Have you ever realized just how small we are? I typically have this realization when I fly. As the plane climbs up into the air, I gaze in wonder at the landscape below. Mighty rivers winding and weaving in between hills seem like small streams. The bustling cityscape grinds along: babies being born, elderly dying, kids going to school, adults going to work—all while I quietly observe from above. While each of us is small and limited, even insignificant, against the scheme of the universe, God has still loved each and all of us from the moment we began to exist. It is with this reality in mind that we friars, along with hundreds of thousands from all over the country, will march for life in our nation’s capital today.
Our secular culture makes us believe that we are less than what we are. People are viewed as objects to be used and discarded when they become inconvenient. It leads to an empty existence where many are convinced that they are not worthy of love. As a result, we feel that we are only the sum of our accomplishments and our physical experiences. We become objects, completely at the mercy of our passions and without any respect for our humanity. This is evidenced by such phenomena as rampant consumerism, hook-up culture, pornography, and abortion.
But we are not objects. Rather, we are persons made by God and bearing his image. Because of this, every man, woman, and child is given a privileged position in creation. The Psalmist contemplates this wonder:
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have set in place;
What is man that You think of him,
And a son of man that You are concerned about him?
Yet You have made him a little lower than God,
And You crown him with glory and majesty! (Ps 8:3–5)
While we are perhaps small compared to the heavens, the moon, and the stars, God loves us above the rest of creation. This love is demonstrated best by God’s own entrance into humanity through his Son, Jesus Christ. With the Incarnation, God took on our flesh and entered into our condition as a small and insignificant man, all while remaining as the Almighty God.
What makes us human persons is that, from the moment of our creation, we are given rational souls which animate our material bodies. Having a rational soul means, most importantly, that we are capable of seeing what is good, beautiful, and true and of pursuing it. In fact, the reason we are made is to be with Him who is goodness itself, beauty itself, and truth itself. Every human being has the potential to pursue this communion with God because he has a rational soul. Because all people are made in God’s image and are given rational souls, all humans have an inherent dignity.
Today at the March for Life, the Dominican friars, in solidarity with other men and women of goodwill, will march to remember those whose lives were lost because of abortion. We will march in reparation for the harm that abortion has done to our society. We will march in thanksgiving for the progress our society has made to make abortion a thing of the past. We will march to bear witness to the truth that we are all persons, made and loved by God.
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Photo by Dominican Friars Foundation (used with permission)
