This Friday in our nation’s capital, hundreds of thousands of Americans will march together to celebrate human life and dignity and also protest the fact that infanticide has been legally protected and promoted in our country for the last 47 years. Whenever I’ve gone on the March for Life, I’ve felt a mixture of sadness and joy. Sadness, because over 60 million innocent children have lost their lives since 1973 and yet so many still remain indifferent or excuse themselves from doing anything to change this tragedy. Sadness, especially as a priest, as I think of the millions of moms and dads whose hearts have been shattered by their decision to choose abortion. This is the hidden price of abortion most people don’t see unless they’ve helped in the healing process for men and women who’ve made that choice and are burdened by years of shame and guilt. But on the March there is also an overwhelming sense of joy. Joy because you realize you aren’t alone; the crowds grow larger and younger every year. The crowd is not just Catholic, it is composed of people of good will from all backgrounds, ages, and demographics. God and the gift of life cannot be defeated; the question is how many people must pay the price for our decision to try and decide who is and who isn’t worthy of life.
The issue of abortion cannot be resolved without first reflecting on the value of human life. How we value human life at its most vulnerable, innocent moments determines how we treat ourselves and others: the poor, the immigrant, the disabled, the unborn, the infirm and the dying - not to mention the person who makes my life difficult or who I struggle to forgive. The question is fundamental: Where does the value of human life come from? Why does human life have worth at all? Today's Gospel gives us the answer; human life has value because of what God was willing to pay for it.
In his book on the Holocaust, Martin Gilbert writes about a concentration camp prisoner. Before his arrest, the man was a successful jeweler in Holland. The Nazis robbed him of his possessions, but he managed to smuggle a small amount of gold into prison. He hoped to survive imprisonment and use the gold to begin a new life. But, with the lack of food, he grew thinner and hungrier. In desperation he took the gold and showed it to a guard. He asked the guard what he would give for it. The next day the guard returned, reached into his pocket and pulled out two potatoes. They were small, shriveled and starting to rot. The prisoner looked at them. He hesitated for a moment, then handed the gold to guard and quickly ate the uncooked potatoes.
Gilbert comments that the exchange represented a scale of worth. In that concentration camp, a few scraps of food were more valuable than gold even though normally the gold would be worth thousands of dollars. Those potatoes had value because of the price someone was willing to pay for it.
Something similar applies to the value of human life. This Sunday we hear the price Jesus is willing to pay for human life - for yours, for mine, for all of humanity. When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God.” In the Old Testament, every Passover, the Israelites would select a lamb, a young male sheep. The lamb had to be a year old, the age when his meat and wool fetched their highest price. Each family would offer a young sheep for the sacrifice in atonement for their sins. The priest placed the lamb on the altar and opened its throat so blood would flow out. The blood of the lamb brought forgiveness and restored the Chosen People relationship with God.
When St. John saw Jesus, he recognized him as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Like a young sheep placed on an altar, Jesus would give his blood, his life for us. That is the highest possible price, because Jesus is perfect man and true God.
If you were to ask where our value comes from, you would have to say: It is not because we are so intelligent. Nor because we are so charming, or so good, or so beautiful or so strong. We may have some of those qualities, but they do not last for very long. In the end, our worth does not come from our brilliance or virtue or beauty or strength or anything we produce or accomplish. We are valuable because God was willing to pay the ultimate price for us. Our lives are not our own to throw away as we please. We were created by God, in his holy image and we have been redeemed and ransomed by his death on the cross. Our lives, so to speak, belong to him.
It is important for us to say that today. We live in a society confused about the value of human life. Many people want to claim total autonomy over their lives and even the lives of others. Some want to seize the power to pronounce which lives have meaning and purpose while designating others to be unworthy of the care and sacrifice their existence might require. We see this playing out as more states and countries allow abortions after prenatal testing for disabilities like Down Syndrome, Trisomy disorders, and even preferred gender. Others push for physician assisted suicide, claiming it is "death with dignity." As Christians we cannot support any of this. We know that life has incalculable value. The Lamb of God has paid the ultimate price so that each of us could have life and have it to the full.
We of course want to do what we can to ease the the suffering of others, especially the terminally ill and profoundly disabled. But we do not believe suffering is completely worthless or beyond God’s power of redemption. We can join our suffering to the Lamb of God. What a person endures, for the sake of Christ and in union with him, can have great value. This applies especially to the suffering involved in one's final illness, living with a disability, or caring for someone with special needs. In fact that is what separates us from animals, where efficiency and survival of the fittest reign supreme. The sick, the unborn, and the disabled are not problems to be eliminated but images of God to be loved. This message is hard to proclaim and even harder to live but it is needed now more than ever. Each human life has incalculable worth, even in the face of great suffering and the most severe limitations. As Christians we know we have been purchased at a high price. Our dignity doesn’t come from what we accomplish or provide for others. It is part of who we are as persons created in the image and likeness of God and redeemed by Blood of the Lamb.
It’s not possible in one homily to go through ALL the reasons we are called to value human life, from conception until natural death. For sure, there are natural and philosophical arguments as well. But it cannot be denied that human life has value for the same reason that gold has value, because someone was willing to pay for it. If our Creator and Savior thinks that highly of each and every one of us, we have no right to think less of ourselves or others for any reason. This week, let us thank God for the gift of our life and recommit ourselves to defending this basic right for all people. We place all our efforts under the protection of Mary as we say…Hail Mary…
