As you may be aware, October has been identified by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as Respect Life Month. It is an invitation for all of us to ponder the sacredness of human life, to protect and promote life, and to actively fight against the culture of death, which wants to kill the unborn through abortion all the way to those in advanced age or with significant health issues through euthanasia.
Next month, voters in South Dakota will be voting to respect life or not. By voting “no” on Amendment G, which is a matter of Catholic faith and morals and an opportunity to reject death, we demonstrate our respect for life, in this case the lives of unborn children. But life is also attacked when we attack people who are different from us.
When you really love someone, you will their good in all things. St. Thomas Aquinas describes charity (the greatest of “loves”) as a supernatural virtue, which means it is a pure gift from God. Charity wills the good of the other. This type of love is objectively true, good and beautiful because it is perfect love—it is God’s love in and through us.
God’s love perfectly wills and acts in such a way that it always seeks what is good for each person of the Trinity, that is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in a shared communion of charity. So perfect and good is that type of love that it wills, seeks and shares that creative love with others. That is what God has done in creating every human being in his image and likeness. He redeemed us from sin through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and the Holy Spirit animates us with the love of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit so we all may be filled with what is true, good and beautiful and will the good of others.
Our culture today is often dominated by hatred rather than charity. One of the ways hatred is manifested is through unjust discrimination between persons based on color, race, creed, sex, age, circumstances, etc. God does not unjustly discriminate. He loves everyone unconditionally regardless of whatever differentiates us in any way. He calls us, asks us, commands us to love others, that is everyone, as he does. “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…and love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:37-39).
To love as God loves is not easy, but it is perfectly attainable through God’s grace and our cooperation with his grace. If we live according to what he has revealed in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition as objectively true, good and beautiful, we can attain perfect charity, which God himself has revealed as humanity’s greatest good.
In reality, everyone deserves to be treated by us as God treats them: willing their good and worthy of life, respect and dignity. God knows and loves every single person he created in love, destined for loving communion with him, the angels and saints in heaven and all of us who choose to love as he loves—willing the good of every single person regardless of whatever differences we have.
Human beings have an inherent dignity—a goodness not contingent upon their qualities or characteristics. Because of your inherent goodness as a human being made in the image of God, I will your and every person’s good from the womb to the tomb and for all eternity. Essentially, when we receive God’s spiritual love, we are filled with charity (his supernatural love), and in turn this overflows to everyone else because every human is made in his image.
So what does charity (love) look like in the face of unjust discrimination?
| Charity is… | Charity is not… |
| Racial equality
Charity entails recognizing God’s image and likeness in every person regardless of race. |
Chattel slavery
Unjust discrimination based on race led to the great evil of chattel slavery. Slavery still occurs today in our world and is an affront to human dignity. |
| Sexual equality
Charity entails recognizing God’s image and likeness in every person regardless of sex. |
Women treated as property
Unjust discrimination based on sex in some parts of the world still sets up women as property. This, too, is an affront to human dignity. |
| Pro-life from womb to tomb
Charity entails recognizing God’s image and likeness in every person regardless of age or degree of development. |
Abortion
Unjust discrimination based on degree of development led to the great evil of abortion, which has resulted in the death of over 63 million human beings in the last 50 years in our country alone. |
May we all actively choose to end unjust discrimination and choose and promote all that is, in fact, charitable.
