October is traditionally considered “Respect Life Month.” When people hear the phrase, “Respect Life,” many immediately connect this to the issue of protecting the preborn from being murdered in the barbaric practice called abortion. It makes sense for this to happen. The most vulnerable persons among us are those who cannot speak for themselves. Many heroic people have championed the cause of protecting life in this vulnerable phase of their lives.
However, I think it would be very helpful for us to remember why our life is valuable; why we are valuable. We are valuable precisely because we are created in the image and likeness of God Himself. I hope that is not news to anyone, but do we really grasp the magnitude of that? This truth about our value means that my value, and your value, and the value of your enemy, and the value of people you dislike is equal. It means that the most vile criminal in our dankest cell has the same dignity and value as does Pope Francis.
Our value does not come from what we do, what we did, how rich we are, how dishonest we are, how virtuous we are etc. Our dignity comes from the fact that we are made in God’s image and likeness. What we do, good or evil, has no impact on our dignity.
Our culture tends to ascribe dignity according to social status, looks, virtue, how powerful a person is and the like. In this calculation we all have different amounts of dignity. This is absolutely contrary to what the Bible teaches us.
It is certainly true that as a society we can hold people accountable for their actions, but even when we punish a malefactor we must be mindful of their human dignity. Ideally, the punishment should be a deterrent, or be rehabilitative. The punishment might be restorative. The point is this: even people who have not behaved consistent with their dignity still have dignity, and we are called to affirm that dignity in every human being.
— Pat Arensberg is the Director of the Office for Evangelization and Family Life. Email him at [email protected]. For more information concerning the events of this office, visit us at mobilefaithformation.org