Reflecting on the humility of God, Franciscan sister Ilia Delio writes, "Incarnation we might say is God bending low to embrace the world in love. This makes the entire creation--all peoples, all mountains and valleys, all creatures big and small, everything that exists--holy because God embraces it." She continues, "Everything is sacred. The entire creation, including every person, is a sacrament of God because within each and every thing, in some way, God is hidden."
Philosopher Max Scheler noted that St. Francis of Assisi kissed festering wounds and did not kill biting bugs, not from a delight in pus or because of perverted instincts, but because he saw the holiness of life, even in a bug.
This awe and wonder and loving response to the holiness of life is what I think it means fundamentally to respect life or to be pro-life. A friend of mine pointed out this morning that any talk of the hierarchy of being and dignity must come after and be built upon this basic awe at the holiness of life.
Our response to the holiness of life comes easy when the life is near and dear to us. When the life is distant, either from our bodies or our minds, it is more difficult to respond to in love and awe. And when that life is the life of one who seeks to destroy our life, how are we to respond then? How should we respond to the shred of holiness left in one who is made in God's image and likeness and yet has embraced a life of spreading darkness, deceit, and death?
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