October 27, 2021 Every year, this Respect Life edition makes me think of my paternal grandmother. When my sisters and I were quite young, I remember grandma being very active in the pro-life movement. She attended meetings. She attended prayer events. She distributed brochures and information. She took her grandchildren to the national March for Life. As I thought about it this year, it occurred to me that grandma decreased her participation in the formal movement at some point. I don’t remember the brochures in her house or her leaving to attend events when we were older children or when my much-younger cousins were growing up. Grandma wasn’t any less pro-life as her grandchildren aged. I recall she still frequently prayed for the unborn as she prayed the rosary. She was busy being pro-life in other ways. When my parents were young and starting our family, they didn’t have a lot. It would’ve been an extreme hardship for them to pay for childcare. Both sets of grandparents helped, but my paternal grandmother provided care and supervision for us far more often than anyone else. When my father’s sister, my aunt, was young and starting her family, she was in the same situation. Grandma provided care for her kids. You can repeat this scenario for both my twin sister and me. Grandma watched both of our sons when they were babies and we were at points of our lives when we needed help. When her great-grandchildren became too heavy for her to provide care for them (she wasn’t very young at this point, and my twin sister and I make big babies), grandma was still actively pro-life. Even when driving and other tasks became difficult for her, grandma could still knit. After making mittens and hats for everyone in the family, she started knitting mittens to send to her great-grandchildren’s schools for kids who needed them. She never stopped providing warmth, love and kindness to others. She never stopped affirming the dignity and value of the human person. Respecting life encompasses a lot of things. It’s advocating for and helping the unborn, the infirm and the elderly. It’s valuing and loving every human. It’s supporting families and individuals in need. It’s caring for the sick. It’s forgiving and visiting the prisoner. Respecting life is part of being who Christ calls each of us to be. And it makes me think of my grandmother. |
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