The miracle of new life

Nuzzling quietly in loving arms

Not long after J was born, when I gazed upon his face - the little button of a nose, the delicate curved lines of closed eyes, spiked with prickles of eyelashes, the determined chin so reminiscent of P's adult chin, and those exquisitely shaped tiny ears - I was overcome by the miracle of his little being.

Every baby is a living miracle, proof of all that's good and holy in the world. It's no wonder that all the adults around him go goo goo ga ga and we all dance to his rhythms, syncopated by his cries of hunger, poopy discomfort and cranky exhaustion. We stand and look in loving awe at his sleeping form, marvelling at how his little chest rises and falls with each breath he takes. We inhale his impossibly sweet baby scent and caress his tender soft skin with wonder.

It has been over a month since his arrival and his personality has emerged even at this tender age, while his cuteness quotient rises exponentially over time. Currently he responds to conversation with coos, gurgles and smiles.

This precious baby will one day grow up to be a man, a good man, I hope, one close to God's heart and who walks in His ways (I can only pray). It is with the greatest pleasure that I will witness his development through the years.

It dismays and saddens me that abortion has become acceptable, even legalized (dear Ireland, what were you thinking) which means new generations of women will grow up thinking of abortion as a right, an entitlement, instead of what it really is, murder, pure and simple.

We live in a culture of death where the rights of defenceless children (every foetus carried to full term is a child who will grow up into an adult) are superseded by the desires of their parents.

Certainly I agree each woman or man should have their sense of dignity respected, and we should each defend our personal freedom and space. However, every pregnant woman automatically becomes a guardian, an advocate for the one who has no voice (yet), and who relies on her to bring him or her to the next threshold of life at childbirth. Unseen and unheard does not equal to a relinquishment of human rights.

In a perfect world, there is no violence, there is no rape. Lust does not muddy the waters and we understand that love means wanting the better of the other. Hence there is a right understanding of procreation and how it is so deeply connected to marriage, a lifetime commitment.

Despite the fact that people fixate only on the physical pleasure sexual intercourse can bring, sexual intercourse has an intrinsic sanctity and mystery. It is, first and foremost, an act of love, unitive in nature, sometimes procreative. It is an act that is designed to bring us closer to God, strange as it may seem. Much as the world engages in it to satisfy lustful appetites solely, sex goes beyond just sex, and pregnancies go beyond unwanted and mourned over accidents.

Every pregnancy is inherently a celebration of life, the heralding of new life. Every foetus is a child who relies on his or her mother to care for him or her in the womb till he or she is ready to go it alone (albeit still requiring much love and care as babies cannot look after themselves).

We can rationalize away all we want but abortion is never a viable option and this includes the use of any form of contraception which are all abortifacient in nature. If we say we believe in Jesus Christ, then we must act accordingly, and that means to walk through the narrow gate and eschew abortion and all contraceptives apart from Natural Family Planning. Promote and celebrate life in all its stages, especially life in the foetal stage.