Every child is a gift said Pope Francis at a recent meeting (25/5/2019) with delegates to a conference in Rome. The Holy Father Pope Francis spoke these words “no human being can ever be incompatible with life” and every child is “a gift that changes the history of a family…and this child needs to be welcomed, loved and cared for”.

Another beautiful quote which remains deeply embedded in my mind is this;

“A fertilised human egg at the moment of conception is the opinion of the Creator that a human life at that instant must begin….F. Zugibe (medical examiner, forensic expert and known for his studies and work into the crucifixion of our Lord.)

As a society we need to begin to thoroughly and actively rebut all manner of discussion which seeks to reduce the human being into nothing more than just another species inhabiting this planet. Another piece of living matter taking space on this piece of universe called “earth”

The claims of those like Peter Singer and other so called eminent scientists and academics who would deny the newly conceived a human status and therefore the respect due for its human dignity, should be challenged strenuously. These so called eminent individuals by their stance ensure that support for all manner of abortion and experimentation becomes possible. These individuals who claim that until the 14th day the status of the human embryo is nothing more than a “bunch of cells” and as such fodder for experimentation, re stem cell research, is of no consequence and morally acceptable. These so called eminent individuals reject the claim that this new creation whom they call a bunch of cells is actually a new conception and an incarnation of the love between its mother and father.

These very dangerous terms used by these eminent persons remove from the new creation its “right” to be born and have opened the doors wide to experimentation and abortion at first to early stages of development and now up to birth and even rumblings of post birth abortion. From these permissions and thoughts have emerged the permissible and legal death of pre born children.

And not only has this disrespect for human conception led to wilful abortions of innumerable numbers, this has led to calls for the patenting of the embryos which are meant for experimentation. An event or idea never imagined since time began.

The Holy Father Pope Francis at every opportunity speaks about the beauty and value of life and of each and every child to a family and society. “abortion is not a lesser of two evils. It’s a crime, and absolute evil” and he denounces abortion as feeding into the throwaway culture.

Pope Francis continues the teaching of the Church on life and asserts with St John Paul 2 in Evangelium Vitae that “some try to justify abortion by claiming that the product of conception, at least until a certain number of days, cannot yet be considered a personal human life” By this action and decree then what God has created deeply in the unseen womb is not recognised but only what is seen by the eyes this utilitarian concept then can and does lead to disposal of those whose worth is unseen, unmeasured and unknown.

From conception this new creation is no longer a measure of being from male and female but a unique individual with his/her own genetic composition and genetic history, whose dignity is found deeply embedded in its essence, each cell, where each and every one in its nucleus contains the very breath of God who has breathed its relationship with Him and its own personal instruction for life and an echo of one who always remains in the heart, mind and desires of God.

The human person’s life has its origins in God and its final return and place in God, and in between the human being’s life is the external sacramental sign of the invisible God. The Imago Dei. The human being’s life is the end result of God’s breath being breathed into the elements, proteins, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, calcium, which make up the body of every created being.

The body and life within it cannot ever be bartered, bargained, manipulated, negotiated or even toyed with or intentionally destroyed. This is sacred material requiring sacred handling. “Life” is the domain of God. We toy with this to our own peril which we are now seeing in society with disposal of children, gender confusion, gender ideology, and other anti-life belief.

Recent years’ research has strongly supported and reported the findings that human life with all its nuances and characteristics for the human person is encoded in the fertilised ovum. All that is needed for life is embedded within sacred ovum with fluids divine.

As early as 1948 (just over 70 years ago) the embryologist Dr Bradley Patten said “It is the penetration of the ovum by the spermatozoon and the resulting mingling of the nuclear material each brings to the union that constitutes the culmination of the process of fertilisation and marks the initiation of the life of a new individual.” This knowledge has been known for two generations now yet in this moment in time refused.

Further to this, the foremost geneticist Dr Jerome Lejeune, Professor of Genetics at the university of Paris and Sorbonne, commented, “each of us has a unique beginning, the moment of conception… when the information carried by the sperm and by the ovum have encountered and met each other then a new human being is defined because its own personal and human constitution is entirely spelled out. The information which is inside the first cell obviously tells this cell all the tricks of the trade to build himself as the individual this cell is already…. to build that particular individual which we will call later Margaret or Paul or Peter, its already there, but so small we cannot see it…It’s what life is, the formula is there if you allow the formula to be expanded by itself. Just giving shelter and nurture, then you have the development of the full person.” (J. Lejeune, 1992).

There is a beautiful song which is usually played and sung at weddings, it’s called There Is Love. (Peter Paul & Mary) There is a line in this song which says “Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again and there is love” Woman draws her life from man and returns it in the form of their own likeness just as God created “man” in His own likeness. Woman in her body accepts/draws the donation of another to create life and returns it more beautiful. This, a desire from the very beginning embedded in her being.

The very command of God to Adam was to name the creation, because like the Creator Himself to speak over the creation its “name” speaks into the new life its identity, its dignity and says “grow and be happy”. In the naming is conferred the “word” both spoken by God and then man and the new creation is given permission to live and continue. This creation has a name. It is not inanimate material. The word spoken by God and named through Adam is “life.” A gift. A truth. The word spoken by the adversary of love and life is “death” “You will not die” the lie.

Each individual is God’s own idea of His love and has a place in creation and history. Has a role to play, a task to complete and an influence on a time or space, or era, this is the truth about every child.

To be pregnant and to have conceived means that God whispered, “let there be life” A new life. Let my image be renewed, let creation reflect me again. In the creation of a new child God encounters humanity, that is why abortion is so horrendous. It’s a rejection of His encounter where He is ready to do something new. God has chosen us from eternity. Loved us from eternity. Desired us from eternity. He has whispered his love in the depths of the silence of every womb because in Jesus His Son, God beheld every creation from all eternity until the end of time.

And this, as the Holy Father has said loudly, is that every child is a gift bringing God’s message enfleshed!

Anne Lastman