I find myself scratching my head over the concept so many people let fall easily from their lips: "Babies are blessings." A baby is a gift. It sounds innocent enough, sure. But the mindset that accompanies this trite phrase is often the furthest thing from demonstrating the truth of it. Yesterday, on an after-dinner stroll down at the park a woman commented on my two boys and asked if the one in utero was a girl. "Nope, another boy." She shook her head with a smile: "We have two girls and would love to try for a third baby, but my husband is afraid of being stuck with three girls." As if they were playing the Wheel of Fortune. Another friend of mine remarked to me a while ago that she really wanted another baby (had 2 girls and 1 boy) but only if she could be guaranteed that it was a boy.

We use the term "trying" for a baby without really stopping to think of what that implies. It takes more than a man and a woman being in the right place at the right time to create another human being. It is God who opens and closes the womb to life. I don't really blame most people... even good Christians and Catholics use this word, probably because the rest of society does and probably because it feels to awkward to say "Oh were you open to another little life being created inside of you?"

I just find it sad that while we tout the phrase "Babies are blessings" so often yet so many of us demand these "blessings" on our time frame, on our schedule, when it's convenient for the lifestyle we have in mind for ourselves. While there is something to be said for responsible parenting... something even stronger should be said about the providence of God. And this is completely thwarted when couples actively refuse God's blessings. "No, God. Not right now. Your gift isn't a good time for me. I know better than you." It seems sometimes that babies aren't viewed as "blessings" but economic burdens. And this isn't always the fault of individuals. It's part and parcel of a society that doesn't value the dignity of human life anymore. That has turned materialism and hedonism into the gods that we should bow down to.

We are all victims... but we all don't need to fall prey to such lies anymore. We are not supposed to be comfortable here. We stand in contradiction to the morals of society... isn't that beautiful about the Catholic Church?! She is the one, last major institution in the entire world that opposes the same things Christ opposes... that speaks out for the defenseless and safeguards the teachings on the beauty and gift of human life. Praise God for the blessings He has given us!