Honorable Mention: Audrey Claire Doscher
Grade 4
Building a Culture of Life
“Give us the grace – when the sacredness of life before birth is attacked, to stand up and proclaim that no one ever has the authority to destroy unborn life.”
St. John Paul II proclaimed this statement to defend preborn babies. When God creates a human life, He has a special purpose for you. God’s hope for the baby’s life is stopped when you abort a child. A soul makes you a human, so preborn babies need same respect of all living people. This is important, because a soul with a special quest wants a chance to succeed. Preborn babies deserve to live because they have a soul and are made in the image of God.
“For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.”
In Luke 1:44, Elizabeth tells Mary that John the Baptist leapt in her womb with delight. When he was still a preborn baby, John the Baptist knew that he was in the presence of the preborn Baby Jesus and that He was holy. Although preborn babies are not protected by laws in the United States, they are still humans just like you and me, and God loves them the same. God creates every person in His own likeness. He creates everyone different in his/her own way, and creates everyone to know, love, and serve Him.
God creates every person with a soul and loves everyone very much. He wants all of His children to someday join Him in heaven. He creates all of us with a guardian angel to watch over and protect us. He creates us knowing the plans for our entire lives. If God did not want babies to live, He would not create them. We should not interfere with God’s plan. We should trust in God’s plan and teach others to do so also. All humans, including preborn babies, are part of God’s plan for our world.
Preborn babies have a working heart by four weeks. When they are only eight weeks old, 40 sets of muscles are working. At eight weeks, all of the baby’s major organs are working, even though he or she is only one-inch long. A baby can feel pain and respond to touch. Babies can hear their mother’s voice when they are only 18 weeks old.
Babies should have a right to live, and we should support them because they can’t talk yet. Like Mary visited Elizabeth when Elizabeth was having John the Baptist, we can support places like the Gabriel Network and pregnancy centers to help build a culture of life in our world. We can collect things or donate money to these places to help support pregnant mothers in need. We can be like Mary when she supported Elizabeth by visiting her even though it was a far, hard, and long journey. Encouraging people to adopt babies is also a way to support the culture of life.
Building a culture of life should not only involve babies. It should be showing people that life matters no matter the stage of life. We can support the elderly, the disabled, and the sick. By visiting and sending notes to them, we can show them that they are loved by God and that they are just as important as anyone else. God loves us all the same. By creating a culture of life, we are doing what Jesus would do on earth. No matter how small our actions are, we are setting an example to others by living out a culture of life.