Salt + Light Media Menu
Salt + Light Media Home
Magnifying Glass
coverPhoto
Premium content

Asset title

Asset description

Witness to Life

Matthew Harrison

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Earlier this year, Archbishop Michael Miller, of Vancouver, wrote:
I urge you to recommit yourselves to the sacred cause of life and to help financially equip pro-life organizations, such as crisis pregnancy centres, to serve our communities. Even more, I urge you to become personally involved. Let us act in small and large ways - to pray, to witness, to volunteer and to support the pro-life groups in our local communities.
12_week_fetus1The faithful have the opportunity to witness to life this weekend with the annual Life Chain, held this year on October 3rd.
If you've never been to a Life Chain, it's very straight forward.  People gather at intersections in cities throughout Canada, holding a sign, and silently witness to the sacredness of life and scourge of abortion (the signs may read anything from Abortion Kills Children, to Abortion Hurts Women, to Life: the First Inalienable Right).  People pass by, some honk their horns in support, others offer more colourful ways to disagree.  Regardless, it's an hour of prayer for the unborn, and the respect for life.
Visit this link for an intersection near you.
I've been attending Life Chain for a few years now and last year, for the first time, a young man approached my wife and I and engaged in a conversation.  He disagreed with our point of view, but he was respectful and we discussed the issue.
What I found so sad was his idea that it is the quality of life, that gives value to the life.  He saw no inherent value in life itself.
For example, I mentioned adoption as an alternative to abortion, and he said how he had many "messed up" friends from foster homes, and how the homes were terrible, and abusive, etc.  An abusive home life in any capacity is a tragedy, whether or not you're adopted.  But to use this to argue in favour of abortion is awful.  It's the "what-if?" argument!  "What if my baby is adopted by a cruel couple? They'll hate him.  Beat him.  He'll be depressed in his teens.  He'll become an addict.  He'll be unemployed and will never amount to anything," etc., etc.
It's such a sad perspective to take!  It's a guessing game of what this person's quality of life will be.  And what I've experienced in my thirty-some-odd years of life, when you're setting your plans and assume what's going to happen... prepare to be surprised!  Not to mention, who sets the criteria to what defines the quality of a life?  Who creates that hierarchy?
Regardless of what a person amounts to, we as Catholic believe there is a fundamental dignity, a sacredness to life because we are created in the image and likeness of God, and what God has created is good.  It is not only good, but it is loved -- we are loved -- immensely by God.
We've lost this idea -- this belief of the inherent dignity and sacredness of life.  Maybe we never had it... or never fully grasped it.
But maybe it's time to rediscover it.
To live it
To witness to it.


Related Articles:

Category: Saints and Blesseds, St. André Bessette

Tag: André, Canadian Church, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Canonization, Congregation of Holy Cross, St. Joseph's Oratory

Pope’s General Audience – February 5, 2025

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Pope Francis

In his Wednesday General Audience, Pope Francis continued this cycle of catechesis on "Jesus Christ our Hope," as part of the Jubilee 2025. This week he reflected on the Magnificat, the Virgin Mary's Song of Praise after she is greeted by her cousin Elizabeth.

Pope’s General Audience – January 29, 2025

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Pope Francis

Reflecting on the vision given to St. Joseph in the Gospel of Matthew, Pope Francis said that "He dreams of the miracle that God fulfils in Mary’s life, and also the miracle that he works in his own life: to take on a fatherhood capable of guarding, protecting, and passing on a material and spiritual inheritance."

Pope’s General Audience – January 22, 2025

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Pope Francis

Pope Francis continued this cycle of catechesis on "Jesus Christ our Hope." Reflecting on the Angel Gabriel's greeting to the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation, he said that "The 'Almighty,' the God of the 'impossible' is with Mary, together with and beside her; He is her companion, her principal ally, the eternal 'I-with-you.'"

Pope’s General Audience – November 27, 2024

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Pope Francis

In his weekly catechesis, Pope Francis reflected on the fruits of the Spirit. Beginning with Joy, he said that "not only is it not subject to the inevitable wear of time, but it multiplies when it is shared with others! A true joy is shared with others; it even spreads."

Pope’s General Audience – November 13, 2024

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Pope Francis

In his weekly catechesis, Pope Francis reflected on how the Holy Spirit empowered the Blessed Virgin Mary to become the Mother of God.

SUPPORT LABEL

Receive our newsletters
Stay Connected
Receive our newsletters
Stay Connected
Copyright © 2025 Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation
Registered Charity # 88523 6000 RR0001
FR | CH