In the sanctuary of the Crypt Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, hidden away from the sight of every pew, is a small side altar backed by a mosaic reredos of Saint Agnes. Above the image of the virgin martyr is a quote: Ecce venio ad Te, quem amavi, quem quaesivi, quem semper optavi. This quote by St. Agnes, taken from the account of her martyrdom, is translated in tonight’s Magnificat antiphon as, “I am coming to you whom I have loved, whom I have sought and always desired.”
The most stirring word in this quote is semper. St. Agnes lived and died for the one whom she “always desired.” The love of God defined the entirety of her short life. Raised in a Christian family, she had grown up with the knowledge that Christ loved her from the moment of her conception, before she was even aware of it (ST I q. 20 a. 2). At a young age, St. Agnes vowed to offer her purity to God as a gift for his great love, telling suitors that “I am already promised to the Lord of the Universe . . . and he has said he will never leave me!” Knowing that God loved her first and that his love is eternal and always (semper), she chose to remain faithful to her promise of virginity, even in the face of death. She emphasized this at the moment of her martyrdom when she explained why she would not save herself by agreeing to marry, saying, “He chose me first, and he shall have me!”
Being chosen and loved by God is not unique to St. Agnes. God chooses us all from the beginning of our lives. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you,” God tells Jeremiah, “and before you were born I consecrated you” (Jer 1:5). Knowing all things about us, he loves us and desires us to love him (Pss 100:3, 119:73). God knows and loves each human being from the beginning of his life and continues to love him for eternity—not even death can separate us from his love (Jer 31:2–3; Rom 8:38–39). The extent of God’s love for us is supremely evident in the mystery of the Incarnation (John 3:16). God’s radical self-gift for the salvation of men teaches us what it truly means to love and be loved, and we imitate this in our love for him and our brother (1 John 4:21).
It is the knowledge of this deep, personal, semper love God has for mankind that has continuously called the Church to defend the sanctity of life, from conception to natural death. Within a decade of St. Agnes’ martyrdom, the Christian philosopher Lactantius wrote, “it is always unlawful to put to death a man, whom God willed to be a sacred animal.” Echoing the prescripts of earlier Christians, he extended this protection to children and the unborn, “for God breathes into their souls for life, and not for death” (Divine Institutes, IV, 20). This weekend, as the Church in the United States joins in prayer for the legal protection of unborn children, we pray that all eyes and hearts may be opened to God’s love for his sons and daughters, so that we may see each life as sacred to the Lord, known and loved by him, and worthy of defense.
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Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. (used with permission)
