Every soul, born and unborn, is a blessing from God and our ‘preeminent priority’ to protect

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I dedicated you,” Jeremiah 1:5. We may think to ourselves, how could we have existed before we were born? How could God have known us? How could there have been light before God made the sun? (cf. Gen 1:3,14) While we are here in the temporal world, these questions will confound us, yet our perplexity does not make the seemingly impossible not possible, for all things are possible for God.

In an interview with Jordan B. Peterson, Canadian psychologist, author, and media commentator, Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minn., gave a fascinating explanation of the existence of God. Bishop Barron, known internationally for his Word on Fire evangelization ministry, said: “We would say that God is not a being but being itself. So the famous answer is then given to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ Moses is asking, what kind of being are you? He is trying to put God in categorical terms.” 

But God is saying, according to Bishop Barron, “I am not a thing in the world you can name. I am the prius  – that’s St. Augustine’s language. I am prior to thought and to language. I am prior to being.” God is being. God is.

Pope Benedict XVI said that when Jesus assumed human existence at his Incarnation, “he also assumed temporality. He drew time into the sphere of eternity.” 

A baby sleeps peacefully in her mother’s womb. She knows God but has yet to make contact with the outside world, has yet to take her first breath. She is simply floating, sleeping and growing. She exists. She is. Pope St. John Paul II said, “The body, in fact, and only the body, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine. It has been created to transfer into the visible reality of the world the mystery hidden from eternity in God, and thus to be a sign of it” (TOB 19:4).

Yet, we reach into her world with our cold instruments and pull her out against her will – a violent act against nature. She fights back, which can be seen on the ultrasound. Her instinct is to fight. She knows where she belongs. God gave us the ability to see her in her mother’s womb through our own scientific advancements. Yet, many deny the reality that abortion attacks a human life. We live in an era that denies reality.

We often fixate on temporal circumstances surrounding a pregnancy. But when a human being is conceived, there is much more happening in the spiritual realm than we can possibly comprehend. When the body exists, the soul also exists, for we are embodied souls. “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna” (Mt. 10:28).

God can turn an unplanned pregnancy into a great blessing if we give him the chance and wait on his miracle. That is what my own birth mother did for me. At the age of 18 she carried me to term and gave me up for adoption to the greatest parents on earth. What greater gift can a woman give to another than the gift of her own child? For 10 years my parents had been unable to conceive so they went to Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec, walked in a candlelight procession and prayed for a child. When they arrived home, they found out about me and chose adoption. A year later my parents conceived my brother. Fifteen years later my birth mother and her husband conceived two children. When we surrender to God, he will intervene with all his omnipotence and will resolve the most seemingly impossible situations. 

Before the March for Life in Trenton Sept. 26, Melissa Ohden, founder and CEO of the Abortion Survivors Network, said, “Not only does abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy happen in states with no restrictions on abortion, but born-alive infants happen.”

The United States is one of seven countries, including China and North Korea, that allow abortion past 20 weeks’ gestation. New Jersey has some of the most permissive abortion laws in our country. “Babies survive first-, second-, and third-trimester abortions throughout the pregnancy,” Ohden said. 

Kim Marvin, who survived a saline abortion at nine months, had vivid, repeated nightmares since she was a little girl. “This affected me in so many ways, but I want to share the most important thing: the power of forgiveness,” she said. “My mother and my father said they were sorry, and I forgave them. Miraculously, I never had that terrifying nightmare ever again.” 

At the Mass for Life, Bishop David M. O’Connell of Trenton said the threat of abortion is not only our “preeminent priority,” as stated by the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, it is the “preeminent fundamental basis of all other priorities. As Catholics, we are pro-life. How can we be otherwise?” 

“Today, as we share the greatest of all prayers, the Eucharist, let us together ask our Lord Jesus, who gave his life for all of us, born and unborn, to give us the grace to fulfill our duty to protect the innocent, most vulnerable child in the womb,” Bishop O’Connell prayed, “a duty instilled in us by God our Creator, along with his gift of human life.” 

Anna M. Githens is a freelance writer with a career background in finance, teaching and journalism. She holds an MA in Theology, a BA in Economics and a Certification in Theology of the Body.