By Judie Brown
Webster says a traffic jam is “a situation in which a long line of vehicles on a road have stopped moving or are moving very slowly.” If we juxtapose moral principles—the Ten Commandments—with these impediments, we can look at today’s cultural chaos as the most severe traffic jam in human history.
We live in an era when lawmakers feel compelled to propose limits on, instead of terminating, the trafficking of teenage girls out of state who want to secretly abort their preborn children. These politicians are proposing a plug in the hole of the wall of death created by proponents of abortion. The difficulty with this concept is that the wall still stands; some human trafficking may be stalled, but millions of innocent babies will continue to die.
This sad circumstance has been called many things, including a culture of rage. In such an atmosphere, the very idea of pregnancy, let alone the reality of it, is anathema to those who detest anyone or anything that interferes with their so-called life plan.
In such a situation, the virtue of meekness is perceived as a sign of weakness, though Venerable Fulton Sheen would wholeheartedly disagree. Fr. Rich Conlin paraphrased some of his teachings and wrote:
Jesus is the model of the beatitude of meekness. Rather than being vindictive and rendering evil for evil (as the world promotes), Our Lord, in complete self-mastery of His emotions, showed strength under control when He forgave and prayed for those who crucified Him: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
“It took so much strength that only Divinity’s cry of forgiveness could overcome the hatred of those who crucify.”
We must follow Our Lord in meekness. To respond to evil with goodness is not weakness; it is strength, the strength that makes man master of himself and the conqueror of hate. If you doubt it, try it sometime and see how much strength it takes to bless those who persecute you.
Applying this wisdom to the moral morass infecting our society, we can imagine a miraculous conversion of hearts taking place. This is so because sincere concern for another, humbly offered with a smile, will result in changes beyond our imagination. Witnessing to truth in the midst of chaos reminds those with hearts open to being educated that peace and calm result from respect for others.
Given today’s tendency to detest life to the point of murdering babies while labeling the act a matter of choice, given the medical practice of robbing the living of their vital organs, and given the prevalence of IVF practices, we pray that hearts are opened to the beauty of life.
The traffic dysfunction occurs when human embryos are treated like chattel. Note that even today’s young people understand this travesty, as this winner of CLSP’s 2024 essay contest wrote: “IVF is disrespectful to the sanctity of the embryos’ humanity. God is the Author of Life, and each soul is precious and unrepeatable, not only in DNA but in the gifts and personality God has ordained for that individual. In the book of Jeremiah, God says, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you’ (Jeremiah 1:5). Though often advertised as an infertility ‘treatment,’ IVF lends no respect to the human body or God’s authority over life and is thus a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing.’”
The problem with a web of moral fungibles is clear. Without a fundamental respect for the dignity of the human person from his first moment until his last, anything goes. Nothing is considered wrong, forbidden, or evil.
Moral-free zones create chaos, and just like that traffic jam that happens when traffic signals cease to work, terrible things occur.
In this moment of escalating disregard for human dignity, we stand at the crossroads and pray, work, and act to stop the insanity.