As we await the postponed arrival of spring, thoughts automatically turn to the new life of spring. Even though the flowers are in bloom and the trees are coming alive with their blossoms, we are reminded that winter does not give up easily. Snow flew yesterday (Monday) morning and it looked more like a few days before Christmas rather than just a few days shy of Easter. Despite all the cold temperatures and snow nature is struggling to come to life. We all know it will succeed once again and in that there is comfort.
Human life is a lot like nature. We are all conceived in the form of a tiny, microscopic embryo incapable of surviving on its own. Yet, it is human life nonetheless! One day, this precious life will take its place in the world, assuming an identity just as we did at one time. It is a glorious process that truly reflects the great grace and magnificence of a mighty God. Just as we all are filled with wonder at the return of spring, so, too, are most of us filled with the wonder of the beginnings of life.
The sanctity of life is not a political issue, although it has been summarily turned into one. It is a human issue. The life we have been given are every bit as precious at the spring life we see emerging from the long winter. Because we are created in the image of God, human life is more precious than any other life form in existence. As I watched a morning talk show today I was struck by something. The individuals on the show were talking about the Democratic and Republican parties and their positions on abortion. As the banter went on, it struck me that even these high-minded politicians were degrading life by treating it as some sort of entity to be bargained over. There is no bargaining over the issue of when human life begins. Whether or not you believe it begins at conception or birth or somewhere in between, the irrefutable truth is that life begins at conception.
Vice President Biden recently claimed that the question of when life begins is really an individual choice. This is a statement of a spineless politician unwilling to speak the truth out of fear of alienating a voting block of people. Mr. Biden, a self-professed practicing Catholic, cannot be serious. When life begins is not determined by what the individual thinks! That is absurd. A human being is a human being at the moment of conception on whether we agree with that or not or whether science reaches a consensus on the subject or not. If Mr. Biden were truly a practicing Catholic he would know that the Church has always maintained that life begins at conception, no questions asked or entertained. It is time for a reality check among the more liberal politicians in this country. The truth is the truth regardless of whether we agree with it or not. This seems to be a reality that politicians simply do not like!
