LIFE BEGETS LIFE BEGETS LIFE… (NATIONAL FAMILY AND LIFE WEEK: MAY 13-19)

For those who do not know, I am the proud father of my adopted children. Years ago, each of their birth mothers faced a harrowing choice. They were surrounded by messages and pressures that provided a path to terminating their pregnancies. Each chose to birth their children who eventually filled my home with joy and laughter (and some challenges). In our situation, these mothers chose life and made our family possible.

One of our birth mothers shared her story with us. When she was 15 years old, she was in a religion class in her Catholic school. The teacher presented a lesson on the seamless garment of the consistent ethic of life. “Life,” she stated, “is sacred from conception to natural death and we are enjoined to do everything to protect it at all stages.” Birth mom told us she never gave it much thought at 15 years old. It was 16 years later (at 31 years old) that she found out she was pregnant. At that time, she was homeless and living with untreated schizophrenia. Her support system at the time encouraged and facilitated an abortion. Then, as she prepared to have her pregnancy terminated, the statement her teacher made regarding the Church’s consistent ethic of life randomly popped into her head. She stopped the abortion process and went to live in a Catholic home for expectant mothers. Months later, her daughter was born. We adopted this baby, and our life as a family began.

Life begets life begets life. When we adopted our daughter, I took a parental leave of absence. The man who was my temporary replacement until my return met my colleague and later married her. They went on to have two children. Another family was formed as a direct result of one teacher’s statement and one woman choosing to give her child life. Today, my daughter is a mother. My 2-year-old grand-daughter exists today because of one statement a teacher made 45 years ago. This is a miracle. This is one birth-mother story from the 5 birth-mothers who made our family possible.

Our story is a story of life and family. The Church’s consistent ethic of life is about protecting life at all stages. There is nothing that devalues a human life. That means, we want the pre-born to live, but it also means we fight for and set up social-economic supports for those who choose life. It means we address all threats to life that devalue life.

For example, when we learn that 2SLGBTQI youth are up to 8 times more likely than the average population to commit suicide due to the rejection they experience, we develop supports for them that will save lives. When a person is old, ill, disabled and moving ever closer to death, the value of their lives is not diminished. If a person commits a heinous crime that many deem to be worthy of the death penalty, we challenge the death penalty at all costs. For, as St. Paul reminds us in Romans 8:38-39: “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Through this love, we commit to the sacredness of all life at all stages until natural death. This is quite the challenge!

My family was formed by women who chose life. For that I am eternally grateful. Each birthday and Mother’s Day we pray in grateful acknowledgement of the gifts these women gave to us and to the world. Today, there is a young lawyer, a young chef, a young elder support worker, and a young carpenter in our world, all because these women said “YES!” to life. An added gem in this crown is my grand-daughter who delights in the life given her at every moment.

We offer this prayer:

God of Life,
thank you for the gift of life.
Send us your Spirit of love,
that we may
receive,
celebrate,
support,
protect
all life
at all stages and
in all circumstances.

Awaken in us your desire for justice,
that we might work unceasingly to build a world
where life is valued,
and joyful living is possible for each person.

Bless families,
bless communities,
bless nations,
with a commitment to communal justice,
that values the life of each one,
and not just the lives of some.

We ask this through your Son, Jesus, who gave his life for us.
We ask this through the Blessed Mother Mary whose “Yes!” to a life
made all our lives and all our living possible.

Amen.

Michael Way Skinner is a retired Coordinator of Religion, Family Life and Equity
with the York Catholic District School Board. He was a contributing author to World
Religions: A Canadian Catholic Perspective, and co-authored There Must be a Pony in Here Somewhere (Novalis, 2020) with his wife, Christine Way Skinner. Michael is a public speaker and award-winning educator who is deeply committed to faith as a source for inclusion and justice.