“A person is a person, no matter how small.” This simple wisdom given to us by Dr. Suess in Horton Hears a Who, captures a profound Christian truth. A person is a person no matter how small. Human life begins at conception. As we approach the the 55th anniversary of the day that Pope Paul the VI published the watershed document Humanae Vitae, on July 25th, we call to mind the Church’s teaching on protecting human life from the moment of conception. Indeed, almost immediately upon publishing this document, many, even in the Church, spoke what was said in our first reading, “Denounce, let us denounce him!” And though, for some, this teaching is difficult to understand, there is much in the Bible and in science that helps us to assent to it in faith, even if this assent is difficult.
Human life from the moment of conception is a teaching rooted in both science and the Bible. That human life begins at the first moment of biological growth is a fact of science. Indeed, an embryo within a mother’s womb, at the cellular level, cannot be anything other than a human embryo. Personhood, too, begins at conception. This is a fact of revelation: Jesus became man when he was conceived in the womb. Consider this point carefully: when the Holy Spirit descended upon Mary, at that moment, in the womb of his mother, Jesus became human. In this way the Gospel itself testifies that human life begins at the moment of conception. Furthermore, when Elizabeth greeted Mary, when both were pregnant, both John and Jesus reacted to one another’s living presence in their mothers’ wombs.
The Bible further teaches that human life is a direct act of an all-knowing, all-loving Father, whose knowledge of us is intimate and personal. Psalm 139 beautifully teaches, “You formed my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I thank you for the wonder of my being” (v. 14). To knit is to be present to every single stitch within the clothing. So too, when God knit us together in our mother’s womb this means that he is knowingly present to every fiber of our being, every strand of DNA, every iota of a person’s existence. So intimate and personal is this knowledge that God declares, “I have called you by name” (Is 43:1). And again, God says, “I have engraved you on the palm of my hand” (Is 49:16). And once more he says, “He who touches you touches the apple of my eye” (Zech 2:8). God’s love for us is individual, personal, and eternal, from the first moment of conception.
This means, that every human person, without exception, is a direct and intentional act of God. At the moment of conception, God Himself infuses the human being with an eternal soul. Just as God took Adam from the clay of the ground and blew the breath of life into his lungs; so too, God takes every human person at the moment of conception and blows the breath of his life into him or her. At that moment, human life is endowed with an eternal soul and has an eternal dignity that must be protected. It is for this reason that the Church protects conception against acts that contradict human life in the womb. Abortion ends a human life already conceived in the womb. The Morning After pill ceases human life in its first weeks of conception. Medical procedures using artificial insemination create human life in the form of embryos for the purpose of pregnancy, but some of those embryos will die in the process, and still others will be put into a cryo-state for an indefinite future. Acts like artificial insemination, or embryonic stem cell research, reduces conception to a chemical process and treats an embryo as a product rather than an person with an eternal soul. And contraception, either artificial or surgical, separates the unitive and procreative nature of the marital act, and threatens to reduce it pleasure alone.
The Church’s teachings on these issues stem from this singular biblical teaching that is supported by the facts of science: human life begins at conception. This teaching diverges from the world’s on several key points.
First, the Bible reminds us of the existence of both visible and invisible realities. Indeed, every Sunday we pray in the Creed that God is the “maker of heaven and earth, of things visible and invisible.” The human soul is an invisible reality. It is directly willed by God, and it is aeviternal: meaning that is has a beginning, at the moment of conception, but no end. In other words, once a human person is conceived in the womb, that human person will exist for all eternity and thus has an eternal dignity. Much of the world, however, stuck in scientific positivism, denies all invisible realities, and maintains that human life is merely a biological, chemical process. In this way it depersonalizes an embryo and claims that these practices do not end or threaten human life.
Secondly, at the core of this debate, is a disagreement about human freedom. The world defines human freedom as absolute autonomy. It declares that a human is free only if their destiny and their choices are without constraint. It sees freedom as an absolute license to do whatever I want, when I want, and how I want. And now, in today’s society, this idea of freedom rejects the boundaries of physical existence such as gender constraints which themselves are rooted in one’s DNA. Yet, in the beginning, God engendered Adam and Eve as male and female.
The Church, however, understands that freedom is not license, nor is it absolute autonomy. Rather freedom is the ability to live according to the truth, the beauty, and the goodness of the human condition so that one can become a loving gift to another. Humans are creatures with a received existence. No one created themselves. Freedom, true freedom, is living according to that humanity as it was received by God. In other words, freedom is not release from limitations, but it is the full flowering of goodness within our human limitations.
To this end, the conception of a human being in the womb is an immediate alteration of a person’s or couple’s future destiny. This can effect a young person who just discovered they are pregnant out of wedlock, a married person who is surprised by a pregnancy, a couple struggling with infertility, or an older person who thought they were beyond the ability to give birth. These circumstances can cause fear to overwhelm are faith in the Bible. Such fear can loom large in one’s heart mind and soul and can threatens people to make decisions that he or she never thought possible.
But we must take courage in the belief that, for Christians, a human life is always a gift, and true freedom is not found in absolute autonomy but in a loving gift of oneself to another. Yes, pregnancy is an immediate alteration of one’s entire future. But a parent’s ultimate happiness is in love and communion, even at the cost of difficulty. And the child to be born is neither a limitation nor a product, but an ocean of being into which one’s loving gift of self can find endless fulfillment. Human life is never a limitation but always an end that can receive the infinite love of God and the superabundant love of the human family.
Third, there is a fundamental disagreement between the Church and the world on the ultimate end of humanity. Why do we exist? To know, love, and serve God so as to be happy in this life and in the next. Christianity knows that the ultimate purpose of the human person is eternal life with God in heaven. It also knows that that eternal life begins now, here on earth where we lay a hold of the salvation offered to us in Jesus Christ by loving God and our neighbor.
However, the world, with its denial of invisible reality, can neither see nor accept eternal life. That means that any worldly purpose that is put forth for the human person is necessarily materialistic and bound to physical existence alone. Pleasure, power, money, and fame become ends unto themselves. And, combining these ends with its concept of absolute autonomy, a pregnancy becomes an immediate comprise to these goals, or is seen as a right even to the neglect of other embryos. Children are hard work. Infertility is a difficult cross to bear. Pregnancy is physically demanding and emotionally difficult. Having a family limits one’s mobility and strains one’s financial means. And the world, in TV and media, does not portray motherhood and fatherhood in any favorable light. These are all, certainly, serious crosses we must bear; but remember what Jesus has taught us, “If you wish to be my disciple, you must deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me” (Mt. 16:24). And hear again what Jesus said in the Gospel, “Do not be afraid. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my Heavenly Father.” Though there is sacrifice, God promises us his blessings. “God never deprives us of his guidance,” especially with difficult crosses.
As Christians, we are called to speak the truth in love. This means that the final word of this discussion must be MERCY. Our society is suffering from laws that uphold abortion, acts that treat human conception as a chemical process, prevent pregnancy, and denigrate the beauty of parenthood. We must pray for God’s mercy on our society. Human hearts are torn by past mistakes that are bitterly regretted. We must pray for God’s mercy in the sacrament of Confession.
A conspiracy of silence has allowed teachings other than the Gospel to form our culture. We must each overcome this silence and beg for courage to speak, act, and teach in the name of children in the womb. A person is a person, no matter how small. The Bible teaches that human life begins at conception and the sacrifices proper to parenthood, even at conception, are rewarded with blessings. God is the creator of human life at moment conception. Let us live according to this wonderful truth.
Father Jarrod Lies, Pastor