Each Human Life—A Sign of God’s Love

Recently I was enjoying myself at a gathering of families.  I saw a friend there and began to walk over to greet him. There was a woman sitting in a chair about ten feet closer to me than the man I was going to see. Her back was turned to me. As I got closer to her, I saw she was holding an infant in her arms. I felt a sensation of peace and joy come over me, the warmth of love.  I stopped in my tracks and found myself detoured from my friend and looking lovingly at this tiny child in her mother’s arms. It was like looking into a universe of love. I didn’t plan to do it. It just happened. I was totally captured by this icon of God’s love.
           
That is really what each of us is—an icon of God’s love. Sure, we say that we are created in God’s image and likeness. We know that it is true. We believe it. But when we are confronted with this truth in the flesh, it becomes a life-changing experience.  A sure-fire proof of this truth is to look into an infant’s eyes, an infant cradled in a mother’s arms. It speaks of a love that comes from beyond ourselves—a love that must be embraced and cherished.
           
In a very particular way, every year toward the end of January millions of people across our great nation turn their hearts to and offer their prayers concerning one of the most compelling testimonies to the proof of love in our lives—the beauty of a tiny baby in a mother’s womb. Our concern for these tiny witnesses to life given to us by God is so great and urgent because approximately 3000 unborn children are destroyed by abortion each day. This year on the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Roe vs. Wade, we mourn the death of the over 60 million unborn children lost to abortion since that fateful day in 1973.
           
While these statistics are staggering and heart breaking, the true gravity of and urgency to stop legalized abortion can be best captured in the scene I described at the beginning of this reflection—a tiny, beautiful infant human being cradled in the arms of a mother. The annihilation of unborn children by abortion destroys the life of the child, harms the heart and soul of the mother, and lethally afflicts the bond uniting them that supports the fabric of the family.
           
This icon of love, a mother with an infant, shows us what, or better said, who is destroyed behind the closed doors of an abortion clinic. The grave act of abortion is an attack on love and beauty. It is an assault on the creative loving will of God and the beauty of the human body and soul.
           
It is no wonder that the Church teaches clearly and proclaims courageously that each and every human life is an amazing sign of God’s love. Each of us, my dear brothers and sisters, is called to amplify the voice of the Church by prophetically announcing that every human life is a gift from God and that the killing of children by abortion is a dark act that destroys both infants and mothers.
           
In the midst of the sorrow and pain that abortion inflicts on so many of our sisters, brothers, and children, we should never forget the icon of God’s love that is a mother cradling her child. This icon wonderfully shines forth in so many beautiful images of the Virgin Mother Mary and the Infant Jesus. These images inspire us to do exactly what changes minds and hearts—that is, pray. We know the power of prayer coming from a loving Mother’s Heart can and does change the world. After all, isn’t that what happened in the house of Nazareth when the holy at prayer accepted life from God and conceived His Son Jesus in her womb?
           
This January, the 49th anniversary of the tragic decision of Roe vs. Wade that legalized abortion, we should go again with great confidence and love to that Virgin Mother and Infant. Let us ask the Mother of God to intercede for us, for women in crisis pregnancies and for unborn children, asking for her protection and help. On January 21, the day of the National March for Life in Washington, D.C., let us fast and pray for these precious unborn children and their mothers who are often in such difficult life circumstances.  Let us pray the Rosary of the Virgin Mother and ask her powerful intercession.  Let us go to Mass that day and receive Our Lord in Holy Communion for the end of abortion and the healing of all hearts.  After all, who better than the Mother of God herself to obtain a conversion of heart and protection of the most vulnerable in our midst, unborn children? 

May the power of the unbreakable bond of love between Jesus and Mary touch the hearts of many people so that abortion may cease, the lives of the unborn may be saved, and the hearts of mothers be healed.

Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh