On the heels of celebrating Christ's Resurrection, we are poised to see the reality of transformation with new eyes. What was once commonplace becomes an echo of our deepest-held belief in the possibility of the impossible: The grave has been conquered, and death has lost its sting.
Life, death, resurrection: The Paschal Mystery. As John 12:24 states, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” If there is a more potent metaphor for the Resurrection than spring, I don’t know it.
The Cycle of Life
Spring calls to mind appreciation of new life. Bulbs push through thawing ground, farmyards and backyards bear evidence of new nests and new babies. The whole of creation moves from winter dormancy and rest to the buzz of new beginnings.
One of the things I love most about this season is the way it highlights our deep appreciation of life. Secular or religious, we see these themes everywhere. Cheery spring decor and garden supplies take prominence at store entrances. And for Her part, the Church celebrates this season longer than any other (fifty days).
The Gift of Life
This revelry around new life supports the Church’s long tradition of describing life as a sacred gift bestowed by God from the beginning.
Catholic Tradition has always looked to the book of Genesis for the unilateral description of God’s gift of dignity to humanity, having created man and woman in God’s image and likeness (see Genesis 1:26-27). As the pinnacle of creation, human persons have the unique distinction of bearing the image and likeness of God, the Imago Dei. When Jesus took on flesh in the Incarnation, this dignity was understood in an intimate, more tangible expression.
The Biggest Lie We Have Believed
A significant cultural lie we have been encouraged to believe is that human dignity is somehow earned or merited. Despite all evidence to the contrary, we often come to believe that the life of the unborn or otherwise morally neutral party has more value than the lives of those who have "sullied" their dignity by participating in things like drugs or crime.
Especially as women, we are prone to internalizing this lie: I am worthy of God’s love, only if/as long as/when/until/unless/before x,y,z. While fundamentally untrue, we often use the same flawed logic to assume that what is true of me is true of others. Rather than receiving the lavish love and mercy of God ourselves, we turn the core of who we are—the Imago Dei—into an exchange to be won or lost by ourselves and others.
These inconsistencies reveal the transactional tendency with which we often measure and account for God’s love and mercy. Much like the Resurrection, God’s infinite goodness is hard to wrap our minds around. Economics is hardly an appropriate analogy for the nature of God, and yet it is often the closest metaphor for which we grasp.
A Consistent Response
A lesser-known treasure in the Church is the "Consistent Ethic of Life," defined by Cardinal Bernadin in the early 1980s, throughout his commentary on the U.S. bishops’ pastoral letter: The Challenge of Peace. Amid concerns over the nuclear arms race and the Cold War, it is simultaneously the simplest and most comprehensive explanation of the breadth and depth of the worth of human persons. And yet, many of us remain unfamiliar with its message:
"The reason I have placed such stress on the idea of a consistent ethic of life from the beginning of my term as chairman of the Pro-Life Committee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops is twofold: I am persuaded by the interrelatedness of these diverse problems, and I am convinced that the Catholic moral vision has the scope, the strength and the subtlety to address this wide range of issues in an effective fashion. It is precisely the potential of our moral vision that is often not recognized even within the community of the Church. The case for a consistent ethic of life—one which stands for the protection of the right to life and the promotion of the rights which enhance life from womb to tomb—manifests the positive potential of the Catholic moral and social tradition.
It is both a complex and a demanding tradition; it joins the humanity of the unborn infant and the humanity of the hungry; it calls for positive legal action to prevent the killing of the unborn or the aged and positive societal action to provide shelter for the homeless and education for the illiterate. The potential of the moral and social vision is appreciated in a new way when the systemic vision of Catholic ethics is seen as the background for the specific positions we take on a range of issues” (Joseph Bernardin, “A Consistent Ethic of Life: An American-Catholic Dialogue,” address at Fordham University, New York, December 6, 1983).
At a time when the value of every human life continues to be debated, we might be encouraged to re-examine the teachings on the inherent dignity of all lives.
The Seamless Garment
As far back as 1971, Eileen Egan, Catholic journalist and friend to Saint Teresa of Calcutta and Servant of God Dorothy Day, likened this call to value all life to Jesus’ seamless garment (see John 19:23). Embodying what Catholics have called a “womb to tomb” philosophy is all or nothing work. The lives of the unborn are as valuable in the eyes of God as those of convicted criminals, prisoners on death row, people of another race, migrants, the terminally ill, people caught in the cycle of addiction, and people with special needs. Each is made in the image and likeness of God. While our human circumstances may be compromised, our identity never is. To suggest otherwise is to cut apart the seamless garment, fraying the witness to the sacredness of all life with our inconsistencies.
When it comes to following the teachings of Jesus, consistency is key.
“The ‘consistent ethic of life’ is a spiritual call to conversion . . . intended to give priority to ‘the unique dignity of each human person,’ no matter how much time and effort it might cost us—even if it is at the expense of cherished social or partisan commitments” (Source).
Like the soldiers at the Foot of the Cross who placed bets on Jesus’ tunic, there are times when we have left the estimation of another’s worth to the whim of a podcast, slogan, or partisanship, rather than the Word of God. However, as always, Jesus invites us to something greater. Let your yes mean yes, and no mean no (see Matthew 5:37). Our Christian witness depends on our consistent recognition of the God-given dignity of all life.
This Easter season, let us take time to reflect:
What might the Lord be asking me to reconsider about the gift of my own dignity? That of my neighbor? Of groups I have previously understood to not have the same value as another?
In the season of Resurrection, let’s ask Jesus to breathe new life into our belief in the inherent value of every person, ourselves included.
Katie Cassady is a regular contributor to the BIS blog. She is a wife and mom to three little girls in Denver, CO. Steeped in theological reflection, beekeeping and motherhood, she is appreciative of any and all wisdom she can glean from those living intentional lives of faith. Find out more about her here. Read all of Katie's posts here.
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