Letters to the Editor

Submit a letter to the editor electronically | For our letter writing policy, click here

What have you done to stand up for life and put an end to the culture of death?

At 21 days, a baby’s heart is beating. At 42 days, a baby has recordable brain waves. At eight weeks, everything is in place and all that baby needs now is time to grow.

As Pope Benedict said in November 2010, “… It is not an accumulation of biological material, but rather of a new living being, dynamic and marvelously ordered, a new individual of the human species.”

What a miracle this is in which God allows us to participate. And yet, after 35 years, more than 50 million of these miracles have never and will never see a sunrise, feel the rain upon their faces and look into the eyes of their parents.

October is Respect Life Month, and we still have abortion as the “right” of any woman should she want to terminate the life of her baby.

What about the rights of the child? Unseen means unimportant? I think not. God made man unique in all his creation. We are made in God’s image, especially with the salvation accorded to us through Christ’s suffering and death. We cannot sit idly by and do nothing.

Last March, I was reading the thoughts before Mass in the Missalette. It seemed very prophetic, and I will share it with you. “We may listen to God’s word, read it or teach it. But what really matters is whether or not we act upon it.”

Have we acted upon it? Have we made our voices heard? Have we done everything—or anything—to change the culture of death that permeates this country today?

“Suffer the little children to come unto me” (Lk 18:16) does not mean to stand by as they are aborted, and see God face to face in heaven before they see their parents here on Earth.

Acting upon God’s word means standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. It means working actively to change the path upon which we find ourselves today. It means again, and still, letting our Congress know that we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all, not just for some.

Christ said those who listen to his words and act upon them will be like wise men who build their houses on rock, and those who do not listen and act on his words will be like fools who build on sand (Mt 7:24, 26). “Act on” is the key phrase. Which are you?

God bless the United States of America, and help her in this hour of need.

- Barbara L. Maness, Vevay