Jerome Novotny , OMI – Working in pro-life ministry for over 40 years as a Missionary Oblate of Mary Immaculate has given me the opportunity to meet people at almost every stage of life. I have shared the happiness of families welcoming a new baby. I have spent time with young people at Kochi University trying to figure out who they are and where their lives are going. During my many pro-life trips throughout Asia, I have visited people in hospitals, listened to those going through difficult times, and prayed with people nearing the end of their lives. All of these experiences have taught me something very simple, but very important: human life is beautiful, and human life is sacred.
I think we sometimes forget this, especially in a world that is constantly telling us what a “successful” life should look like. We see it on social media, where everyone seems happy, attractive, and successful. Young people can begin to feel that their grades measure how intelligent they are, that getting the right job will determine whether they succeed in life, or even that the number of followers and “likes” they receive says something about their worth. Without realizing it, we can begin to feel that we have to prove ourselves.
But our value as human beings does not depend on our grades, our appearance, our career, our popularity, or what other people think of us. Our lives already have value simply because we are human and because we are loved by God.
The Bible tells us that everyone is created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27). For me, that changes everything. Our value does not begin with what we can do or what we can accomplish. It begins simply with who we are.
This is also one of the reasons my involvement in pro-life work has become so important to me. When I think about an unborn child, I think about the smallest and most defenseless member of our human family. That child cannot speak and cannot defend himself or herself. Yet that tiny life already has a future, a story waiting to unfold, and a place in God’s love.
The Catholic Church reminds us that “human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2258). That word “beginning” is important to me. Human dignity does not suddenly appear when we are born, when we become independent, or when we are able to contribute something to society. It is there from the beginning, and it remains with us throughout our lives.
Throughout my travels, I have met people who were strong and healthy, and I have met people who could no longer walk or care for themselves. I have known young people full of dreams and elderly people who knew that their earthly journey was coming to an end. Their circumstances were completely different, but their value in the eyes of God was the same.
Our abilities can change. Our health can change. Our plans can change. But our human dignity does not change.
During my 61 years living in Japan and among the Japanese people, I have discovered that some of the most beautiful moments in life are very ordinary ones. A mother holding her baby. A young student taking time to visit an elderly grandparent. Someone sitting beside a friend who is having a difficult day. A caregiver patiently helping someone who can no longer care for himself or herself. These may seem like small things, but each one says something powerful: Your life matters to me.
That is something I see again and again in Jesus. Jesus noticed people. He noticed the sick, the lonely, children, sinners, and those whom everyone else seemed to overlook. He did not first ask whether they were successful, useful, or important. He saw the person in front of him, and he loved that person.
I think our world needs more of that today. It needs to learn to look at one another differently—not as problems, burdens, competitors, or strangers, but as human beings whose lives have meaning and whose stories are worth listening to.
For me, this is at the heart of being pro-life. It is certainly about protecting the unborn child, especially because that child has no voice of his or her own. But being pro-life is also a way of looking at every human life and saying: you are worth protecting, you are worth caring for, and you are worth loving.
From the tiny child growing quietly in the womb to the elderly person taking his or her final breaths, every life is precious to God. And if every human life is precious to God, then every human life should also be precious to us.
Perhaps we can begin with something very simple: look at the person in front of you and remember that you are looking at someone God loves. That person may be very young or very old, strong or weak, born or unborn. But behind all those differences is the same beautiful truth: This is a human life. This life matters. And this life is sacred.
As I look back over my years as a missionary priest in Japan and my many years in pro-life ministry, I realize that some of my greatest teachers have simply been the people God has allowed me to meet along the way. The newborn child, the university student searching for a path in life, the mother facing a difficult pregnancy, the person who is sick or lonely, and the elderly person nearing the end of life have each taught me something about the beauty of being human.
And perhaps that is what I would most like to pass on to everyone I meet: never lose your sense of wonder at the gift of human life. Learn to see the person beside you with the eyes of Christ. Stand beside those who are weak or vulnerable. And through the way you live, care, and love, let your life quietly say to another person:
Your life is beautiful. Your life has meaning. Your life is sacred.
