Respect for Life

Mother, father, sister, brother,
None of them in image other
Than the likeness of God above.

Neither color nor one’s race
Removes from them the very face
Of God and His abundant love.

And so by nature we are called
To treat as precious each and all.
To foreign-born and marginalized,

To elders, poor, unborn, disabled,
Show dignity, invite to table,
For all are sacred in our Father’s eyes.

By Natalie Hoefer

(Sandy Bierly is a member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in New Albany.) †

The Criterion