In ancient Rome when a baby was born it would be placed at
the feet of the father or who the mother wanted the father to be. The man would
look over the baby and if he wanted it he would pick it up. That baby would
forever be his. If the father did not want the baby it would be abandoned. Most
of the time the baby would be left in a conspicuous place so that someone would
find it and give it a home. Babies were left on the door steps of the rich or
left by farms in hope the farm owner would take the baby in and eventually make
it a farm hand.
It was not uncommon that someone would rescue the abandoned
babies. Many times these babies would die due to exposure. Babies who were born
with defects would often be thrown out with the trash. When the Christians came
to Rome they found this practice barbaric. They began to actively seek out
these abandoned babies to give them a chance at life. They established orphanages
to care for them.
In many ways this world has come full circle on those times.
Instead of the father it is now the mother who determines a baby’s worth. If a
mother wants the new life growing inside her it is fully protected by the law
from the earliest stages. If the mother does not want the life she is free to
have it killed and removed from within her. Some places in the United States
have gone as far as to allow that baby to be killed even as late as post birth.
Instead of going straight to the compost heap we now pick over the corpses of
these murder human beings to harvest any part that we can use for another
purpose. What remains is then disposed of with less concern than throwing out
an empty plastic water bottle.
The blood of these innocents scream out to God for revenge.
Justice is drawing near.
Dignity is the thumbprint of God on the human soul. God is
the author of life and therefore the only one with authority to take life. Every
great evil that has happened throughout human history began when dignity was
ignored and a group of people were viewed as less than human.
Today, this dignity is being ignored at both ends of human
life. We live in an age where it is thought to be merciful, compassionate, and
responsible to end the lives of the unwanted unborn and to grant death with
dignity to the sick and elderly.
As Christians we are called to recognize the dignity God has
given to every human being and to know that the authority to take life belongs
to God alone. Defend the dignity of every human person from conception to
natural death.
