Respect Life - every human life has its origin in the heart of God

by Chris Loetscher

My youngest daughter, Elizabeth, is a singular grace, as is any child. But the circumstances of her conception and birth were particularly surprising to my wife and me. Unlike our first four children, she was completely unexpected. And, because she was conceived when my wife, Mary, was well into her forties and I was about to enter my fifties, we had additional anxieties and fears about pregnancy, delivery, and the baby’s health.

Thankfully, Elizabeth was born without complication. She is healthy and beautiful. Looking down the road, I have deep reservations about my ability to raise another teenager, in my sixties, when most men are thinking about retirement. Still, I often think to myself, "Elizabeth saved my life." Her life is such an unanticipated grace. She has brought a good measure of healing to our marriage and family life. She has affected our four older children in profound ways-I know she has made them happier, kinder, and more generous.

Sometimes, Mary and I look at Elizabeth with disbelief. "Who are you?" we ask her on occasion. Near her fourth birthday, I posed this question once again. Elizabeth looked me right in the eye and said, somewhat puckishly, with a bit of moxie, and with disarming clarity, "I am your reminder." I don’t really know why she said this, or what her reply meant to her, but her response is utterly true. She reminds me daily that she is a grace, a surprise; that she is her own true self. Through her, God knocked me off my high horse, turned the tables on me, brought me to my knees again in gratitude and wonder. Elizabeth reminds me of my mother who died twelve days after Elizabeth was born. She reminds me of our four older children when they were young. She reminds me of my own mortality and weakness. She reminds me of possibility and promise, of life beyond ennui and death. She reminds me of the Source of all that is good and beautiful and true. She reminds me, daily, that she is miraculously and most certainly here, and that Mary and I are blessed by her presence.

Chris Loetscher is director of the Office of Social Concerns for the Diocese of New Ulm.