LIFE, SANCTITY OF

We may ask: “How much did it weigh?” and, “Does it have any hair?” When the Athabaskan Indians hear of a birth they ask, “Who came?” From the beginning, there is a respect for the newborn as a full person.

Lisa Delpit

I have no wit, no words, no tears;

My heart within me like a stone

Is numbed too much for hopes or fears.

Look right, look left, I dwell alone;

I lift mine eyes, but dimmed with grief

No everlasting hills I see;

My life is in the falling leaf:

O Jesus, quicken me.

Christina Rossetti

There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between the two ways.

Didache