Choose Life!

"...at the origin of every human being there is not something haphazard or chance, but a loving plan of God."  ~ Pope Benedict XVI

Ave Maria!  God's plan for us is life.  Why, then, would we choose anything else, anything less?  Yet we do, every single one of us, at one time or another.  Perhaps we don't deliberately end people's lives, but in many small ways we fail to respect their being, to recognize their dignity, and to uphold their God-given right to life.  Or so it seems to me when I come before the Lord of All Being, the Giver of Life, and examine my conscience according to His gospel.

As we all know, yesterday was the 39th annual March for Life in Washington, DC.  You can read all about it on the Web, so there's nothing for me to say.  However, I do want to include this powerful image that appears today on the Washington Post Web site in its coverage of the March.  I also want to direct you here to one mother's thoughts as she gladly marched yesterday for life.  She begins her reflection by saying: "Today I marched...I marched for my daughter and the dignity of her life. The worlds says she is a burden, my mother's heart says she is the heart of our home and we would not know who we are without her."  How utterly amazing by the world's standards!  Mary's daughter Courtney, who is profoundly disabled, is the heart of their home!  And Mary, her husband and their son wouldn't know who they are without her!  The world's standards, did I say?  But we, through the grace of God, have the mind of Christ! (1 Cor 2:16).  Thanks be to God!  And many, many thanks to all those individuals who yesterday reminded us of this in their March for Life.

And be not conformed to this world;

but be reformed in the newness of your mind,

that you may prove what is the good,

and the acceptable,

and the perfect will of God.

~ Romans 12:2