When We Honor Life, We Honor God

Dr. Carolyn Woo left a few minutes at the end of her keynote presentation during the Diocese of Evansville’s Oct. 20 Respect Life Celebration to take some questions from the audience. The first person to raise a hand proved barely able to speak.

“I just want to thank you,” that audience member said. “Several times during your talk, I wanted to cry.” Instead, she waited until she could publicly thank the President and CEO of Catholic Relief Services. She never really asked a question, instead providing a tearful, emotional statement of gratitude that was as sincere as Woo’s words.

“When we honor life, we honor God,” she told the crowd at Evansville’s Good Shepherd Parish. “We cannot honor God unless we honor life.”

She focused on CRS’ work with the poor, which resonates with the focus of October for U.S. Catholics – respecting life.

“In Scripture,” Dr. Woo said, “Jesus didn’t say, ‘go lead.’ He said ‘go serve.’”

Throughout the evening, her comments and personal recollections painted a clear picture of service – founded in a deep, fundamental respect for the dignity of all human life – that is inevitable for anyone who seeks eternal salvation. Following are just a few of the important thoughts she shared:

• “All life is holy because God’s the author of all life.”

• “A reporter once asked Mother Teresa, ‘So, what do you think if, after you die, you are made a saint?’ She responded, ‘I think every one of us is called to sainthood.’”

• “What God has made holy, we cannot diminish.”

• “Our care for our neighbors is not optional. It’s our path to salvation.”

Dr. Woo went on to suggest that we must embrace the concept that God sends us to each other, and that the beneficiaries we serve in any number of ways through the works of mercy are entrusted to us by God.

“Sometimes,” she added, “(God) sends us to the foot of the Cross.”

She gave examples of such times from her travels to some of the most war-ravaged and scarred areas in the world. She mentioned a family she met who literally had moved into the crater left by bombs that destroyed their home. “They just moved couches and other furniture into the hole, and that’s where they lived,” she explained. “It is sometimes hard to process….”

Her most important – and most basic – message had two elements:

First, we must know the face(s) of those we serve. ”It’s easy to lose the human face of poverty. In a face, there is a life,” she said, noting that poverty can become an abstract concept for those who seek to try to help others without truly encountering them in personal ways. During her talk, she also mentioned that research shows that close to 3 billion people) live on $2.50 a day or less.

Dr. Woo’s other primary message is that no matter what kind of relief work anyone might get involved with, they must not let it intimidate or overwhelm them. “People sometimes will visit devastation and find themselves asking, ‘God, where are you?’ When I do that, I hear, ‘You are there … get to work!’” she said.

“This is God’s work, and His power will see us through.”