We live in a culture that idolizes productivity, efficiency, and independence, often measuring a person by what he or she can do. These and other false standards are used to determine whether someone’s life is considered worth living. We may sometimes be tempted to believe that a person’s identity lies in what the world values. But God's love—individual, real, unchanging—is the true source of our identity. Because His love will never change, nothing can reduce our God-given dignity, and nothing can diminish the immeasurable worth of our lives.

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The Gospels recount that Jesus constantly drew close to the blind, the sick, and the lame. We can easily recall the stories of how Christ stooped down to heal the paralytic, the hemorrhaging woman, the leper, and the man born blind, raising them to new life in his love. Jesus shows us that a person’s innate goodness is never diminished by physical, intellectual, or developmental disabilities because human dignity is not dependent on ability. Rather, every life is a good and perfect gift, created for an eternal destiny. Looking through the eyes of His love, we can see “in every person his living image” (Evangelium Vitae 83). Every person is a wonder of God’s creation, reflects God Himself, and has been created for eternal life with Him. Every person, every life is a gift. Let us bear witness to this truth in our words and actions.

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Evangelium vitae (The Gospel of Life), no. 83 © 1995, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission. All rights reserved.