?”

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  2. Pingback: March for Life 2015: We Won't Stop, We Won't Rest - BigPulpit

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