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One thing I love about NDRtL is how proactive we are in our ND community, how we go forth, (like the Mass says, “ite missa est”!) to spread our message of truth and life to those around us. I thoroughly enjoyed participating in last year’s events, greeting students on their way to class outside O’Shag with a smile and a pamphlet, telling them “Happy You Are Loved Week!” so quickly it may have been indecipherable, hoping and praying that at least some of them actually read it, think about it, and maybe even show up to our events. We brought in so many fantastic speakers last year and did amazing works of outreach that made a substantial impact on myself and our campus community. I was so inspired by last year’s speakers, to go forth, to spread the message, to learn more, to not be afraid to speak up for the most vulnerable and the most endangered persons in our culture--the unborn. The joyful culture of the pro-life movement is something I’ve always enjoyed, and something that I think we as a club really emulate and in which we always can continue to grow. Inviting those around us to truth, to hope, and to prayer are three objectives that I think we should always keep in mind, especially as regards the most deplorable human rights violation that is abortion. I mean, the numbers speak for themselves. Over a third of the people who would be the same age as me in the United States were not even allowed to take their first breath, their first step--to smile their first smile. That is an injustice worth fighting. Our banner names us the “Irish Fighting for Life” because it is a fight, more than ever before. It is a fight for the truth, a fight for hearts and minds. And it is a matter of life and death. Our fellow citizens’ lives are in danger. All around the country, this issue is being addressed, debated, legislated. Some states are a signature away from abolishing abortion, and others from infanticide. Abortion isn’t just another issue, a hot-button election tactic used to stir up crowds and sell hats. It’s about freedom from tyranny. Not the tyranny of the patriarchy or how women are just biologically designed to carry children. It’s about freeing ourselves from the tyranny of license, of pleasure without consequences, of doing “whatever we want” with our bodies, even at the expense of someone’s very life. It’s my own realization that human life is more sacred than my own preferences or level of (dis)comfort, more sacred than my reputation, more sacred than my financial situation, more sacred than what I want to do with my body, my mind, my life. It’s no accident that in the “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” clause, life is listed first. And Life. Is. Sacred. I am pro-life for many reasons, logical, personal, and otherwise, but ultimately, I owe my belief in the value of human life to my Faith. One of Catholic Theology’s fundamental tenets is that each and every human person is made in the Image and Likeness of God himself, that each human person has an innate and unerasable dignity purely by being a human person. We believe that each human life has an immortal soul, which with the human body forms a beautiful human being deserving of love and respect. Sometimes it’s hard to see that the preborn are human because they’re so small and the violence done to them is so hidden, within wombs and doctor’s offices, within clean medical buildings and quiet hotel rooms. It can be difficult to recognize a human person when they have not yet been born, especially when that recognition speaks to a very inconvenient reality, that this is a human who deserves a chance at life, even when the cost is insurmountably great. To see a preborn child as a unique human being with inviolable human dignity isn’t an easy step for a lot of people, and that’s where our ministry as members of NDRtL is so important. Having those conversations, having those discussions, even just slapping a pro-life sticker on your laptop, these little things can make all the difference. Little bits of witness, however little, can make a huge difference in the perspectives, choices, and lives of those whom we encounter and those whom those we encounter. You never know the impact your words and actions have, and that’s why it’s so important for us as pro-lifers to be joyful, to be loving, to reach out to others, to be exuberant pro-life witnesses in everything we do. |