Image: CalebJones2003, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
By Anastasia Marambos
The Angel Gabriel said to Mary; “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” (Luke 1:31) Our God and King and Savior dwelt for nine months in the sanctuary of Mary’s womb. Then, for His dwelling place for thirty years, Christ chose a family.
A Christian family welcomes children, cares for them, and nurtures them. Thus, for families to flourish is the aim of the pro-life movement. Families are also the foundation of all pro-life institutions, for nobody can advocate for the unborn unless they have first been born.
Pope St. John-Paul II wrote, “Life is always a good. This is an instinctive perception and a fact of experience, and man is called to grasp the profound reason why this is so.” (Evangelium Vitae, 34) It is in the family that new life is welcomed; in the family, a child first appreciates the profound goodness of human life.
Pope Leo XIV, then Cardinal Prevost, said “God’s mercy calls us to protect every life, especially those society overlooks—the child yet to be born and the elderly nearing their journey’s end—because each bears Christ’s face.” (Homily, Suburbicarian Diocese of Albano, 2025) In the Christian family, the most helpless ones are cherished, for “as you did it to one of these the least of my brethren, you did it to me.” (Mtt 25:40)
Pope Pius XI wrote, “the family is more sacred than the State and…men are begotten not for the earth and for time, but for Heaven and eternity.” (Casti Connubii, 69) The U.S. branches of government, legislative, judiciary, and executive, reflect the task of government to make, apply, and enforce laws; the task of the family is to “raise up fellow-citizens of the Saints, and members of God’s household.” (Eph. 2:19; Casti Connubii, 13)
No wonder, in the modern world, the family is under attack! The Evil One has good reason to fear the family, for it is in the family that saints are raised.
The Catechism says, “In our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith, believing families are of primary importance as centers of living, radiant faith.” (CCC, 1656)
By welcoming children and educating them in the Faith, by frequently approaching God through prayer and the sacraments, and by imitating the Holy Family, families can counteract the culture of death.
I am blessed to be the eldest of ten in a Catholic homeschooling family. I grew up surrounded by children. I have early memories of looking at the picture of an unborn baby sibling on an ultrasound scan and witnessing the undeniable humanity of this beautiful person. I vividly remember when mum gave us the joyful news that “I’m having a baby,” and that was a baby, my younger sibling, not a collection of cells. In less than a year, we welcomed that baby into our home, held him in our arms, and gave thanks to God for the blessing.
My family taught me that people, no matter how small, are worth sacrificing for. You always sacrifice something in a large family – whether that be the last chocolate chip cookie in the jar because somebody got there first, or hours of your day because someone is sick and needs looking after. However, this is not a con; this is a pro, because you find so much joy in helping this beautiful person that God has put into your life.
I don’t think anyone can ever fully comprehend how tragic abortion is, or fully understand the immeasurable value of a human being. However, learning from a young age that every human being is a child of God, redeemed by Christ, definitely helps.
Personally, I was really inspired by growing up surrounded by life and Faith. This has motivated me in every pro-life activity I’ve been involved in, whether crocheting baby blankets for a pregnancy center, learning about defending life in a culture of death, or organizing prayer vigils for the unborn.
By welcoming your children into the world and raising them in the Faith, you are already doing something intrinsically pro-life. To raise a child Catholic is to raise them pro-life, because we know that God became an unborn baby.
Here are some ideas for pro-life activities you can do as a family:
– add “all unborn babies and their parents” to your prayer intention list for your daily rosary.
– pray to St. Gerard Majella and St. Gianna Molla, patrons of mothers and unborn babies.
– pray the Spiritual Adoption prayer of Venerable Fulton Sheen.
– pray the litany to Jesus in the Womb of Mary.
– attend March for Life.
– donate clothes to a pregnancy center.
Prayer is immensely powerful for the pro-life movement – because it asks the help of the God Who loves unborn babies; the unborn are created by God and Christ died to redeem them. And “with God, nothing will be impossible.” (Luke 1:37)
